Should EVs Make Artificial Sounds at Low Speeds?

[davidew98]

Saw this stick, wanted to vote... NO, sorry I haven't read thru the thread yet.

YES, I say they should have sounds of some sort.

People automatically think the sound is for stupid pedestrians who are walking around not paying attention, this is not true! The sound is mainly for blind people who can't see the quiet car coming.

My wife is blind and I know I for one would flip my lid if I found out someone hit her driving an EV that had the Ped Speaker removed/disconnected.

Bare in mind, manufacturers were mandated to install a safety feature the ped speaker. This is like when they were mandated to install another safety feature (belts). With that said per law in some states, it is illegal to remove or alter any safety features. You can't disable airbags, safety belts or anything. If a cop found it they would right you up for a safety violation and send you for a mandatory safety inspection. With this said, to the point I made above about someone hitting my wife with the speaker disconnected or removed, I'd be one to press charges for attempted manslaughter!

I'm a diehard EVer and Tesla fan. I'm not saying this to be a DICK! I'm saying this because I'm passionate about my wife's safety and her blind peers safety!

 

[JRP3]

Are you as passionate about hybrids and quiet ICE's which don't have noise makers and are just as silent as EV's?

 

[wk057]

I think the potential danger is greatly exaggerated. You'd be hard pressed to convince many people, myself included, of such a danger.

It's not like a Tesla (or any other EV for that matter) is completely silent when moving, especially at any speed likely to cause injury. I'm not blind (and by this I mean that I have no reason to focus more on hearing for safety than vision), but I can easily hear a Tesla moving in the distance with no artificial sound. Like, I'm reasonably certain you could blindfold me and try to injure me with a Tesla in a semi-realistic scenario (like, crossing a street), and not succeed. At speeds over a couple MPH, the cars are clearly hearable. At under a couple MPH they could potentially be pretty silent, but this is extremely unlikely on a real driving surface where you're going to hear grit and such under the tires... and I highly doubt anyone is in danger of being seriously injured at the speeds where it'd be as quiet as possible.

A Tesla moving at 10-20 MPH without fake sound is pretty comparable to the sound of any other modern ICE vehicle at the same speed these days. In fact, I think there are ICE vehicles that may be even quieter. This whole sound-for-safety BS is just that, BS. It's to single out EVs and stigmatize something about them to stifle adoption.

Are you as passionate about hybrids and quiet ICE's which don't have noise makers and are just as silent as EV's?

^ This.

I'm glad Tesla at least managed to program in some fun alternate uses of the pointless external speaker... which I've dutifully killed on my own applicable vehicles and don't feel an ounce of regret about it.

 

[EVer Hopeful]

Saw this stick, wanted to vote... NO, sorry I haven't read thru the thread yet.

You might not find this funny, but I have to say I can see the amusing side of it:


A mate of mine was driving home from work one day and was on a fairly fast straight stretch of road when a pedestrian stepped out in front of him. He slammed on his brakes, managed to stop before he hit the person, but now had some emotional stress he needed to relieve himself of, so (as you do) he wound down his window and shouted "OI! Are you fu****g BLIND?????"

. . . then he noticed the white stick

 

[drtimhill]

My wife is blind and I know I for one would flip my lid if I found out someone hit her driving an EV that had the Ped Speaker removed/disconnected.

But in fact you are arguing for a law that says QUIET cars need a noise maker. There are many ICE cars that are as quiet (at low speed), but they aren't required to fit them, which is stupid.

 

[davidew98]

You might not find this funny, but I have to say I can see the amusing side of it:


A mate of mine was driving home from work one day and was on a fairly fast straight stretch of road when a pedestrian stepped out in front of him. He slammed on his brakes, managed to stop before he hit the person, but now had some emotional stress he needed to relieve himself of, so (as you do) he wound down his window and shouted "OI! Are you fu****g BLIND?????"

. . . then he noticed the white stick

No, we all make mistakes! The blind person included. but they can't catch all good moments to cross a street. I'd have to have my wife explain the technic... something like wait for perpendical traffic to stop, wait for parallel to start but they still ahve to be mindful of right turns! I don't have all of it!

