Changes 2018 => 2020

Where is that exactly?

 

The waiting for pedestrians is not the concern as much as the silly people that unexpectedly walk in front of a moving vehicle. This has happened to me so I understand the need for a silent car to make a sound but the sound should be meaningful. People are conditioned to understand the sound of an engine is coming from something that can run them over.

 

Left front side under the engine compartment behind the bumper a hole couple inches diameter that looks like speakerhole.

 

A moving car is hardly silent. Even an EV. Tire noise alone is surprisingly loud. Heck, a 15lb carbon fiber bicycle emits a significant amount of noise from 1” wide tires rolling on the pavement.

And what ever became of the practice of looking both ways before you cross the street? Or when meandering through a parking lot where cars are constantly moving about. I’d imagine that a majority of those wandering pedestrians arrived at that parking lot in their car.

 

I just moved from a 2019 to a 2020 last night, and noticed the same changes (steering wheel control nubs are smoother and no ridges in volume control, no convex section of left side mirror, cruise main button moved).

The pedestrian sound is definitely louder, and it plays when stopped in D or R now (louder in R) and to a higher speed. It is more noticeable from inside the car than before even with windows up; I'm sure I'll get used to it though. I do need to have someone else drive it so I can hear how loud it sounds when driving by.

I will try to find a hill soon to retest the ACC downhill behavior for jdonalds.

 

Thank you. I'm really upset about the ACC downhill change. I have an electric scooter with cruise control that controls downhill speed.

We took the car on a 400 mile round trip last weekend. I had the ACC set to 50mph. Every time we came down a small hill I had to use the regen paddle to slow the car which automatically canceled ACC so I had to reset it. It made ACC almost useless.

 

I agree. I would choose The Imperial March from Star Wars.

 

While I would like to select my own sound (I would choose NO sound) I think it makes more sense for all cars of all brands and models produce the same sound so pedestrians will know the sound. As it is it's just random noise to the pedestrian.

I also think a federal law requiring the pedestrian warning sound should be applied to any vehicle that is below a certain noise threshold, that means ICE cars too.

 

My son and I looked but didn't find the hole. Is it possible someone could take a photo of it. Also how did you cover the hole?

I really want to reduce the sound which I think is way too loud when the car is in reverse. I actually scared a man this morning when I switched into reverse to pull out of a parking spot. He actually flinched, then gave me an angry stare.

 

Just tell him that it is a safety feature mandated by people that know what is best for him.

Interestingly, this morning, while on a walk in the United States, we approached a Tesla, with a human in the driver’s seat, backing out of a driveway. No pedestrian alert to be heard. Last week, at work, a coworker summoned his Tesla to his position from its parking spot. I walked past it as it was moving through the parking lot. Again, no pedestrian alert.

 

The pedestrian alert was to be 100% required for all EVs and hybrids sold starting Sept 2020, but it looks like there has been a 6 month extension due to "disruption of supply chains due to COVID-19".
https://s3.amazonaws.com/public-inspection.federalregister.gov/2020-19334.pdf

 

Well then, it would seem that no current Clarity owner would risk spending the rest of their life in a maximum security prison should they decide to disable the feature, since it isn’t required.

I can barely hear the sound on the 2019 from inside the car and it seems no one outside the vehicle can hear it either. So I’ll leave it as is. And I didn’t bother to read the gibberish.

 

I always assumed the car was making the motor hum in a way similar to the start up tone of an RC plane using the ESC.

 

As some have noted, Honda must have increased the volume of this “angelic chorus” for the 2020 models. In my 2020 Clarity you’d have to be deaf not to hear it especially when the car is in reverse. I chuckle inside every time I hear it. I guess the Honda engineers decided that if they were going to be forced to include this ‘feature’ then they might as well try to make it sound halfway pleasing.

 

Yes, I don’t doubt that it is louder on the 2020 models. It can’t be considered much of an accomplishment to have achieved that goal. Making it quieter would have been more of a challenge.

It has also been explained elsewhere how and why the change was made. A gaggle of legal experts, government busybodies, audio engineers and musical theory professors got together and worked diligently for months on the project.

 

No switch to turn the "I'm Driving" sound on the 2020 Canadian model. Not mine at least to the total despair of my wife!

 

Just traded in my 2018 for a 2020... The sound is noticeably louder.. it's quite annoying since it plays in D or R when the car isn't moving... I can also hear it inside the cabin now.. I wish there was a way to lower the volume

 

A piece of plastic under splash guard where the speaker hole is located helped.

 

I'll be trying this when I get home from my business trip!

Thank you so much!!!

 

Has anyone else noticed a difference in the frequency that a "system check" occurs? That's where the engine starts starts with no other explanation, alternating a few cycles of running for a few minutes, going back to "EV" for a few minutes (but with the power meter still white), then running again, for a total of ~15 minutes before finally going back to EV/blue power meter.

On my 2019 it seemed to be every 3 weeks (it was exactly 21 days the one time I intentionally avoided triggering the engine). Even after not commuting (just driving a few miles here and there), I noticed the system check a few times while going to the store). But on my 2020 purchased in late October, the last time I recall the engine running at all was a long trip on Dec 5th (7 weeks ago).

It's entirely possible it's run and I just missed it (a lot more pressing things to obsess over than the Clarity these days!), so I thought I'd see if others have noticed this in the 2020s or not.