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Should EVs Make Artificial Sounds at Low Speeds?

Discussion in 'Electric Vehicles' started by Brent, Apr 10, 2008.

  1. Ulmo

    Ulmo Active Member

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    Beeps are never the right answer.

    Most construction workers are innoculated against beeps. A beep could be right over them and they would not hear it. The louder the beep, the more they ignore it (because the louder the beeps are, the more omnipresent they are), and the more impossible it is to know where it is coming from. Often on a construction site, you hear one omnidirectional loud screeching continuous constant beep from every direction, as 30 machines all make the same noise. You literally won't survive if you cannot completely ignore the beeps, because you would not do your work, you would get fired, and you would lose your house.
     
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  2. Merrill

    Merrill Merrill

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    I have said this before but do not want artificial noise, when I drive down my narrow country road in my truck people do not pay attention or move off the road, noise or no noise.
     
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  3. JRP3

    JRP3 Hyperactive Member

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    Ah the wonderful sounds of outdated inefficiency. I wonder if early ICE adopters wanted the sounds of horse hooves? ;)
     
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  4. scottm

    scottm Legacy account

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    Talk about EV noises... the squeal of golf carts in reverse is grating on the nerves. Early in the morning... the noise penetrates walls of the lodge where we're sleeping Screeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!
    They don't even pulse just a constant grating sound until the flipping driver decides to put it in Forward direction again.

    This is another place where better-thought-out sounds are needed.
     
  5. daniel

    daniel Active Member

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    Back in the days of DIY EV conversions, you could buy a CD of roaring engine noise. This, in my opinion (no offense intended) is the most obnoxious and offensive concept since loud engines themselves. The peaceful quiet of an electric car is one of the best things about it. And if I had my way, cars with loud engines would be confiscated and crushed.

    With pedestrian detection, the car could shout all that stuff only when somebody was in harm's way. And if Tesla can develop back-of-the-head recognition (like face recognition, but from behind) the car could look up and identify the person by name, and then it could shout (In Elon's voice, of course) "Hey Fred Fickert, you doofus, get out of the way, there's a car coming!"

    Seriously, my Zap Xebra had a backup beeper. It also had an unused toggle switch on the dashboard. I had that toggle wired into the backup beeper so I could disable it. I allowed it to beep when I was backing out of a slot in a parking lot or if there were people around when I was going to back up. And not otherwise. A noisemaker could be tolerable if you can turn it off. There are rare occasions when it would be useful.

    Or two manually-operated car horns: One, the regular horn; and another that says "Car coming. Car coming. Car coming." In Elon's voice, of course.
     
  6. cgiGuy

    cgiGuy Active Member

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    The only problem is that the warning will be 10 minutes before the event that requires it. Tesla Time. :)
     
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  7. brianman

    brianman Burrito Founder

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    I miss it about as much as someone yelling at me when I'm getting a backrub. (Meaning, I don't miss it at all... and I've had a few performance Tesla vehicles so far.) Different strokes I suppose.
     
  8. scottm

    scottm Legacy account

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    An Audi R8 or something like that was passing me on the right yesterday (I was slowing to turn left) and he lifted off throttle as he drove by and that engine exhaust cracked and puked so loud it made me jump out of my skin. And I'm not easily frightened by noises... it was like a gunshots. I could tell the driver just loved this stuff - intentionally speeding up just so he could slow again and brap fart smack ... chuck smack... ooo.. just so lovely. I wondered if a stock Audi is really that shitty at muffling sound or if he did some aftermarket thing to make it louder.

    I miss nothing about "exhaust notes"... it's clinging to the past. Dinosaurs once roared over the lands.
     
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  9. brianman

    brianman Burrito Founder

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    I must admit: If the regulation sounds were more like a Jurassic Park raptor than an ICE engine, I might be more ok with it.
     
  10. JRP3

    JRP3 Hyperactive Member

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  11. cucubits

    cucubits Active Member

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    Late to the party but here's my answer to the question in the title:

    No, EVs should not have to make fake sounds. A good solution would be to make all EVs have proper pedestrian collision avoidance systems which slam on the brakes under certain speeds. At medium/higher speeds, tire noise alone is enough to hear it coming.
     
  12. HankLloydRight

    HankLloydRight No Roads

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    That's for pedestrian collision avoidance. That doesn't help oblivious people walking down a parking lane who don't hear your car and won't get out of the way... and using the regular horn is too loud and obnoxious. There are lots of use-cases which aren't just pedestrian collision avoidance.
     
