US Lawmakers To Force Quiet EVs To Make Noises

American legislators have excelled themselves by forcing car makers to introduce exterior noises at low speed, presumably leaving manufacturers pondering what the hell an EV is supposed to sound like

Matt Kimberley

Updated: 15 Nov 2016

US Lawmakers To Force Quiet EVs To Make Noises

One of the joys of driving an electric car is the silence around town, but the American authorities have decided you’re not allowed to have that any more.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has ruled that from 2019 all new electric and hybrid vehicles with a gross vehicle weight of less than 10,000lb must make noises below 19mph.

It says it’s concerned for blind people crossing the road, estimating that 2400 pedestrian injuries will be prevented every year. Hmmm.

But that does mean that streets could become a confusion of different kinds of noises at different volumes, different pitches and at all sorts of frequencies. Paracetamol sales could skyrocket.

So, now manufacturers will need to decide how to make their EVs audible without turning them into the single most annoying thing in the world. We wish them good luck with that.

Source: Jalopnik

Comments

Hahahahahaha!

While I agree with the concept, there’s definitely other things that could be done. Where I live in NY there’s a chime that sounds off repeatedly while pedestrians have the walk signal for that exact reason. The only people who get hit at those intersections now are drunk college kids that do nothing but cause problems anyway, so hitting them isn’t always a bad thing.