Pedestrian Warning Noise

A

Almost Green

Member
Good Morning to All, I've watched dozens of youtube reviews on the SE and have noticed, as well as a couple people mention the pedestrian warning. It appears this warning is activated when the car is put into drive mode and stays on until a speed of approximately 25mph. It also appears that this noise is active when the car is sitting still (such as stop light) and in drive mode. I personally think this is a annoying. In the summer I do not use the a/c much so ride and sit with the windows open so if sitting at a stop light I need to hear this noise is a problem. Can some of you clarify how this feature works? And is there anyway to override it?
 
What sousvide said. Some people even assign a programmable button to the sound to turn it off and on. I think that only affects when the Mini is in drive. I don't think the reverse sound can be circumvented. Even with my windows down, the sound is not loud enough to affect my day in any way. It's just not that loud. (to me)
 
Almost Green said:
Good Morning to All, I've watched dozens of youtube reviews on the SE and have noticed, as well as a couple people mention the pedestrian warning. It appears this warning is activated when the car is put into drive mode and stays on until a speed of approximately 25mph. It also appears that this noise is active when the car is sitting still (such as stop light) and in drive mode. I personally think this is a annoying. In the summer I do not use the a/c much so ride and sit with the windows open so if sitting at a stop light I need to hear this noise is a problem. Can some of you clarify how this feature works? And is there anyway to override it?
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FYI, our 2018 Honda Clarity PHEV also emits a pedestrian warning noise, but only when it is moving. After Honda came into full compliance with the US regulations in 2020, the pedestrian warning noise continued even when the car is stopped. I guess the regulators are worried that someone walking while focusing on nothing but their cellphone will walk into a stationary EV if it was silent.
 
With BimmerCode you can enable a checkbox to turn the sound on and off. You can also assign this to a shortcut key.

It will revert to on every time you turn on the car.

If you turn it off with the checkbox it is off for both forward and reverse.
 
I only notice it with the windows down, but even then it's not very loud or even obviously coming from your car. It's a weirdly calming noise, not like a loud beeping.
 
endquote said:
With BimmerCode you can enable a checkbox to turn the sound on and off. You can also assign this to a shortcut key.

It will revert to on every time you turn on the car.

If you turn it off with the checkbox it is off for both forward and reverse.
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You did something wrong then. I have my car set off and it remembers this setting. It only makes noise in reverse but if you turn it back on and then off again, the noise goes away in reverse too. I just leave it on for reverse but in drive, it defaults to off and never makes any noise.
 
I love the sound, which I think is subtle and much quieter than ICE engine noise. But is it really active when the car is not moving? I've never noticed that to be the case.

The only change that would make it perfect in my mind is if it was the Jetson's car noise, which is ideal for the Doppler effect.
 
Puppethead said:
I love the sound, which I think is subtle and much quieter than ICE engine noise. But is it really active when the car is not moving? I've never noticed that to be the case.

The only change that would make it perfect in my mind is if it was the Jetson's car noise, which is ideal for the Doppler effect.
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Yes - it is active when the car is not moving. When I made my "sounds" video, I stuck a camera under the car to get the stereo sound effect of the sound moving from the front to rear speaker when shifting from drive to reverse.

Edit: skip to 5:54:

 
revorg said:
I realize that most of you cannot SEE the difficulties that folks with visual handicaps have, but, jeez, have a heart. You can't be bothered by a little noise?
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Completely agree. My mum is blind and was almost knocked down by an EV as she went to cross the road. It was just pulling away from a parking spot at the roadside and she didn’t hear it. Clearly the tyre noise wasn’t sufficiently loud to alert her to its presence. No pedestrian warning sound from the car either. People can make their own choices but it is there for a reason and it’s a small price to pay to avoid a completely unnecessary incident.
We had an i3 on loan to test for a weekend before we bought ours and the pedestrian warning had either been disabled by the dealer (unlikely), or it wasn’t on there. I think in the UK it only became a legal requirement in 21 and the test i3 was a 20 model. On two occasions that weekend people walked right in front of the car in car parks. We were following one of them about 4m behind and they’d no idea we were there until a passer by shouted to them and suggested not walking in the road.
 
When Bimmercoding in Mini mode, the option to include turning it off will keep it off once you've selected it. You can indeed set one of the programmable buttons to turn it off/on with one push. When on, it comes on as soon as you put it into a driving mode (forward or reverse). It's subtle, definitely not obnoxious, but I like to be able to toggle it on/off when appropriate. When picking up my middle school kid, I have it on in the parking lot. But I also love the silence without it when I don't need to be warning of others of my presence.
 
I'm going back and forth with it. Personally, it's more of an annoyance compared to our other two cars (e-Niro and Volt) both of which have a generated noise, but less obnoxious.

On the other end, I worry about that one time where I have a lapse in awareness and someone jumps out in front of a quiet crawler.

If there was a way to change the sound (or volume), I'd be all for it. There are engines quiter than this generated noise. But I'm nitpicking. At least cut it out while stopped at a light.

Sent from my ONEPLUS A6003 using Tapatalk
 
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I also love the sound! Not only do I like how it signals the car’s presence to visually impaired pedestrians, I like the way it constantly reminds me (as if I need another reminder, given how great the car is to drive) that I’m driving the future: Look at me! I’m actually behind the wheel of my very own electric car! :D

It’s perhaps ironic that I also really enjoy how “stealth” my SE is visually to onlookers — almost imperceptibly different from a petrol-powered Cooper — and yet I’m perpetually disappointed by how rarely people on the street appear to notice the noise and figure out that my car’s an EV. I frequently wish the noise was a little louder (ideally, that I could control its volume) and that it played at speeds another 5-10 MPH higher so more people would notice it and think, “Cool! An electric MINI!”
 
Zim said:
I'm going back and forth with it. Personally, it's more of an annoyance compared to our other two cars (e-Niro and Volt) both of which have a generated noise, but less obnoxious.

On the other end, I worry about that one time where I have a lapse in awareness and someone jumps out in front of a quiet crawler.

If there was a way to change the sound (or volume), I'd be all for it. There are engines quiter than this generated noise. But I'm nitpicking. At least cut it out while stopped at a light.

Sent from my ONEPLUS A6003 using Tapatalk
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Bimmercode allows you to choose from 4 WAV files, which have slightly different sounds and various volumes.
 
ghost said:
Bimmercode allows you to choose from 4 WAV files, which have slightly different sounds and various volumes.
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Do you know if those 4 WAV files are already part of the SE's software or do they come with Bimmercode? The obvious next question is can we expand that catalog?
 
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