Another dumb idea, pedestrian low speed noise makers.

[Webeevdrivers]

HUh. We are an all EV family. Angela drives a smart ED convertible and I drive a Leaf. Both our EV’s have low speed noise makers that work under 30 km/h. Until now I thought that all EV’s had these devices. Is this just a Canadian thing? The smart has a low Silon from Battlestar galáctica kinda sound and the Leaf a higher pitch type of sound. Come to think of it I didn’t hear anything in our test drive of a model 3 in Palm Springs in December.

To set anybodies mind at ease, you don’t even notice the sound unless your in your garage or maybe a quiet underground parking. Very quiet inside the cars. I think they are meant to project forward. And by the way, they work. People know when you are coming.

 

[pcons]

My gen 2 volt and wife's bolt already have these. They aren't as obtrusive as you think. First of all, they are only active at low speeds, and second they dont make much noise at all. Just enough to make someone turn around. The sound is kind of like a futuristic star trek sound...that's the best way I can describe it...good thing we have youtube though

Looks like they have changed it a bit for the 2019 volt. I prefer the way it was on 2016-2018:

Here's what its like on the bolt with more demonstration with it on/off (the owner disabled it). This video makes it sound louder than it actually is because he is in his garage.

 

[Toumal]

I am torn about this. The sound generator in my Zoe can be turned off and you can select from three built in "voices". One sounds quite futuristic and if your goal is to have tech-affinitive people turn their heads it does that quite well.

But IMO people who don't pay attention to traffic don't pay attention to traffic.They will walk onto the road whether an ICE or an EV comes along. At speeds below 20kph it's kinda pointless to make noise due to the low speed, and at higher speeds you hear the rolling noise anyway.

As a safety device I doubt it's efficient, and I have yet to see concrete numbers that solidify the assertion that this would actually make things safer. Besides, we've had hybrid vehicles on the road for decades now and this topic has never really come up. It's only since the advent of BEVs that this got into the mainstream.

I guess it's pointless to complain at this point though. Nobody will ever dare to verify the inefficiency of this supposed safety measure. You don't want to be that lawmaker who lifted this restriction and then be blamed for even a single accident.

 

[derotam]

At first I didn't like the idea, I still don't "like" the idea but I do understand, and besides the way the law is, the sound only has to be there when the car is going less than 18.6mph so it really isn't that big of a deal. Now my argument would be concerning the sound level. The law basically says that people have to be able to hear it "over backgound noise". Well I hope there is more of a definition somewhere because depending on the background noise, you might not be able to hear a regular ICE vehicle either.

 

[Olds442]

Done and done. (we can load any sound clip you want on the ev-horn)



These are videos of the prototype EV-horn, not the finished product.

now i want one just to drive around parking lots trolling people.

 

[MorrisonHiker]

First of all, they are only active at low speeds, and second they dont make much noise at all. Just enough to make someone turn aroun.d

I don't think one car will make that much noise...but imagine a future when there are hundreds of EVs in a parking lot or traffic jam. Multiply the noise from one car by a hundred and see how irritating it becomes.

Instead of a constant noise, I'd be open to the idea of a pedestrian horn such as the Volt had.

Hopefully there will be a software option to disable it on Teslas (with a big disclaimer saying it is legally required). If it isn't a software option, it looks like it would be easy enough to unplug the speaker or maybe it will be on a dedicated fuse that "goes bad". Oops.

 

[voip-ninja]

Can we dial down the drama? It's a requirement to be compliant for new cars in 2020. Nobody is going to try and sneak into your car.

And for cars after 2020, it will be trivially easy for owners to disable if they want to. Like a five minute job.

But for those of you who can't wait and want one now:

Introducing 'EV-Horn'

Lawyers are going to love you.

 

[HankLloydRight]

Lawyers are going to love you.

Please explain.

What's the difference between an owner disabling their own factory installed pedestrian horn and not wearing your seat belt? Or speeding? Or removing/gutting their catalytic converters? Or any one of another thousand of mods people do to their cars to defeat legally mandated restrictions or features?

 

[derotam]

Please explain.

What's the difference between an owner disabling their own factory installed pedestrian horn and not wearing your seat belt? Or speeding? Or removing/gutting their catalytic converters? Or any one of another thousand of mods people do to their cars to defeat legally mandated restrictions or features?

Disabling a safety feature and then hitting someone who says they "didn't hear" your car puts liability on you. Speeding which ends up being a contributing factor to an accident, same thing liability on you.

 

[HankLloydRight]

Note I didn't say that *I* would disable the factory pedestrian horn, only that it was trivially easy for people to do it themselves. FFS, I make and sell a pedestrian horn for Tesla owners, and have sold quite a few and just ordered parts for more.

Disabling a safety feature and then hitting someone who says they "didn't hear" your car puts liability on you.

Yeah, I don't think that actually matters. If you're driving a car and hit a pedestrian, in most cases you're liable anyway, sound or no sound. What about hard-of-hearing people who can't hear the sound anyway? You're assertion is illogical. If any pedestrian, regardless of the actual situation can just say "I didn't hear the car" and avoid any shared liability, everyone would just say that, even if there was a horn and it did make a sound. Most, if not all, states have laws that say pedestrians always have the right of way. Unless you can prove they're trying to pull an insurance scam and you have dashcam footage.

Speeding which ends up being a contributing factor to an accident, same thing liability on you.

Speeding isn't dependent on the subjective testimony of the pedestrian that was hit. That's not an analogy that works. A victim that was injured from a speeding incident can't just say "he was speeding" and have it stick in court.

You guys get all "high and mighty" when you know damn well sure that a large majority of owners are going to quickly disable their factory installed pedestrian horns (or pay someone to do it), or at a minimum, make it switchable so they control when it's on or off (best of both worlds).

