Just when we thought that EVs and hybrids might begin to make our city streets quieter, Congress proposes legislation—so unlikely not to be passed—that would require electrics to announce their presence with an external noise source. Section 109 of this year’s Motor Vehicle Safety Act [PDF here], reported out of the House Energy and Commerce committee in early July, requires new hybrids and EVs “to provide an alert sound” so that pedestrians, notably the blind, can hear them. Fortunately, it could take six years before we’re subjected to this, due to the creaky slowness of the bureaucracy. The secretary will have three years after the enactment of the transportation bill to issue the final rule, and “full compliance” won’t be required until September 1 or later of the calendar year that begins three years after the final rule is issued.
Meanwhile, Les Blomberg of the Noise Pollution Clearinghouse questions the logic behind the legislation. Imagine a world where even trucks and buses lose the noisy diesel engines in favor of hybrid or electric propulsion. This may well be where we’re going. And even if it is not, cars are becoming quieter. (In fact, today, the quietest ICE cars are so quiet as to be inaudible over the background din, says Blomberg.) In such a world, the background noise of traffic would dwindle to the point where the tires of moving EVs would become easily audible. In that world, noisemakers for EVs would be superfluous.
But now, the Motor Vehicle Safety Act would maintain the cacophony. In fact, the legislation directs the Secretary of Transportation to determine whether noisemakers are needed for ICE cars.
Just make them emit a high pitched whirring sound, like they do in movies about the future.
Hey. I know you. You have a black 350Z and.. uh. Other stuff.
Just provide a vuvuzela with every new purchase.
If you can choose your own sound… The Jetsons car sound comes to mind…
http://www.wavplanet.com/wavs.php?cat=2&subcat=263
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As long as you moderate me, moderately… Be gentle…
Just fasten playing cards in the wheel spokes.
If my future car had a government-mandated noise maker, I would have to figure out a way to disable it. I hope many others would do the same.
Apparently heavy construction equipment is currently required to make an ear-shattering “BEEP! BEEP!” sound when in reverse. I am delighted that the workers at nearby construction sites have disabled these so their front-end loaders go “pffft…pffft” when they back up.
I propose that future electric cars should be equipped to call the office of a randomly chosen member of congress and deliver the loud beeping noise to whoever picks up the phone.
The reason they mandated those things… A dude fell asleep behind a dumptruck… Evolution in action.
This is interesting because I’ve been near a Prius when it’s under electric power at an intersection and the tire noise is quite evident. I’m surprised this is an issue.
I almost got flattened by a Lexus hybrid SUV a few years ago, while rolling around the parking lot of my apartment complex on my mountain bike.
I was astonished to learn (very nearly the hard way) how much I rely on engine noise to let me know when cars are nearby. I seriously would have been killed if the driver hadn’t been paying attention and did a nose-stand stop just before running me down.
I say, in all seriousness, that she seemed like she was used to it.
Perhaps the issue isn’t that the cars make NO noise, but that the cars don’t make the noises that a lifetime of experience has taught us to associate with cars.
Remember that the vast majority of the members of congress couldn’t pass science 101 and are public servants because there are no successful businesses out there that want them for any services except janitorial ones.
They are beneath contempt and deservedly so.
I don’t give a smelly Obama what they say any more and will actively aid anyone in removing these Obamanations (no misspelling there) should they be mandated by the stupid class.
The sounds will be the same. Disabling them will be illegal (but not immoral!). Obama had nothing to do with this one.
The backup beepers have a lot of problems, among them that the sound is so ubiquitous and carries so unevenly that it doesn’t help much to tell people when they are in real danger.
I’ll take this for a soundtrack to an EV, if I can choose one.
Oh give the Obama insults a rest already. I get it. You don’t like Barack Obama.
There are all sorts of solutions. Short range wireless transmitters that connect to a gadget you carry along (should you desire). It could vibrate your pocket telling you when one was getting near. Or something built into your glasses that beep gently and tell you when a car is near. In stereo you would know what direction it was coming from.
Are we saying we should keep ICE powered vehicles just because they make noise?
I look forward to more EVs in the mix of traffic. And I intend to keep something sporty/noisy at home for fun.
The majority must go out of its way to cater to the needs of the minority… asinine.
I was about to comment on this. It may seem slightly callous, but we’re talking about less than 2 million people in a country of over 300 million who are legally blind (< 0.67%).
Obviously, this lack of engine noise affects more than just the blind but I've noticed while on my bike that I hear tire and wind noise before engine noise on a lot of cars.
As said above re: noise levels overall, I too want quieter cars.
Amendment X – by all means let’s keep on burning oil as fast as we can. Loud pipes save lives!!! Riiiiight…
One of the things I like my hybrid is the fact that I can prowl around in damn near complete silence. Of course, once you get up to road speed, tire noise does in fact take over. Should a mandated sound become part of the package, I will simply disable it. Joeaverage, I share your disdain of loud pipes. When something is all noise, little power, whats the point?