Are Electrics Too Quiet?

"that's just evolution..." "Better for the race in general to toss a little chlorine into the gene pool." "some oblivious idiot..." "...should be taken outside and beaten with sticks." I think the above excerpts are self explanitory.

I agree with Tony A. It is ludicrous the suggestions that are being made to "noisy" up the electric car. less efficiency which results in more pollution both chemical and noise pollution is what would happen if we increase the noise. People just need to be more responsible when they drive and when they are pedestrians. The sensor idea was a good one and is an idea in the correct direction.

True story. In a Prius rental last year, I pulled into the hotel driveway and saw a kid riding a bicycle. The kid was not paying attention. I stopped to wait for him to get past. He did not see me or HEAR the Prius. He ran into the front fender. If you can silently move an object into someone's path, plan on it getting hit.

... no pun intended. Tony, I''d bet a thousand bucks you have no parent, siblings, child or loved one that is disabled, or you wouldn''t be making such an asinine statement. Karma may just bite you in the butt one day, at which time you''ll be at the mercy of your insensitivity. &>&>&>&>&>&>&>&>&>&>&>&>&>&>&>&> Just as we accomodate in bathrooms and on public steps for the disabled, we need to adjust for those that are hard of hearing... and it''s not as if there''s only a handful of them in the whole country. There are dozens of them in the area where I drive. Mass production should not significantly add to the cost of a hybrid or EV... a simple transmitter that can alert the blind and hard-of-hearing. &>&>&>&>&>&>&>&>&>&>&>&>&>&>&> If it was an AM transmitter, it would generate a stronger signal as it got closer; it could vibrate against the skin as the vehicle came near. The antenna could also be directional, so that it did not trigger false alerts when driving away from pedestrians. &>&>&>&>&>&>&>&>&>&>&>&>&>&>&> Does anyone know why I always have to submit my comment twice before it gets past the typed-character test at the end?

I agree that adding noise for the sake of adding noise seems silly. How about a tiered horn? Level 1, like a bell on a bicycle could be used frequently without annoying everone. ("hi I'm here.") Level 2, like an airhorn, indicates impending doom. ("Get out of the way!")

Idiots, just like the argument of having cars (vs. horses) in the first place. It''''s simply a matter of getting used to it. Come on America, take the pacifier out of your mouth and start changing with the times. Oh, and you might want to LOOK (waive a baseball bat in front of you if blind) before crossing the street next time.

That's all very well and good, but that also presumes the intended recipient of said warning noise isn't off in la-la land with an Ipod stuck in his ears, or in a car that's sound-insulated like a tomb (a big selling point for a lot of cars (remember the commercials?), which is why I installed airhorns on *my* car, to wake 'em the Hell up), or otherwise blasting his radio to the exclusion of all other outside noise. It just annoys me no end that new products are being designed with the *truly* lowest common denominator in mind. Making "too-quiet" cars noisier... Good God, now I've seen everything.

First time I rode in a hybrid it took off electrically, with no motor noise. Right then and there I decided it was too quiet. No warning to other drivers that you are coming. No warning to kids in the street that you are near. No warning that another car in the parking lot is about to move. Just plain not safe, blind or sighted! As for noise pollution Tony should study how sensitive our ears are. The emission of a watt of audio is darned loud, and virtually nothing compared to the tens of kilowatts needed to run an electric vehicle. That "noise" can be a lifesaver.

For the love of B'harni, we now have the inmates running the asylum... Noise is wasted energy, whether specifically created, or simply parasitic in nature. The idea is to *reduce* wasted energy in order to increase mileage. So now, millions of "too quiet" new cars will have yet more wasted energy sapping their mileage, for perhaps a handful of blind people who can't hear a car coming through a red light at them? As for fools who wear headsets whilst walking, jogging, etc., sorry, but that's just evolution in action if they get smooshed. Better for the race in general to toss a little chlorine into the gene pool. There was just last week a video the local "news" aired about a guy caught on a copcar's videocam, crossing the street and getting nailed by a drunk driver in a limo. This was nighttime, so he could've seen the car's headlights illuminating the roadway he was crossing, he no doubt could've heard the car coming down the road doing something like 40mph (the guy went sailing into the air hard enough to have his sneakers come flying off), and yet, he didn't even *look* before crossing, and was oblivious to the car coming right at him. If *that's* not enough to wake up some oblivious idiot while crossing a street, little noisemakers in "too quiet" electric cars certainly won't help. Unreal... Those who thought up the noisemaker idea should be taken outside and beaten with sticks.

In general, we should be trying to reduce the noise pollution, not increasing it. Perhaps the automakers could build a low cost transmitter of some sort in the electric cars, which would activate a low cost sensor available to blind people. Or perhaps the transmitters could activate a warning sound on the traffic light (either the chirping or an alternate device), similar to the light the emergency vehicles automatically turn on when they are approaching.

Yes, blind folks can listen for the chirp, but if it was _your_ life, would _U_ trust that nobody was running the light? I'm not completely disagreeing; I'm just saying that blind folks have a legitimate concern. Perhaps electrics could have something like fan blades built into the inside of the wheel that generated a whine, sort of like wheel noise, only louder, but only a _bit_ louder, so that blind folks could hear oncoming vehicles. The wheel would probably be a better place to put it than the tire, unless we wanted all vehicles to generate the sound. Just a thought.

Wait a Minute!!!! If the blind pedestrians properly use cross-walks that include the "chirp" sound signalling that it's safe to cross, then the sound of a car or bicycle or rickshaw doesn't matter. Also, when the punks convert electric vehicles into the typical "kiddie cars" even people with marginal hearing will hear the boomin' bass approaching.