Hybrid Cars May Include Fake Vroom for Safety

[PinkOwl]

NYTimes, Oct. 14, 2009

Excerpt:

For decades, automakers have been on a quest to make cars quieter: an auto that purrs, and glides almost silently in traffic.

They have finally succeeded. Plug-in hybrid and electric cars, it turns out, not only reduce air pollution, they cut noise pollution as well with their whisper-quiet motors. But that has created a different problem. They aren’t noisy enough.

So safety experts, worried that hybrids pose a threat if pedestrians, children and others can’t hear them approaching, want automakers to supply some digitally enhanced vroom. Indeed, just as cellphones have ring tones, “car tones” may not be far behind — an option for owners of electric vehicles to choose the sound their cars emit.

Working with Hollywood special-effects wizards, some hybrid auto companies have started tinkering in sound studios, rather than machine shops, to customize engine noises. The Fisker Karma, an $87,900 plug-in hybrid expected to go on sale next year, will emit a sound — pumped out of speakers in the bumpers — that the company founder, Henrik Fisker, describes as “a cross between a starship and a Formula One car.”

More: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/14/automobiles/14hybrid.html?hp

[liberal N proud]

1. Why do we have to have fucking NOISE!!

I am sick and tired of all the noisy vehicles.

The motorcycles, diesel trucks with the straight pipes and the zip mufflers on the 4 cylinder cars to make them sound like racers. They all race up and down the street, shifting as often as possible so they can hear their motors scream.


How about some peace and quiet?

[ET Awful]

16. A blind person trying to safely cross the street might disagree with you.

If a blind person can not hear a vehicle coming, they have no real way of safely crossing a street.

Nobody is saying it needs to roar like a hemi with a missing muffler, just that some kind of sound needs to be there for the sake of safety.

[wuvuj]

2. I'll buy one if it sounds like...

...a V12 Ferrari.

[Mugweed]

3. Maybe pedestrians should be more aware of traffic.

Instead of making a car louder so that oblivious idiots can be made aware of its presence, maybe mommy and daddy should be teaching little Timmy or Sue to look out for traffic when he or she is in an area where automobiles operate. Maybe little Timmy or Sue could remember that nugget of knowledge if/when they become adults. Maybe the herd of ever consuming and reproducing brainless zombies that make up the majority of this country could incorporate eyesight into the mix...that would be a novel approach.

"Indeed, just as cellphones have ringtones"... Another f*#%ing annoyance that is completely unnecessary.

[kedrys]

6. And yank your earbuds out when your life might be at stake

If the up-to-11 music distracts you that much, you shouldn't be allowed to operate a pair of feet. You won't hear cars coming either way, nimnull. :grr:

[Kolesar]

8. Most of us will get cataracts when we get old

good luck to you

[hobbit709]

11. Cataracts can be fixed, mine were.

People yakking on cell phones and being unaware can also be cured but in a more drastic fashion. Like the clown who got hit by a train because he was so busy talking he didn't hear/feel the train approaching.

[Kolesar]

23. Instead of making a car louder so that oblivious idiots can be made aware of its presence, maybe mom

..., maybe mommy and daddy should be teaching little Timmy or Sue to look out for traffic when he or she is in an area where automobiles operate. Maybe little Timmy or Sue could remember that nugget of knowledge if/when they become adults. Maybe the herd of ever consuming and reproducing brainless zombies that make up the majority of this country could incorporate eyesight into the mix...that would be a novel approach.

see above

[Buzz Clik]

13. Good point about the cell phones. I mean, who needs to be alerted about an incoming call?

[Mugweed]

14. Maybe we're not all Pavlovian in our response to a phone.

I have had my phone on vibrate since I first bought a cell phone. I still know when there is an incoming call. Whether your phone vibrates or rings, the difference is that I don't feel the need to immediately make that phone the center of my attention every single time it goes off. Meanwhile, all phones come with a ringtone. There is no need to download 50 different tones...especially ones that sound like someone is playing a crappy song through a fast food drive-through speaker. I don't care what your favorite untalented entertainer is and don't want to hear some distorted clip of their "art".

[Buzz Clik]

15. Have you considered seeking help?

Turning down the hearing aid? Living on an island?

[ET Awful]

17. And once again, like the poster above, you ignore the diabled.

So a blind person should "be more aware of traffic" they can't hear?

[Autumn Colors]

18. Or maybe some pedestrians happen to be BLIND

maybe mommy and daddy should be teaching little Timmy or Sue to look out for traffic when he or she is in an area where automobiles operate

Of course that won't help much if the person can't see and depends on SOUND to safely navigate independently.

[hobbit709]

4. Bumper mounted deer whistles for humans.

[newfie11]

5. LOL n/t

[Nihil]

10. Playing cards in the spokes ...

... except this time it's the ones who *aren't* in/on the vehicle
that are the muppets.

[Kolesar]

7. I had a Datsun that was so quiet I could hear the fuel pump when I was stopped...eom

[Nihil]

9. Trying to put Darwin out of a job?

It seems only fair that if cars are allowed to kill animals that
"don't move out of the way in time" then they should be allowed
to do the same with humans too.

The smarter, more alert humans will survive to breed true whilst
the stupid & inattentive will dwindle.

If you aren't capable of watching out for a quiet moving vehicle
when meandering across their clearly marked tracks then maybe ...

:evilgrin:

[Buzz Clik]

12. I don't think a noise maker is needed, but hybrid owners need to be aware of their stealth.

I was nearly clipped by a Prius while on my bike because I didn't hear it and didn't know it was there. I had to quickly maneuver around a fallen branch. I began my move and checked behind me simultaneously; the Prius was right there, and I had no idea that there was a car within 100 feet of me. The Prius driver had given me plenty of room, but it was startling and frightening to be so unaware.

[Nihil]

21. Now *that* I'll agree with! (n/t)

:thumbsup:

[MineralMan]

19. Use a sound sample from an unmuffled Harley.

That'll do it. "Loud bikes save lives," they say. :sarcasm:

[greennina]

20. The first Prius I ever saw...

well, I didn't see it. It backed out of a parking place into me and my husband as we were walking behind it. We had no warning that the Prius was suddenly and quickly going to back out of the parking place. While I don't agree that quiet cars should be made to pollute the environment with noise, people that do drive nearly silent cars have a responsibility to start paying attention to what they're doing.

[Mopar151]

22. Saw it already on "Pimp my ride"

Had a menu of sounds, worked off a tach signal from the engine to replicate variations in pitch.

Will I be able to choose my option? Cus I'd kinda like a 526 KB/BAE Hemi on alky with the blower 40% overdriven.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWEJ2jZtX0g

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUW9j3_X3DY