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Just like cell phones with custom ring tones, EVs and hybrids could play recordings of noisy gas guzzlers (http://usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/cars-trucks/daily-news/080625-Feds-Considering-Rules-to-Make-Hybrids-Louder/)

http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/501/Blind_and_Prius_.jpgUS News & World Report – Aug 25, 2008

See also V8 Roar to Prius coming soon (http://usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/cars-trucks/daily-news/080806-Prius-Soon-will-Offer-V8-Roar/). Lots of different thoughts about this issue...aren't gas cars pretty quiet too? What about equipping the blind with a sensor instead? -- Ed.

Federal auto safety regulators at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration began hearings Monday on how to address a new safety concern. The meeting illustrates the unique challenges automakers face as they try to replace the internal combustion engine with something more efficient. The problem? Electric cars, and hybrid cars able to run up to significant speeds on electric power alone are quiet. Too quiet.

The Seattle Times (http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2008013900_hybrids24.html) explains, "Advocates for the blind want the government to set minimum sound standards for new cars and trucks, pointing to potential safety hazards for blind pedestrians who can't hear silent gas-electric hybrid vehicles." Deborah Kent Stein of the National Federation of the Blind told regulators, "For us, these cars are invisible."
…http://usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/cars-trucks/daily-news/080625-Feds-Considering-Rules-to-Make-Hybrids-Louder/

I do remember up at the WFEC a Prius while in silent mode running over one of the eight week old kittens. They do have some point, but people are (supposed to be) infinitely smarter than kittens.

Give them a sensor. It's far cheaper than changing millions of cars than to give a few thousand beepers.

Every year, about 40,000 Americans are killed on the roads. In a numbers game, the most effective way to reduce the body bags is to be less tolerant of druggies and drunks, make holding a driver's license something that is earned - like in Germany.

Every year, about 40,000 Americans are killed on the roads. In a numbers game, the most effective way to reduce the body bags is to be less tolerant of druggies and drunks, make holding a driver's license something that is earned - like in Germany.

I am all for cracking down on DUI's and other druggies but with the final point, here moreso than in Germany or the rest of Europe, we're too car-dependent not to make the driver's license reasonably easy to get. If we had the mass-transit infrastructure or population density like in Europe I'd agree on all fronts.

If I lost my license tomorrow from DUI then I'm ****ed. I wouldn't be able to get to class and the lack of public transport means...well, you get the idea.

Bleh, noise pollution is a problem for people living near crowded streets and the last thing we need is to intentionally make what is for more than 99% of the people that hear it, useless noise. There has to be a much better solution. A simple FM proximity transmitter could be installed in every hybrid for about $5-10 that blind pedestrians could then use a detector to detect.

I don't care how quiet these cars are. There is no way in the world a Prius is going to sneak up on a dog!
Besides, it doesn't matter how big the fine, people are going to disconnect the noise makers anyway so put the responsibility back into the hands of the people who want it. Give them sensors or have them rely on a seeing-eye dog.

Wonder if they will let us make our own custom warning sounds. Like a golf cart, Indy car, swamp buggy, etc. Probably be some weird high pitched make babies and dogs cry sound.

I don't care how quiet these cars are. There is no way in the world a Prius is going to sneak up on a dog!
Besides, it doesn't matter how big the fine, people are going to disconnect the noise makers anyway so put the responsibility back into the hands of the people who want it. Give them sensors or have them rely on a seeing-eye dog.

PROBLEMS:

1. Some people don't like dogs.
2. Not all blind people can get service dogs.
3. SOME PEOPLE ARE ALLERGIC TO DOGS. It's rare but there are a few documented cases of it. GOOGLE it.

And, like Elixir said, the technology is there...USE IT.

Keep the hybrids silent. Put a transmitter on the hybrid and have the blind person carry a detector.

If I lost my license tomorrow from DUI then I'm ****ed. I wouldn't be able to get to class and the lack of public transport means...well, you get the idea.

+1, except I wouldn't be able to get to work either. My guess is that most DUI offenders that get their license suspended just keep on driving anyway. I mean basically, you're ok as long as you don't get pulled over again.