 

[davidew98]

But in fact you are arguing for a law that says QUIET cars need a noise maker. There are many ICE cars that are as quiet (at low speed), but they aren't required to fit them, which is stupid.

about the "other" quite cars, as far as I'm aware (have not read the laws myself) it's any EV/hybrid that is below ## decibels at speeds below 30 mph that need the PED speaker. As for other quite ice cars, I'm not aware of 100% pure ICE cars that are quite from the manufacturer. Yeah you can mod them and put exhaust devices on to make them quite but was not aware they're quite out the gate! I'm not saying 1 not the other I do agree that if the law is poorly written it should be made right.

There was a note about tesla making fun noises with their ped speaker, guess again, NHTSA recalled it and told tesla to remove jukebox! they were afraid people would load blank or 0 volume sounds to cancel out the ped speaker. My thought on that was set it up that if the sound you create is softer then the ped sound, also play the ped sound... if your sound is louder then the ped sound then turn ped sound off and play your sound! all can be controlled thru software! But, NOPE... off with their heads! Don't get me started with NHTSA!

 

[stopcrazypp]

But in fact you are arguing for a law that says QUIET cars need a noise maker. There are many ICE cars that are as quiet (at low speed), but they aren't required to fit them, which is stupid.

That's my main objection originally, quiet ICE care should be forced to add noisemakers too if it's really an issue. That EVs are singled out sucks.

 

[stopcrazypp]

about the "other" quite cars, as far as I'm aware (have not read the laws myself) it's any EV/hybrid that is below ## decibels at speeds below 30 mph that need the PED speaker. As for other quite ice cars, I'm not aware of 100% pure ICE cars that are quite from the manufacturer. Yeah you can mod them and put exhaust devices on to make them quite but was not aware they're quite out the gate! I'm not saying 1 not the other I do agree that if the law is poorly written it should be made right.

There was a note about tesla making fun noises with their ped speaker, guess again, NHTSA recalled it and told tesla to remove jukebox! they were afraid people would load blank or 0 volume sounds to cancel out the ped speaker. My thought on that was set it up that if the sound you create is softer then the ped sound, also play the ped sound... if your sound is louder then the ped sound then turn ped sound off and play your sound! all can be controlled thru software! But, NOPE... off with their heads! Don't get me started with NHTSA!

People are talking about higher end ICE cars like Rolls Royce and top end Mercedes with more noise insulation. They should be forced to add noise makers too if this is really a safety issue, instead of targeting only EVs and certain hybrids.

 

[Candleflame]

Saw this stick, wanted to vote... NO, sorry I haven't read thru the thread yet.

YES, I say they should have sounds of some sort.

People automatically think the sound is for stupid pedestrians who are walking around not paying attention, this is not true! The sound is mainly for blind people who can't see the quiet car coming.

My wife is blind and I know I for one would flip my lid if I found out someone hit her driving an EV that had the Ped Speaker removed/disconnected.

Bare in mind, manufacturers were mandated to install a safety feature the ped speaker. This is like when they were mandated to install another safety feature (belts). With that said per law in some states, it is illegal to remove or alter any safety features. You can't disable airbags, safety belts or anything. If a cop found it they would right you up for a safety violation and send you for a mandatory safety inspection. With this said, to the point I made above about someone hitting my wife with the speaker disconnected or removed, I'd be one to press charges for attempted manslaughter!

I'm a diehard EVer and Tesla fan. I'm not saying this to be a DICK! I'm saying this because I'm passionate about my wife's safety and her blind peers safety!

Many ice cars dont make much noise and teslas are VERY noisy at low speeds due to high weight and wideish tires....

 

[DblOSmith]

My initial answer is "No." (roll credits)

Directed by: Quentin Tarantino
Daniel Craig as Elon Musk
Samuel L. Jackson as Me

...on the other hand, there have been about a dozen time, I've been behind an elderly person or a kid on a bike that was completely oblivious walking in the middle of the road and I had to choose between honking rudely or just being waiting forever for them to notice. Maybe a sound would be beneficial?

