An interesting post on Nissan adding “noise” to electric cars was posted on Bloomberg.com. If you remember a recent post on “Hybrid Cars Too Quiet? Japan May Require Adding Noise?,” there are efforts to add noises back into quiet hybrid and electric cars. Seems like we’re going backward, but there are some legitimate concerns for the vision-impaired, older citizens, and children crossing the streets not hearing cars coming.

I know, I know. Some may say that this is not the problem of the quiet cars. Of course, everyone should take responsibility: drivers must pay attention, and pedestrians must pay attention as well. But there is this thing called “accident” and the more ways we have to prevent it the better.

Now Nissan becomes the first to add noise back into a car. What noise, you ask? According to Mr. Toshiyuki Tabata, a Nissan engineer who spent the last 30 years trying to make gasoline-powered cars quieter, he chose to make it “beautiful and futuristic”. À la Blade Runner flying car beautiful and futuristic, to be precise.

The sound system would turn on when the car starts and be automatically turned off when the car reaches 20 km/hr or a little more than 12 mph.

Noisemakers are not too far behind. According to the Bloomberg.com piece, car electronics manufacturers also developed noisemakers. Tokyo-based Datasystem Co. makes a device selling for 12,800 yen ($140) that emits 16 different sounds including a cat’s meow, a cartoon-like “boing” and a human voice saying, “Excuse me.”

Can you say “Downloadable car noises”? We may be reducing automobile pollution, but get ready for strange and artificial car noise pollution the next time you walk the streets.

Read the complete “Nissan Adds ‘Beautiful’ Noise to Make Silent Electric Cars Safe” article.

Nissan Adds Noise to Make Silent Electric Cars Safer to Pedestrians is a post from: CleanCarTalk

Hybrid cars are inherently quiet at low speed, when many can operate on silent electric motors. For some automobile users including the vision-impaired, these soundless vehicles humming along cities streets may be a hazard.

Many people, not just those with vision impairment, depend on hearing sounds when they walk. With quieter cars, walking in the city is becoming a different experience. And safety is one of those concerns.

Japan’s transport ministry is considering requiring car manufacturers to add noise-making devices to hybrids and other silent vehicles. The ministry has launched a panel of scholars, vision-impaired groups, consumers, automakers and law enforcement to look into the matter, hopefully coming up with a solution to this potential problem, as more hybrids are getting on the roads.

One of the requirements will be that the sound or sounds should induce a response of caution. We certainly don’t want more noise pollution in the city, and several issues will have to be worked out. They have to decide on the kind of sound hybrid cars should have, and if manufacturers can choose their own sounds, maybe even a different sound for different car models. In general people want less sound where they live and work, so it will be interesting to see where this is going.

The U.S. Congress is also looking into the matter. Here’s a clip from AP asking the question “Are Hybrids Cars Too Quiet?”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcAm2OAgB6c

Hybrid Cars Too Quiet? Japan May Require Adding Noise is a post from: CleanCarTalk