http://www.boulderstar.com/hearing-horn/
Mandated By Federal Motor Safety Act Is Electric Car Noise
A new problem is the electric car noise. Electric cars don’t make any noise. Hybrid cars in electric mode traveling slowly is almost completely quiet. With more hybrid cars on the streets, and more to come, hybrid cars have become silent but deadly. More pedestrians, especial blind ones, are getting hit. Bills to require automakers to add noise to hybrid cars have bounced around Congress since 2008. But on Wednesday automakers and advocates for the blind presented Congress with a proposal to build in minimum noise levels for future electric cars as part of the Federal Motor Safety Act.
Source for this article: Electric car noise to be mandated by Federal Motor Safety Act
Car noise must be heard by blind
Automobile safety is focusing on electric car noise right now. CNN Money.com reports that a study done last year by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) showed that hybrid cars hit pedestrians more often than other cars in many different places where the car coming cannot be seen. According to the National Federation for the Blind, blind people need to be able to safely cross the street with a guide dog or cane and by hearing the sounds of traffic. Also, everyone relies on the sound of cars to gauge how far away the car is.
There are more hybrid cars now
The electric car noise problem started in 2000 with the mass production of hybrid cars. A 2009 study, reported on topbits.com explained that drivers have used financing like secured loans to buy more than 1.6 million hybrids ever since then. In just 10 years, hybrid numbers went from a dozen to 1.6 million on the road. This rate is expected to accelerate as more automakers are focusing on hybrids. Total U.S. hybrid sales for April 2010, as reported by hybridcars.com, were 23,561 — a 1.2 percent increase from the month before, and an 8.4 percent increase from April 2009 from one year ago. Sales of the Honda Insight increased by nearly 14 percent from last month
The 2010 Federal Motor Safety Act
Electric car noise advocates include The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, the American Council for the Blind, the Association of International Automobile Manufacturers, and the National Federation for the Blind. The groups recommended many different things to Congress that they would like to see included in the Motor Safety Act of 2010, a bill now moving through Congress that would update national auto safety rules. The need for electric car noise first emerged in the Pedestrian Safety Enhancement Act of 2008, to become the Pedestrian Safety Enhancement Act of 2009. Traction is being gained by the electric car noise issue.
Hybrid car manufacturers making noise
Electric car noise is already something that is used by leading hybrid car manufacturers. Nissan plans to get into the hybrid car market a step ahead of the competition when it comes to car noise. Bloomberg reports that three years ago Nissan told engineer Toshiyuki Tabata to re-create the sound of an engine. Tabata spent around 30 years just trying to make cars quieter. Now his job is to make cars noisier.
The art involved with electric car noise
To create the appropriate audio for electric car noise, Nissan consulted Japanese film score composers. Tabata and his team got the high-pitched futuristic sound reminiscent of the flying cars in “Blade Runner,” the 1982 science fiction film starring Harrison Ford portraying an android bounty hunter in a dark, dismal future Los Angeles. “We wanted something a bit different, something closer to the world of art,” Tabata said. The sound system is meant to activate when the car starts up and then to stop when the car is going faster than 12 miles per hour. Usually, wind and tire noise is enough to make the car detectable at higher speeds.
Regulation on noisemakers of electric cars
Many different car electronic manufacturers have developed car noisemakers. Tokyo-based Datasystem Co. makes a device selling for $ 140 that emits 16 different sounds including a cat’s meow, a cartoon-like “boing” and a human voice saying, “Excuse me.” The language proposed by the electric car noise advocacy group would regulate these products. Their version of the bill has the NHTSA creating a new safety standard for hybrid cars establishing a minimum sound required at low speeds. Drivers couldn’t customize the sound of their cars the same way they download ringtones for cell phones. Instead, hybrid car manufacturers would provide an approved sound or set of sounds for a given make and model.
GM electric cars
The Chevy Volt is one of the most anticipates electric cars. GM’s electric cars have different technology than other hybrid systems. As reported on greencarreports.com, Chevy said the Volt will have a driver-controlled system that produces an "automotive quality sound" that pedestrians would instantly recognize, described as a series of low horn audio signals or cues. On battery, Gm’s electric car can actually go 40 miles. Instead of kicking in at a certain speed, the Volt's 1.4 liter, 4-cylinder gas powered engine fires up when the battery is dying down. A generator linked to the engine creates electricity and powers the electric motor, extending the Volt's range up to 300 miles.
More information on this topic
CNN Money.com reports
http://money.cnn.com/2010/05/19/autos/electric_car_noise/?npt=NP1
hybrid car manufacturers
http://www.cardealexpert.com/news-information/auto-news/bmw-project-i-megacity-2013/
Bloomberg reports
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=aIqaK2fByA.8
greencarreports.com
http://www.greencarreports.com/blog/1039019_2011-chevrolet-volt-pedestrian-alert-system-will-be-driver-controlled
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