Are hybrid cars somehow too quiet to be safe?
For years, environmentalists have been tripping over themselves to heap praise on hybrid cars and their drivers.
After all, the vehicles are less polluting, conserve a fraction of the fuel and are whisper quiet. It’s like they’re not even on the road.
But, are the cars too quiet?
That appears to be the issue now as safety experts are trying to goad manufacturers into supplying a “digitally enhanced vroom” sound on hybrids so people can better hear them coming.
According to the New York Times, hybrids are so hushed at their current noise level, they pose a serious threat to pedestrians, children and the elderly.
So apparently, in response, some manufacturers have begun working with Hollywood special-effects studios to customize a faux engine noise that will be pumped from speakers in the bumper of the car.
No, really. Serious.
The Fisker Karma, an $87,900 plug-in hybrid coming out next year, will feature a fake engine sound described as “a cross between a starship and a Formula One car.”
Buyers may even be able to choose their own sound from a list provided, sort of like a car ring-tone, a BMW spokeswoman tells the Times.
The idea sounds preposterous on the surface (it was a pretty impressive achievement to be able to make a car silent in the first place), no doubt, but it turns out there might be some merit to the modifications.
A University of California/National Federation of the Blind study has found people simply can’t hear hybrids coming until they’re dangerously close.
“People listening in a lab could correctly detect a gas-powered car’s approach when it was 28 feet away,” quotes the Times, “but could not hear the arrival of a hybrid operating in silent battery mode until it was only seven feet away.”
What do you think? Is pumping a fake engine noise from a silent hybrid as ridiculous as it seems?
By Jason Buckland, MSN Money
Posted by: Steve | Oct 19, 2021 4:22:15 PM
Seriously... when did it become necessary to absolve all of the idiots of the world of responsibility for their actions? I teach my 4-year old to look both ways before crossing the street, and even to keep watching as you cross.
I would never suggest that someone deserves to be hit by a car, but if someone crosses the street carelessly, at somewhere other than a crosswalk, and is prepared to defend their idiocy with 'it's the car's fault because it snuck-up on me..', then maybe we can let Survival of the Fittest have its way...
Posted by: jatan | Oct 20, 2021 10:20:10 AM
instead of the cars, how about getting Toyota to put sensors on these morons which will sense a car around 20 feet away, though I guess it won't help as most don't want to take any responsibility, just keep on blaming everything else. Used to hear and read humans rarely use 5% of their brain potential but coming to N. America realized that most ppl. here most probably try their best to acheive negative numbers in utliziing their brains, sensory organs than anything else.
Posted by: blackedout | Oct 21, 2021 3:34:40 PM
The way 70% or more of people are walking up the street plugged into an MP3 player they cannot hear anything coming anyway whether it be a bicycle, car, bus, train, running bank robber. I would much prefer to not have car noise when I am at home (I live downtown) than to have simulated noises that some jackass is going to find a way to pump up so they sound cooler.
Why don't they put the money into designing the car to watch for people on the road instead?
Posted by: anthony | Oct 21, 2021 4:14:13 PM
FIRST OF ALL drivers should watch for pedestrians and cars have horns for that reason.. also lesson number two LOOK BOTH WAYS.. thats like saying every bicyclist should scream or emit noise as they ride along in silence.. be aware and dont cross the road unless its safe... and drivers look for pedestrians.. this whole concept is ridiculous and does nothing but tend to lazy peoples needs pedestrians and drivers alike.. having quiet cars is soemthing people pay for.. and somethign thats been a goal for car engineers everywhere.. now we gotta make them loud? people have to smarten up and find soemthing of real importance, like our insurance rate hike, or theharmonized sales tax. or the dredded 50 over law that removes some of our constitutional rights (i.e. fair trial)
Posted by: rob | Oct 23, 2021 11:51:52 AM
WAKE UP AND SMELL THE COFFEE PEOPLE! Since the 80's the trend of society is to blame everything or one but the one responsible. If you walk out on the road in front of any 2 tonne vehilcle you deserve to get hit, stupid poeple. I have accelerated heavily when I have had Idiots try and pull that stunt off on me. Never hit anyone yet, but you should see the look on thier face when they realized they were about to die for their own stupidity. Whether you like it or not, start thinking and stop daydreaming, texting, yacking on the phone, etc. Only you are resposible for your safety.