My car sings to me!

  • Thread starter Thread starter Kathy
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JJD said:
Looking at that aggressive front end, it does have more of a "Darth Vader" look than "Rosie the Robot" about it...
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Stormtrooper white owner here.. I'm in for a Tie Fighter mod. SOO want to put big Empire emblems on the side doors, but will settle for a decal in the trunk window.

That said, I must have misread the manual about the pedestrian alert thing as it was only a Canada thing. I haven't heard it yet...
 
su_A_ve said:
That said, I must have misread the manual about the pedestrian alert thing as it was only a Canada thing. I haven't heard it yet...
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It’s on our USA cars too; just without a temporary off button. It’s not that loud and with all the quieting features we have, I can’t hear it with the windows up. It’s easier to notice with driver’s window down and next to a solid wall like at a fast food drive through to bounce it back to you.
There’s your excuse to get takeout instead of cooking tomorrow!

BTW @Kathy, this thread’s title is the best on the whole forum!
 
Steven B said:
Those of us who are not blind have a hard time understanding why some things are necessary for the good of society...
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Yep. Next they will require bicycles to emit a synthetic sound, as they are just too quiet for safety’s sake ... (as if the world isn’t noisy enough already).


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Texas22Step said:
More than you ever wanted to know about "singing EV's":

This pedestrian-oriented synthetic noise all started with a new politically correct federal law in 2010 that has cost car makers (read instead "car customers") an estimated $23 million and which took federal regulators some 6 years to implement. I remember this because I purchased a 2014 Accord Hybrid, that thankfully escaped this particular regulatory net when the rules were postponed "for more coordination." The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration even had a web site where one could listen to the proposed synthetic sounds and, according to one article, "The proposed sounds are posted on NHTSA’s website, and automakers will have to choose between 'pleasant sounding, brainwave, thought-stealing machine' sound or 'piercing-wail-that-will-drive-your-dog-batshit-in-the-morning' sound." https://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2015/11/feds-postpone-hybrid-ev-warning-noises-next-year/
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Is this "politically correct" enough for you?

"According to the report, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says hybrid and EV cars are 19-percent more likely to be involved in a pedestrian crash when compared to gasoline cars. The rule could prevent 2,800 crashes with pedestrians."

2800 pedestrian accidents prevented for what amounts to probably less than a couple dollars per person-car over 6 years? What a sham ;)
 
pinrut said:
Is this "politically correct" enough for you?

"According to the report, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says hybrid and EV cars are 19-percent more likely to be involved in a pedestrian crash when compared to gasoline cars. The rule could prevent 2,800 crashes with pedestrians."

2800 pedestrian accidents prevented for what amounts to probably less than a couple dollars per person-car over 6 years? What a sham ;)
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Pinrut, you may be right. In fact, the NHTSA may also be right. However, one has to consider this whole issue in context.

Even today (and despite tax credits, free electricity at many public charging stations, state rebate programs and other incentives), maybe 1% of about 17 - 20 million automobiles sold annually in the US today are BEV or PHEV vehicles. When this law was passed in 2010, the percentage was even lower. It took 6 years for our federal bureaucracy to promulgate the implementing regulations. The whole process cost tens of millions of dollars of somebody's money. Thus, our elected representatives in Congress and some unknown number of bureaucrats spent all this time, energy and money to pass and implement a mandatory command to automakers to add synthetic noises to the tiny fleet of EVs to try to reduce the 19% increased LIKELIHOOD that an EV would get involved in a pedestrian crash (no matter whether the driver was drunk or the pedestrian). This all happened in a country faced with a massive multi-trillion dollar national debt and serious problems with infrastructure decay, race relations, wars, climate change, public education, veterans' assistance, immigration, health care, etc. etc. etc. If government spent its collective time, effort, money and intelligence on these priorities rather than mandating noise makers on electric cars by law, one might think that this would serve the broader public interest even more.

And yes, I drive a new Honda Clarity, which replaced an older 2014 Accord Hybrid and which did not "sing." No sham here -- just a dramatic difference in priorities for government.
 
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My first Prius was quiet and so was my first Volt and my Mercedes B-class EV. I paid good money for a quiet car.
I found the fuse on my new Volt and my leased Bolt. They are now both quiet and I drive and pull-out carefully aware that people may not hear me. My first Volt had a "pedestrian (chirp) horn" on the stick. I miss that.
 
There are a lot of very quiet ICE cars out there. If this type of legislation applied to all vehicles based on actual sound levels I would approve but since it just arbitrarily affects only EV's I have to conclude that this was instigated by auto manufacturers and oil companies using their paid influence.
 
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