You wouldn’t think quieter cars would be a problem, but then again, you’re probably not blind. Hybrids and electrics make so little noise that they pose a serious risk to blind people, who often use the sound of a car passing to determine whether it’s safe to cross the road. Nissan’s Leaf, it was announced, will make a “beautiful and futuristic” noise at low speeds so that unaware pedestrians won’t get run down.
Good, but any noise, however beautiful, may become a bother if you hear it all the damn time. So Chevy has stated that its noise, “a series of low horn audio signals,” will be driver-controlled. I have to say, I’m glad of that, because “a series of low horn audio signals” sounds like it’d really bug me. You’ll be able to turn it on and off like any other safety features, like high beams and hazard lights.
I wonder if in the future of car marketing there will be major competition between brand noises — if they’re all quiet, there’s no distinctive engine note, but they still have control over how the sucker sounds. I can just picture it now: “Yeah, the Toyota gets 50 more miles per charge, but have you heard the sweet woom-woom noise the new Fords make?” Or maybe you’ll be able to buy “roll tones.” Okay, I’m a genius. I’m patenting that.
Too bad that’s not what the Volt will look like…
I was just thinking that. What’s with the picture? That’s not a real Volt! :P
so picky! that better?
i thought the other one looked bad ass… you should change it back.
No thats the true volt. Im sure they’ll have different models.
I want my car to play “Never Gonna Give You Up” on a loop. Not only will blind people be safe, they might flee and never go near a roadway again.
So, wait, they’re going to allow people to turn the anti-kill-blind-people feature off? Hopefully there will at least be something in the car’s literature advising against that.
Oh you better believe it. It’ll probably come up every time like the “I agree not to use this thing while driving” that shows up on some GPSes.
Yeah, I almost crashed yesterday while trying to hit the “agree” button.
Not really. But it could happen.
Somehow I think some people never figured out what exactly makes a car loud. Normally, that would be the tires, not the engine or the exhaust.
This. The vast majority of vehicle noise, even at relatively low speed comes from the flexing/impacting of the tires. Have you ever heard an electric golf-cart drive on a paved trail? They’re FAR from silent.
rolltones.com is available…
Count me in for a screaming TIE fighter rolltone.
Here’s my rolltones.com partner right here, i like your style buddy.
A 40K Chevy non vendere un Volt unico in Europa. Dovrebbe essere sotto 25.000 Euro, anche per attrarre l’attenzione dei possibili acquirenti! o 30K o giù di lì anche un pacchetto con una stazione di celle solari per caricare la batteria, così si libera e guidare per avere un vero zero emissioni auto.
LOL i wanna get my car to play AC/DC all the time.
is that realy good for driver ?
I want my Opel Ampera (thats the german Volt) to play this tickering noise from the black smoke from LOST :D
Here is my Google I/O 2010 video of the Volt’s interior. I also took a vid of the ext.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRzG_WzeXTQ