Posted on 01/07/2013 3:48:43 PM PST by PilotDave
They’re so quiet, in fact, that it can be a problem — a problem big enough that federal regulators have stepped in with a plan (PDF) to make the cars play a sound of their own. Pedestrians — visually impaired ones especially, but also those blessed with fine eyesight — often hear an oncoming vehicle without seeing it. By being so eerily quiet, electric cars pose a safety risk, so the logic goes.
That’s why the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has published this list of proposed sounds that electric vehicles should make. Have a listen — it’s what the future sounds like!
The basics are that electric cars should produce a sound when in reverse, and when driving at speeds of up to 30 km/h. One proposal was for the sound to be a recording of what an regular gas-powered car sounds like, but that idea was quickly dismissed because it “would not ensure sufficient detectability.”
Obviously.
The proposed noises are a set of quasi-futuristic whirring hums that sound a bit like what you would imagine an electric engine would sound like, if it didn’t actually sound like nothing at all. They are designed to change in pitch as the speed of the car increases. More precisely, according to the NHTSA, there should be a “one percent shift in pitch frequency of the vehicle sound per km/h of acceleration to ensure that pedestrians would be able to determine whether an [electric vehicle] is accelerating or decelerating.”
(Excerpt) Read more at blogs.wsj.com ...
The Jetsons already provided the correct sound for electric vehicles, those that aren’t government subsidized at least.
Government subsidized ones should get Fisher-Price pull toy music.
Deaf people seem to manage.
Try paying attention.
The playing card in the spokes is a great sound-except back in the day we used baseball cards in the bike spokes and I never hit anyone-a winner!
How about the crackling of fire.
Funny how some problems are very easy to solve. We simply pass a law requiring each electrical vehicle to be preceded by a man on foot blowing a trumpet or playing a drum. Laws such as these were passed in some places in the early days of the automobile because it was perceived that automobiles would startle horses. Similar problem, same solution.
Just a hunch - I bet she has "severe" bobbed hair, is age 60+ and has a "Free Tibet" and/or "Love Your Mother Earth" sticker on her car.
I’d prefer the sound of a TIE fighter myself. :)
This problem was solved in 1963.
I have a Nissan Leaf and it already has a artificial low speed sound. If I choose my own sound it would be a turbo prop-Rolls Royce Dart engines to be specific.
If I had the misfortune of having to drive a silent hybrid, I would want it to sound like a 1970 Super Bee, or a similar-vintage Shelby Cobra.
When I went to school, they had two Hybrids that were reserved for faculty and staff to sign out for official travel. They were parked in a newly paved lot and roadway. I had and saw multiple close calls and they pulled out of the lot and sped off campus. Never had that problem with any gas powered car or even the golf carts the facilities staff drove around.
Ditch her now and don't get a new one.
Since these vehicles are drive mostly by liberals wouldn’t the sound of their constant whining be sufficient?
How about the sound of a steam powered coal drill?
{^)
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