Anyways for the blind people, all they gotta do is start making all crosswalks make that beeping noise. Yeah here at the UT campus the crosswalks beep when it's ok to cross, and it doesn't seem like it would be that hard to do with other intersections. Hmm, it's not a 4way intersection though, but I'm sure they could get it all setup to where it would be hard to mistake the beep for being ok to cross the other way. Blind people are still screwed in parking lots though with my solution.

Yeah here at the UT campus the crosswalks beep when it's ok to cross, and it doesn't seem like it would be that hard to do with other intersections. Hmm, it's not a 4way intersection though, but I'm sure they could get it all setup to where it would be hard to mistake the beep for being ok to cross the other way. Blind people are still screwed in parking lots though with my solution.


Actually that's not a bad idea, either.

Yeah now that I think about it, aren't they working on that directional sound technology? Like speaker guns that can be pointed and only heard where they're pointed at? See that's a simple solution for crosswalks.

Hi All,

This whole issue is a hysterical reaction to change. The statistcs show that noise is many times not a protector of pedestrians. Pickup Trucks and SUVs cause the greatest pedestrian carnage according the NTHSAs own data. Primarily by rolling backwards over children, often times driven by the parents of those children. Where is the NTHSA action on PU and SUV pedestrian deaths? There is none. Why because PU and SUVs have been around for decades and decades, and their appauling lack of modern pedeestrian safety features is accepted. Now comes along a new kinda of vehicle, and there is instant uncalled for action. In particular, the Prius has the rear view camera, and the gusset placed windows which improve visibilty. I myself was almost hit by a reversing PU truck while out on a walk this week, and only through the use of sight was I able to make a quick turn into a shielded area. In the west suburban Chicagoland suburbs a few years ago a kid saw his dad smashed to death by a reverse moving PU truck that the dad was receiveing at a dealarship after just buying.

This whole action is politically motivated and will result in negliable, if any improvement in pedestrian safety. If these politicians were seriously concerned about pedestrian saftey, they would mandate the IMEDIATE MANDATORY RETROFIT OF ALL SUV AND PICKUP TRUCKS WITH REAR VIEW CAMERAS.

The problem is people aren't paying attention. This lack of consideration for their environment is one of the roots of many of our problems.

If you can't pay enough attention to what's going on around you to see a 3000 lb hunk of steel and glass hurdling at you.... Well, that's called thinning out the herd.

All cars and trucks should be banned. Everyone should ride Harleys with straight pipes. Blind pedestrians would then be safe, and we should spare no effort to do that. So Harleys' it is, for everyone.

Harry

...we're too car-dependent not to make the driver's license reasonably easy to get.

What you're saying is that having 40,000+ Americans die on the road each year is acceptable due in large part to our lax system of handing out drivers licenses, but I'm supposed to put a noise-maker on my Prius because I might encounter a blind pedestrian perhaps once every six months. I can't agree with either of those points.

Harry

I don't think it's necessary to add noise-makers. A lot of the noise from moving cars comes from tires. I used to live up north and whenever there was snow on the ground you could barely hear the cars passing by my house. Ok, so hybrids and other FE vehicles have low rolling resistance tires, which would theoretically be quieter too. I ride my bike a lot, and people I'm about to pass almost always look back at me. Probably because they hear the tires, and I'm using skinny road tires.

If you can't pay enough attention to what's going on around you to see a 3000 lb hunk of steel and glass hurdling at you.... Well, that's called thinning out the herd. Voodoo22 that's the most unbelievably insensitive remark yet! We're discussing [I]blind pedestrians!! But so many of the other posts are so incredibly thoughtless, heartless, and selfish! You're looking at this from YOUR perspective. Imagine being blind--that's the perspective from which this article is written. IMHO, the noise-maker option is not the best; I like the free sensors for blind pedestrians. They certainly wouldn't be that expensive, and could be cane-mounted so they wouldn't be forgotten or lost. Some of you other posters need to soften your hearts, and try walking in another's shoes.

