EU Low Speed Noise Generator

[Billbo]

Hi All,

First-time poster here. Shareholder for 5 years; and my next car will likely be a Model 3 when its time to upgrade.

Some of you may have seen the news regarding a fake engine noise required under EU law whilst traveling at low speeds. (I'm not sure if I'm allowed to post links to news websites following a reading of the Forum rules; are Electrek and The Verge considered TMC competing sites?)

Anyway; does anybody know what would happen to an owner if they removed the speaker; and then got into an accident. Would you be held responsible for someone stepping out in front of your car?

Secondary Question:

Without getting into any Brexit mudslinging. How will Brexit impact the above legislation; and the 10% import tariff?

 

[Tony Hoyle]

There's currently no speaker in the UK model 3s and it's not required to as it was type approved before the law came into effect. You're almost always considered responsible for someone stepping out in front of your car (remember this only affects speeds <12mph, giving decent reaction times.. not to mention the Tesla has collission avoidance..) so it wouldn't really change much.

The legislation is an implementation of UNECE regulation 138, of which the UK is an independent signatory so brexit might change the wording but not the effect of the law, since we'd still bring it in independently.

 

[BogBeast]

I for one am looking at employing someone to march in front of my M3P (when it finally arrives...) with a red flag...

 

[Billbo]

Thanks Tony;

That's good news. I can see the topic has been more widely discussed elsewhere but seems like it would be more nuisance than life-saver.

I'd be interested to know if such a deliberate user-modification would lead to more severe punishment or an assumption of guilt; where a car built without would not.

 

[Billbo]

I for one am looking at employing someone to march in front of my M3P (when it finally arrives...) with a red flag...

Seems like the only sensible solution. I've actually been looking forward to the relative silence that urban centers would experience when mass transport turns electric, but seems that hope has been dashed somewhat. Constant background noise has surely got to increase peoples stress levels.

 

[BogBeast]

Seems like the only sensible solution. I've actually been looking forward to the relative silence that urban centers would experience when mass transport turns electric, but seems that hope has been dashed somewhat. Constant background noise has surely got to increase peoples stress levels.

The irony is that the people who would most likely benefit from the lack of noise in an urban environment are the very people who gormlessly walk out into the road (usually glued to a smartphone) in front of traffic....

 

[ewoodrick]

The irony is that the people who would most likely benefit from the lack of noise in an urban environment are the very people who gormlessly walk out into the road (usually glued to a smartphone) in front of traffic....

That's what the horn is for. And it's really fun to see them get freaked out!!!

 

[navt]

Three separate threads on the same matter and counting.

 

[BogBeast]

Three separate threads on the same matter and counting.

I like this thread the best...

 

[Billbo]

Three separate threads on the same matter and counting.

Apologies. I did have a specific question though

 

[Rhian]

At the moment I have an ice car waiting on m3 delivery, but with regards to noise emission I have the same problem : so even with an ice car, driving at a very low speed in the narrow road in our village behind pedestrians (no curbs) they sometimes can’t even hear my car behind them. I find the sounding my horn a bit rude so I wind the windows down and put the music a bit louder in hope they would budge

 

[navt]

Apologies. I did have a specific question though

Don't apologise - I'm not a mod.

 

[BogBeast]

At the moment I have an ice car waiting on m3 delivery, but with regards to noise emission I have the same problem : so even with an ice car, driving at a very low speed in the narrow road in our village behind pedestrians (no curbs) they sometimes can’t even hear my car behind them. I find the sounding my horn a bit rude so I wind the windows down and put the music a bit louder in hope they would budge

It's a fair point. A lot of modern ICE cars are very quiet. And yet there is is no eurocrat clamour for them to be equipped with noise generators..

 

[MrBadger]

I think the title of the most up to date versions of this regulation dropped the specific reference to EV and changed it to 'quiet'. I've not yet seen the latest regs, but there is certainly scope to extend it to a wider selection of vehicles and by how loud they are irrespective of the propulsion method. The only body of text I read was very specific to being driven by electric motors, be it powered from battery, hybrid or fuel cell. Hope it extends to other forms of quiet propulsion.

Thankfully I am typing this from comfort of my sofa not from a hospital bed. Today, I was saved from being flattened in a supermarket car park because I heard the roar from a diesel engine. Made me stop dead in my tracks as some young girl accelerated in front of me having come from behind me (I think by virtue of the sound) having been stationary at give way markings at exit of next row of bays. I didn't see her until well after I heard her and she clearly didn't expect to come across pedestrians walking across a car park... If I had not heard the sound, I would have been hit from rear at 5-10 mph.

70db, sound of a shower or dishwasher apparently, slightly louder than a conversation. Hardly intrusive and only at >0 to <= 20km/h.

 

[navt]

Also, visually impaired and their guide dogs.

 

[Penfold]

I for one hate the thought of the Acoustic Vehicle Alerting System (AVAS) but I also have high respect for the visually impaired and realise how important their hearing is and how much they rely on noise.

I agree with above posts that some ICE cars are crazy quiet these days so should also get something but we know that won’t happen.

I would be willing to get AVAS fitted to my Model S today if something was available but needs to be integrated and as funny as a bleating goat may be as long as the noise isn’t crazy intrusive inside the car and not too loud outside to make it sound like a dragster then lets get it done.

We also have to think about the stupid people that don’t use their eyes when they can due to being stuck in their mobile phone screens - many a time I have had to manoeuvre at slow speeds due to donuts on their phones.

What happened about having green number plates for fully electric cars hahaha

 

[ACarneiro]

I’d love the green number plate thing.
Adds to the whole smug feeling.

Now I just need to become a vegan and my transformation into “that guy” be complete

 

[WannabeOwner]

Now I just need to become a vegan and my transformation into “that guy” be complete

We've been trying to be Eco for some time. Apart from being ahead of the pack I'm not sure how well we are doing ...

When we moved into this house 12+ years ago I started reading the meters each week (and making the Geeky Spreadsheet ) and we cut Electricity by 50%, Heating Oil by a fair bit and then changed to Biomass ... moved from sports cars to Eco Boxes (and got shafted by DieslGate never ever buying a VW again), reduced aeroplane flights and meat-meals and some other stuff ...

So I thought it was time to reassess whether what we have done is enough ... or pitiful ... so I've bought a book Looks like as a family we need to reduce CO2 impact by 85% but as I haven't read the book yet I can't tell you how steep that rock-uphill-slope looks.

But I rather think I'm on a transformation to become "that guy" too

 

[pgkevet]

I live way out in the sticks with single track hilly roads and tight bends for 3 miles to the nearest 'town' and with farm kit and stray sheep its a gentle run to get a paper with a slow crawl around any corner. Yesterday a cyclist barrelled downhill and round a blind corner and I had to put my S almost into the hedge to give him swerving room. He was going at least twice as fast as I was so i say cyclists need klaxons too!

My wife is Vegan and gets quite upset when i look through her shopping and point out all the stuff that she's bought that would have been imported by air from foreign lands (out off season fruit and veg) or made by low paid foreign workers (a form of slavery by proxy). Being environmentally aware is not that straighforward any more.

 

[WannabeOwner]

all the stuff that she's bought that would have been imported by air from foreign lands (out off season fruit and veg)

Buy her an allotment subscription for her birthday?

I'll get my coat!