 

[Merrill]

The sound thing on EV’s is stupid, I drive down our narrow country road in my F-150 and people don’t hear me and if they do they still don’t move out of the middle of the road.

 

[daniel]

My initial answer is "No." (roll credits)

Directed by: Quentin Tarantino
Daniel Craig as Elon Musk
Samuel L. Jackson as Me

...on the other hand, there have been about a dozen time, I've been behind an elderly person or a kid on a bike that was completely oblivious walking in the middle of the road and I had to choose between honking rudely or just being waiting forever for them to notice. Maybe a sound would be beneficial?

All cars, not just EVs, need a secondary "horn." The loud horn that says "HEY! WATCH OUT! YOU'RE ABOUT TO HIT ME!!!" And a quieter, more polite sound, that says "Hello, I'm right behind you. Could you give me some space, please?"

OTOH, a lot of people are just oblivious. When I was driving my Zap Xebra I bought a wooden train whistle. It was basically four whistles in one that made a sound like a train whistle. I used it in parking lots, and people didn't get out of the way, didn't look, didn't even flinch.

 

[DblOSmith]

All cars, not just EVs, need a secondary "horn." The loud horn that says "HEY! WATCH OUT! YOU'RE ABOUT TO HIT ME!!!" And a quieter, more polite sound, that says "Hello, I'm right behind you. Could you give me some space, please?"

OTOH, a lot of people are just oblivious. When I was driving my Zap Xebra I bought a wooden train whistle. It was basically four whistles in one that made a sound like a train whistle. I used it in parking lots, and people didn't get out of the way, didn't look, didn't even flinch.

Completely agree. That's what I hate about that whole steering wheel airbag horns like in Tesla/Ford/etc. I loved the horn buttons in the early 90's Hondas. Much easier to beep/toot the horn if needed.

 

[tccartier]

All cars, not just EVs, need a secondary "horn." The loud horn that says "HEY! WATCH OUT! YOU'RE ABOUT TO HIT ME!!!" And a quieter, more polite sound, that says "Hello, I'm right behind you. Could you give me some space, please?"

OTOH, a lot of people are just oblivious. When I was driving my Zap Xebra I bought a wooden train whistle. It was basically four whistles in one that made a sound like a train whistle. I used it in parking lots, and people didn't get out of the way, didn't look, didn't even flinch.

That's what the car horn is for. Just a quick toot or a couple of toots does the trick. The only time someone is going to think they're about to die is if you lay on the horn.

 

[terranx]

Legislation should either be that all vehicles that make under x decibels be equipped with a noise maker or not have the law at all. Singling out EVs is inconsistent.

 

[drtimhill]

Legislation should either be that all vehicles that make under x decibels be equipped with a noise maker or not have the law at all. Singling out EVs is inconsistent.

.. except when you are a politician being supported by ICE car makers .. then its suddenly VERY consistent (with your fund-raising goals).

 

[meomyo]

neighbor down the street has a lexus rz450..and it sounds like a jet whine when it drives by...i though i read they tuned the motors ti sound like that??? Odd as to me ev should be dead silent like my model s is...slight whine when taking off but not really noticible...where as the lexus is loud whine wise...maybe they think thats cool?

 

[ultramantaro]

neighbor down the street has a lexus rz450..and it sounds like a jet whine when it drives by...i though i read they tuned the motors ti sound like that??? Odd as to me ev should be dead silent like my model s is...slight whine when taking off but not really noticible...where as the lexus is loud whine wise...maybe they think thats cool?

I know this is an old thread but the RZ450 isn't out yet. I'm assuming you are referring to the RX450 hybrid. All Toyota hybrids AFAIK make that artificial whine when it's using its electric motor for safety purpose - to let pedestrians know a car is nearby. I've owned a couple (non plugin and plugin) Prius over the years and that is its sole purpose.

 

[DownshiftDre]

My opinion and my opinion only is give me 6+ or so sound options in the menu and I will select one I like. I like the implementation sound on the Taycan. The “shhhh” static white noise sound on Tesla sounds cheap to me and not with the modern times.