 

[derotam]

Note I didn't say that *I* would disable the factory pedestrian horn, only that it was trivially easy for people to do it themselves. FFS, I make and sell a pedestrian horn for Tesla owners, and have sold quite a few and just ordered parts for more.



Yeah, I don't think that actually matters. If you're driving a car and hit a pedestrian, in most cases you're liable anyway, sound or no sound. What about hard-of-hearing people who can't hear the sound anyway? You're assertion is illogical. Most, if not all, states have laws that say pedestrians always have the right of way. Unless you can prove they're trying to pull an insurance scam and you have dashcam footage.

You guys get all "high and mighty" when you know damn well sure that a large majority of owners are going to quickly disable their factory installed pedestrian horns (or pay someone to do it), or at a minimum, make it switchable so they control when it's on or off (best of both worlds).

And everyone who sues anyone for anything is ALWAYS logical.. yeah right. I'm just saying that you potentially increase your liability exposure when you disable a legally required safety device. And saying that pedestrians always have the right of way is a little too simplified. Pedestrians don't ALWAYS have the right of way. This is not to say that when they don't have the right of way that you can just go and hit them.

 

[angelman]

My son was so close to being hit by a Prius in a parking lot. It was an unfortunate situation in that my son was below the line of sight of the driver but the driver just turned on the car and immediately started backing out. Running totally silently under electric power, neither I nor my son had any indication that something was happening until almost too late. I was kind of shocked at how fast it happened and how having no audio feedback from the car that it was moving was such a big deal. that said I would really not be keen to have a constant noise from my Tesla but I certainly see a need for it. I do really try to be extra vigilant in parking lots for pedestrians and constantly remind myself that they most likely have no idea of my presence.

 

[HankLloydRight]

. I'm just saying that you potentially increase your liability exposure when you disable a legally required safety device.

But for hitting a pedestrian, 99% of the time, you're already 100% liable. So there's not much room for increasing liability. If if by some slim chance you're not liable, having or not having the PH, and the subjective testimony of the victim who may or may not have heard it (even if it's on), isn't going to change that.

 

[pcons]

I don't think one car will make that much noise...but imagine a future when there are hundreds of EVs in a parking lot or traffic jam. Multiply the noise from one car by a hundred and see how irritating it becomes.

Instead of a constant noise, I'd be open to the idea of a pedestrian horn such as the Volt had.

Hopefully there will be a software option to disable it on Teslas (with a big disclaimer saying it is legally required). If it isn't a software option, it looks like it would be easy enough to unplug the speaker or maybe it will be on a dedicated fuse that "goes bad". Oops.

Agreed. I did prefer the pedestrian horn on my gen 1 volt.

I guess a solution to the 'too many cars' problem is to only have the sound come on when objects are detected close by and cars are driving at low speed. It will still be quieter than ICE cars driving around a lot by an order of magnitude

 

[voip-ninja]

My son was so close to being hit by a Prius in a parking lot. It was an unfortunate situation in that my son was below the line of sight of the driver but the driver just turned on the car and immediately started backing out. Running totally silently under electric power, neither I nor my son had any indication that something was happening until almost too late. I was kind of shocked at how fast it happened and how having no audio feedback from the car that it was moving was such a big deal. that said I would really not be keen to have a constant noise from my Tesla but I certainly see a need for it. I do really try to be extra vigilant in parking lots for pedestrians and constantly remind myself that they most likely have no idea of my presence.

I am trying to teach my son to watch for reverse lights on cars when he's walking with me in parking lots and garages, he's 4. Unfortunately lots of kids get hit and run over in this country every year because drivers don't see them. I don't know if noisemakers would help or not because these things tend to happen very quickly. Someone is sitting in their car doing something else (playing with their phone) so the pedestrian doesn't see them entering the vehicle. Then they slam the car in reverse and take off in a matter of a second or two.

A few years ago some local teenager did something along those lines in a Chevy Suburban and ran over some poor bastard and killed him.

When I was a college student I was leaving the dorm and I walked behind someone who was illegally parked in the fire zone in front of the building. Just as I stepped off the curb he put the car in reverse and hammered the accelerator, nearly hitting me. The woman who was in the car with him started yelling that he nearly ran me over and he just laughed about it.

 

[iluvmacs]

It's all BS.

People just don't pay attention in parking lots and miss plenty of cars that make noise too. I'm constantly amazed at how oblivious and unaware humans are in basically all circumstances.

I once had a blind person literally walk straight into the hood of my parked, idling ICE vehicle about 15 years ago. I'm not even kidding. Apparently the engine noise wasn't enough.

The noisemakers basically accomplish nothing but annoying people. I disabled it on my Nissan Leaf, and I disabled it on the Plug-in Prius I had before my Tesla.

ICE vehicles are also getting considerably quieter at idle speeds. No laws for them? Hmm.

 

[HankLloydRight]

The noisemakers basically accomplish nothing but annoying people. I disabled it on my Nissan Leaf, and I disabled it on the Plug-in Prius I had before my Tesla.

Lawyers are going to love you.

 

[Camera-Cruiser]

Done and done. (we can load any sound clip you want on the ev-horn)



These are videos of the prototype EV-horn, not the finished product.

I want fog and lasers too please.

 

[HankLloydRight]

I want fog and lasers too please.

It's funny you say that, because I can do fog and lasers! This was our house at halloween

Spoiler: Off-topic video

(I have to work on sound effects for next year)

 

[DanCar]

I am an avid cyclist, I ride thousands of miles a year. I have been passed by many Teslas going very slow to very fast. I have always heard them.

I bicycle or unicycle to work everyday. Sounds like my area is noisier than yours because I don't hear them.