I don't think it's necessary to add noise-makers. A lot of the noise from moving cars comes from tires. I used to live up north and whenever there was snow on the ground you could barely hear the cars passing by my house. Ok, so hybrids and other FE vehicles have low rolling resistance tires, which would theoretically be quieter too. I ride my bike a lot, and people I'm about to pass almost always look back at me. Probably because they hear the tires, and I'm using skinny road tires.

i am glad you brought this up. i totally agree. i can hear a freeway from my house (much to my dismay). what i hear all night long, with the exception of trucks with fart pipes who just HAVE to floor it to make the slight uphill grade) is tires.......the tires roar......

one has to wonder statistically how many times a prius and a blind person are in close enough proximity to require a noise from the car. it's probably up there wih the same chance as being hit by lightening.......or me winning the lottery. i have been driving for over 40 years, and i can't even remember EVER seeing or being aware of a blind person crossing near me. there must be something better we can spend our car development money on.

What you're saying is that having 40,000+ Americans die on the road each year is acceptable due in large part to our lax system of handing out drivers licenses, but I'm supposed to put a noise-maker on my Prius because I might encounter a blind pedestrian perhaps once every six months. I can't agree with either of those points.

Harry

I don't think either one of those are acceptable. I still stand by what I said earlier; give the blind a device that beeps every time a Prius is in EV mode.

I don't get the big deal though.

A blind man getting hit by a Prius in EV is about as likely as a kid setting his jammies on fire.

Even totally subsidizing sensors for the blind beats moding hybrids.

My concern is a handful of people are going to mandate a bad solution to this problem.

As posted somewhere else.... "I thought is was my job to avoid hitting blind people, not blind people avoiding me."

I mean think about it....blind people problem don't jay walk, so if one was to be hit by a car they most likely would be using a cross walk and waiting for the light to turn red. Cars stop at a red light....SO....what good is a noise maker on a car if I run the red light and squish the blind person.

Voodoo22 that's the most unbelievably insensitive remark yet! We're discussing blind pedestrians!! But so many of the other posts are so incredibly thoughtless, heartless, and selfish! You're looking at this from YOUR perspective. Imagine being blind--that's the perspective from which this article is written. IMHO, the noise-maker option is not the best; I like the free sensors for blind pedestrians. They certainly wouldn't be that expensive, and could be cane-mounted so they wouldn't be forgotten or lost. Some of you other posters need to soften your hearts, and try walking in another's shoes.

I believe he was talking about our society as a whole.

First off I would never be going fast enough to not be able to stop if someone did step out in front of me. Im constantly watching everyone around me. Has this just now become a problem??
Last time I was walking in a downtown urban setting all you can hear is car traffic. Plus you shouldn't be jaywalking anyway. Most redlights have an audible alert that tells you when not to walk through the intersection. I think this is a quest by someone who doesn't like hybrid vehicles. Actually I can't think of the last time I saw visually impaired person walking around near traffic where I live, although i'm sure there is someone in every community.

There is no way we can be everything to everyone in every situation.

Vehicles across the board should be quieter. Ever heard of noise pollution. Wait till electric vehicles are mainstream they will be quiet as a church mouse. Someone should research how to stop tires from howling.

Wonder if they will let us make our own custom warning sounds. Like a golf cart, Indy car, swamp buggy, etc. Probably be some weird high pitched make babies and dogs cry sound.

If we must have a noise, then we should be able to download it into the vehicle's noise maker. I would want it to sound like a Klingon bird-of-prey de-cloacking (http://www.klingon.org/downloads/sounds/effects/t2_bop.wav)

How about air horns that we can sound every time we see a pedestrian that might come into our path? This is ridiculous, are there even any serious reports of significant injuries r//t silent hybrids?

I admit right off...I haven't read the thread. My answer is entirely non-serious, but I've been waiting for the opportunity since this whole "hybrids are too quiet" stuff started coming up.

We need Bubb Rubb. Plain and simple.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccgXjA2BLEY

The smiley goes "Woot Woot!" :woot:

My Hyundai Elantra is already quiet enough, you can barely tell it's running! I hear the tires on our driveway long before I even hear a hint of the engine. While I sympathize with the blind, many of today's cars are already so quiet, they are close to a Prius in EV mode. The handheld sensor sounds like a perfect solution, with additional upgrades to crosswalks to have audible cues.