  13. cucubits

    cucubits Active Member

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    Ok, I hadn't thought of this scenario. In that case a more "friendly" 2nd horn would work well.
     
  14. daniel

    daniel Active Member

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    I would like a "more friendly" second horn. But let me tell a true story: The little Zap Xebra was absolutely dead quite at slow speeds (the tires made the only noise otherwise). Not wanting to blow the horn at pedestrians, I dug out a wooden "train" whistle I had bought at an arts fair. It makes four notes at once like a train. When coming up behind pedestrians I would blow my train-whistle out the open window. And 9 times out of ten they remained completely oblivious.

    I think that a recorded voice "Car coming!" that repeats more shrilly each time as you hold the button, like in the movie Roger Rabbit when the bad guy gets dissolved in the acetone. Or that could be triggered by a pedestrian sensor.
     
  15. wdolson

    wdolson Well-Known Member

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    There is another thread about this. Apparently all Model 3s built after Sept 1 of this year have the noise makers. I don't know about Model S or X.

    The law requiring the noise makers is, IMO, poor. It requires these things always be on at low speeds and always be installed on some cars. The law should require some kind of noise maker be installed on all cars, and the driver should have the ability to turn it on or off at will. However if you want to enforce their use, make the driver liable if the device was off and there was an accident that might have been avoided if it was on. Or require them to be on in any situation where you might encounter pedestrians and you get a ticket if it isn't.

    I think about the seat belt laws. My father has always been a bit OCD about safety. He bought cars with seat belts when they were an option. He also bought the option for headrests before they were required. He came close to buying one of the Oldsmobiles with the first air bags, but wasn't really in the market for a car the few years they were available.

    We had a 1974 Chevy that had one of the first seat belt warning devices. In this car, you couldn't put the car into gear without the seat belts buckled. We didn't have a garage door opener then, so you had to open the garage, belt up to pull the car out of the garage, take off the belt, close the garage door, then get in the car, put the belt back on and drive off. It was so annoying my safety crazy father had that disabled.

    As time went on states started passing seat belt laws and now you can't really be on the street without your seat belt on. But you can move your car at your house without having to put on your seat belt. If you want to risk it you can technically drive around without one on, but there is always a chance you'll get a ticket.
     
  16. daniel

    daniel Active Member

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    I put on my seat belt before I start my car. Or in the case of the Model 3, I put my seat belt on before I step on the brake to put the car in gear. And I require my passengers to do the same. If I'm just moving the car ten feet to switch cars around (when I had more than one) I put my seat belt on. There were a few days when my garage door opener was not working. I put my seat belt on before starting the car, pulled out, took the belt off to close the garage door, then put it back on before driving away. On returning, after opening the garage door, I put my seat belt back on to drive into the garage.

    Almost everybody I know gets in, starts their car, starts to drive away, and then puts on the belt while driving. Drives me nuts.

    I had a friend who refused to wear a seat belt. The one time we tried to go somewhere in my car we just sat there for five minutes, while I refused to start the car until he was buckled in, and he refused. We finally realized it wasn't going to work, and we went in his car. But only once: He drove like a frigging maniac and I never got in his car again.
     
  17. cucubits

    cucubits Active Member

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    Wonder if this is just in the EU or the US too?
    In any case, should be an easy "fix" to unplug the speaker...
     
  18. wdolson

    wdolson Well-Known Member

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    I'm relatively safety conscious, but don't bother with seat belts pulling the car out of the garage. I usually put on my seat belt while waiting for the garage door to close. When it's cold and raining in the winter I often stop the car at the mailbox up the street (a couple hundred feet from the house) and grab the mail when coming back and don't bother putting the seat belt back on to drive the couple hundred feet to the house. It's a cul-de-sac and my car is the only one on the street. I'm also not getting above 5 mph. I don't see the point.

    But to each their own, different people have different habits. You're way involves a few more steps, but doesn't do any harm to anyone.

    There is a law coming for the US, so it's probably on US destined cars too.
     
  19. daniel

    daniel Active Member

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    It takes two seconds to fasten or unfasten the seat belt, and it develops the habit. Accidents always happen when you don't expect them.
     
  20. brianman

    brianman Burrito Founder

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    Not always true. Sometimes you can see it coming, sometimes in what feels like slow motion.
     

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