noise
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The idea of adding noise-makers to vehicles that are "too quiet" didn't exist until the first hybrid-electric cars hit the market in 2000. Within a few years, however, organizations representing the blind began to raise alarms that cars operating at low speeds solely on electric power couldn't be heard by pedestrians who also couldn't see them. What followed was almost a decade of slow investigation, proposals, directives, and rule-making. DON'T MISS: 'Quiet Car' Rules To Make Hybrids, Electric Cars Noisy Delayed, Again (Dec 2015) On Monday, the Department of Transportation's NHTSA finalized...
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Nissan shares what future electric cars should sound like: the 'Canto' theme
Less than two years from now, barring action by the Trump administration, a National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration rule will require hybrid and electric cars to produce an audible noise under 19 mph. Alongside its Nissan IMx self-driving electric SUV concept it launched at the recent...
Sean Szymkowski -
Electric-car noise rules to be canceled under Trump deregulation plan?
Modern electric cars have been on U.S. roads for seven years or so, and owners love their smooth, quiet, close to noise-free operation. That silence has been a bone of contention for even longer, however, since hybrids operating purely on battery power are similarly quiet. For years, the U.S...
John Voelcker -
Feds issue mandatory-noise rule for new electric, hybrid cars
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration finally issued mandatory-noise rules for so-called "quiet cars."
Stephen Edelstein -
Do hybrid or electric supercars still have to roar to be taken seriously?
Carmakers consider the implications of silent supercars.
Stephen Edelstein -
'Quiet Car' Rules To Make Hybrids, Electric Cars Noisy Delayed, Again
Regulators will delay finalization of "quiet car" rules until next year.
Stephen Edelstein -
A rule requiring pedestrian-alert noises for electric cars and hybrids is delayed until 2018.
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Quiet-Car Rules Must Be Delayed, Automakers Say: NHTSA Not Ready
The concern that very quiet hybrid and electric cars may pose a danger to unaware pedestrians has been around for a decade or more now. Back in 2010, Congress required the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to develop rules for adding alert noises to cars running on silent electric...
John Voelcker -
Laws To Add Noise To Silent Electric Cars: Latest Updates
Electric cars are quiet. Perhaps that's a statement of the obvious, but for many owners, it's one of their cars' best features. Little noise, a smooth drivetrain, low running costs, environmental responsibility--it all adds up to an appealing package. Regulatory bodies seem to feel electric cars...
Antony Ingram -
Automakers: Delay, Rewrite 'Quiet Car' Rule For 2014 Hybrid, Electric Cars
Electric car fans have long been skeptical of government plans to install noisemakers to alert pedestrians to a car's presence--and now automakers are pushing for a different rule. The NHTSA wants electric and hybrid vehicles to emit a noise at speeds of up to 18.6 mph, while automakers want it to...
Antony Ingram -
Fake 'Shifting' For Electric Cars: Dumbest Idea Of The Year
Gosh, those crazy electric cars. They're so different and confusing, eh? We've now come across a new and thus-far unparalleled example of just how far people will go to avoid dealing with the realities of electric cars. Which are, of course, smooth, quiet, and torquey, meaning they're fast off the...
John Voelcker -
2011 Chevrolet Equinox Sounds Quiet Enough For Better MPG
There are many ways of making a vehicle more fuel efficient. Improvements in engine technology, materials, rolling resistance and aerodynamics can all contribute towards making a car easier on gas than its predecessor. How about making it quieter? You may think making a car quieter at speed might...
Antony Ingram -
You may or may not be happy to know that the new 2012 Lexus CT 200h compact hybrid hatchback will come with a new feature not found on the 2011 model. It will make more noise. For 2012, in addition to an optional F Sport package and a new color (Nebula Gray Pearl replaces Smoky Granite Mica, if you're keeping track), the CT 200h hybrid is fitted with what Lexus calls a "Vehicle Proximity Notification System." That's a noisemaker that switches on to emit "a low audible warning sound" whenever the hybrid runs in all-electric mode. The ostensible goal is to help "alert pedestrians and cyclists...
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Ford Polls Facebook Fans For 2012 Focus Electric Noises (Video)
Whether you think they're needed or not, all electric and hybrid cars are going to be required to fit noisemakers so that they can't be missed at speeds of 15 mph or below. To involve its fans, Ford posted four possible sounds for the noise that its upcoming 2012 Ford Focus Electric will emit as...
John Voelcker -
2011 Nissan Leaf Generates Constant Buzz: Musicians Beware!
The Leaf generates massively more and constant high frequency sound feedback
George Parrott -
Has U.N. Doomed Quiet Electric Cars to a Life of Noise Making?
Should electric cars make noise? It’s one of the most contentious arguments in the electric vehicle world today, with passionate cases made on both sides for and against warning systems designed to announce the presence of a plug-in car to pedestrians. But early reports coming out of a recent...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Ding-Ding-Ding! Electric Cars Likely To Be Made Noisier By Law
In one particularly hilarious scene in the TV show Weeds, Mary-Louise Parker’s soccer mom/drug dealer character inspires a scary drug lord to buy several Toyota Priuses after he successfully carries out a drive-by shooting while riding in hers. The selling point? The quietness of the hybrid...
VentureBeat's GreenBeat -
Making Silent Electric Cars Noisier: 3 Carmakers, 3 Sounds
It looks like carmakers are going to make their quiet, electrically powered cars a lot noisier. And that's going to happen regardless of whether there's any actual data to support the notion that electric cars are so silent they pose a hazard to blind pedestrians. As of now, three different...
John Voelcker -
When EV fans were told that manufacturers would have to fit noise generators to warn pedestrians of impending danger, they heaved a collective sigh of disappointment. One of the electric car's biggest unique selling points, that of near silent travel, had been taken away. Except that it hadn't. Demonstrations of the 2011 Nissan Leaf's Blade Runner-esque whoosh that was inaudible from inside the car proved that for driver and passengers at least, EV travel would still be as silent as they'd hoped. It wasn't too long before people started speculating on the option to customise the sound your EV...
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Toyota Prius To Make Noise During Electric Running, in Japan
In another step toward making silent electric cars less so, Toyota Prius hybrids sold in Japan are to be offered with an optional system that broadcasts a "humming" noise outside the car whenever it operates solely on electricity. The system is Toyota's response to the fears of blind people that...
John Voelcker -
But Would You WANT Your Prius To Sound Like a Spaceship?
With early data now showing that hybrid cars seem to hit pedestrians more often, carmakers are ramping up efforts to find ways of alerting people when a nearby car is operating in electric mode. Now the UK's Group Lotus Engineering has come up with a noise-generating system, one of several...
John Voelcker -
2011 Chevrolet Volt Pedestrian Alert System Will Be Driver Controlled
Earlier this morning, we wrote about GM's announcement that engineers developing the 2011 Chevrolet Volt have partnered with the National Federation of the Blind to figure out "a safe level of sound" from the company's first extended-range electric vehicle. Our subsequent interview with Tony...
John Voelcker -
Do Hybrids Hit Pedestrians More Often? NHTSA Report May Say So
Advocates for the blind have long been pushing for hybrid and electric cars to make some kind of artificial noise at low speeds, to alert people with vision impairment of their presence when operating in all-electric mode, which is quieter. But data on whether electric-drive cars actually hit...
John Voelcker