M3 Pedestrian Warning Sound PWS

[Glan gluaisne]

One of our neighbours is partially sighted and uses a guide dog. Back when I still had a Prius Plug-in I asked her if the lack of engine noise was a problem. Her reply was that her dog always heard/sensed any car long before she did, and the lack of engine noise wasn't at all a problem.

My observations from having driven various Prius models from 2005 is that it's reverse that is the major problem, and not with partially sighted people, either. When I got my first Prius it was very common for people to walk across the rear of the car as I was about to reverse out of a parking space. Within 5 years or so this problem reduced, probably because of the increasing number of hybrids around and people getting used to them being silent when reversing. Now the problem of people walking behind without checking to see if the car's reversing lights are on is far less frequent than it used to be. In the year I've had the i3 I don't think there's been a single incident like this.

I still think that a reversing sound is a good idea, but from what I remember when this was discussed years ago, on a Prius forum, there's some law that restricts the use of external reversing warnings on cars. Not sure if that's still true, though.

 

[nightowl]

Just install a wireless doorbell in your frunk if you are that worried.

LOL I can just imagine myself wondering why a car is going "ding dong!"
(But of course one that plays custom sounds would probably make more sense and also could be more amusing...)

 

[Glan gluaisne]

LOL I can just imagine myself wondering why a car is going "ding dong!"
(But of course one that plays custom sounds would probably make more sense and also could be more amusing...)

Every Wednesday morning the refuse/recycling truck reverses down our lane. You can get very fed up with hearing "WARNING this vehicle is reversing" followed by two loud beeps, repeated every few seconds...

 

[TomD]

I will just leave this here...

Isolation Kit for the PWS (Pedestrian Warning System)

 

[Jason71]

I will just leave this here...

Isolation Kit for the PWS (Pedestrian Warning System)

Those are basically just the same male and female connectors that the speaker connects with using with blanking plugs where the cables go. So basically you can unplug then plug these into the male and female instead so they are not connected but cannot get wet or dirty.
Clever and a good profit margin as well. Wholesale those parts cost pennies

 

[JCremonini]

Well, I don’t want it on my car and will disable it if it’s on it ( which I doubt as I’ve said before that the internal Tesla memo stated US market cars only).

If the noise was configurable and it didn’t sound like a demented spaceship in reverse it would not bother me so much.

 

[Jason71]

I will just leave this here...

Isolation Kit for the PWS (Pedestrian Warning System)

here you go these are the same parts on RS:

1-1703498-1 | TE Connectivity MCON 1.2 Series, 1 Row 2 Way In-Line Mount Plug Housing | RS Components £1 + VAT each

https://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/automotive-connectors/9097785/ £1.42 +VAT for 5

963143-1 | TE Connectivity Quadlock Series Cavity Plug for Automotive Connectors | RS Components £0.13 + VAT for 10

 

[Adopado]

Just install a wireless doorbell in your frunk if you are that worried.

Actually not a bad idea! Rather than having a sound that automatically comes on it would be good to have something that you can activate with a button (but not the horn) when required. Exactly the same principle of riding a bicycle with a bell .. the bell doesn't continuously sound below a certain speed, just when you need to let someone know you are there.

 

[CurtisVL]

Personally I’d rather have it, at least if you’ve got it you have the choice, you can easily reduce the volume by taping over the speaker grill under the car if it needs toning down a bit, but as others have said I doubt if it will be necessary. I’d much rather have this noise as I’m reversing out of my drive on a dark winters morning!

I think I'm more concerned about waking up the neighbors and my parents when reversing out of my drive...

That thing is loud! At least from the video, I watched, yet to hear it in person! Hoping it'll be different.

 

[alanbyvale]

I think I'm more concerned about waking up the neighbors and my parents when reversing out of my drive...

That thing is loud! At least from the video, I watched, yet to hear it in person! Hoping it'll be different.

As far as I know it is not legal to have a reversing sound on UK cars. Only allowed on vans and above. We should only have the forward direction sound. Personally I think a sound on reverse is more useful than a forward facing sound.

 

[CurtisVL]

As far as I know it is not legal to have a reversing sound on UK cars. Only allowed on vans and above. We should only have the forward direction sound. Personally I think a sound on reverse is more useful than a forward facing sound.

I just wish the forward sound was the same as the reverse one!

I understand that it's better to make people known of your presence whilst reversing, but it's really obnoxious in comparison to the forward sound which sounds like you have the AC on full!

The forward sound I'm fine with, but I disagree that it should only be fitted on electric cars. Especially in Europe, mostly all modern cars make no more noise than tyre noise until the car is right up next to you. Having an electric car that in reverse is significantly louder than any none-electric car seems insane.

I'll just have to wait to hear it in person, I'll be sure to post back with my thoughts when I do. I really hope it differs from my thoughts now, of course, I can learn to deal with it regardless. It certainly doesn't make me want the car any less.

 

[MrBadger]

As far as I know it is not legal to have a reversing sound on UK cars. Only allowed on vans and above.

Which contradicts New noise systems to stop ‘silent’ electric cars and improve safety

Sound generators will produce a specified level of noise when they are reversing or running below 20 km/h (about 12mph). The sound generated will be similar to that made by a conventional engine and can be temporarily deactivated by the driver if judged necessary.

 

[CurtisVL]

'Can be temporarily deactivated by the driver'?
So this might become like the 'Eco' button that people generally turn off as soon as they get in but it's reactivated each time?
(Or maybe that's just me? I didn't do long journeys so stop-start would destroy my battery!)

I think personally I'd prefer it to be optional but enabled by default. My driveway is pretty close to next door's house, it'd easily get annoying for them whenever I leave late at night for work, that would be a legitimate reason to disable it temporarily.

 

[Durzel]

The forward sound I'm fine with, but I disagree that it should only be fitted on electric cars. Especially in Europe, mostly all modern cars make no more noise than tyre noise until the car is right up next to you. Having an electric car that in reverse is significantly louder than any none-electric car seems insane.

This is pretty much my beef with it too, that and the fact that existing cars aren’t required to have it either.

 

[Generator]

Existing cars don’t have to have ABS, indicators, airbags, disc brakes, or even seatbelts if they weren’t built with them, so there’s a level of consistency there.

 

[mrbduk]

The more I drive the car, the more I want the pedestrian warning sound. Apart from the obvious safety aspects (its only a matter of time before someone walks out from behind a van etc into our path) it would save a lot of time in crawling behind people who do not realise that you are there - yes a very real problem.

Tend to agree, but it would be nice to have a button to trigger a noise on demand - not loud like a horn but more like a bicycle bell. Or better still, if the car detected when pedestrians were ahead and triggered the right volume of noise in the right direction at the right time to alert them to the car's presence.

 

[CurtisVL]

Tend to agree, but it would be nice to have a button to trigger a noise on demand - not loud like a horn but more like a bicycle bell. Or better still, if the car detected when pedestrians were ahead and triggered the right volume of noise in the right direction at the right time to alert them to the car's presence.

That would be nice actually!

It'd be more like how the bell is used on trains. Activated when moving to let people around know you're moving.

 

[NorfolkMustard]

Everything has been done on the internet