[Cabs] Washington Post article on silent cars

[BEKAHBEA at aol.com]

This is true. I remember having a hard time telling where a car was because 
 I could hear it, but it was too quiet to give away its position. I wonder 
if I  could do anything to help. 

 
 
In a message dated 9/23/2009 10:46:55 P.M. Mountain Daylight Time,  
JFreeh at nfb.org writes:

The  following article on the danger posed by silent cars appeared 
today on the  front page of the Washington Post.


Washington Post
The Deadly  Silence of the Electric Car

Automakers Propose Vroom-Vroom Substitutes  to Alert Pedestrians
Byline: Peter Whoriskey
Publication Date:  09/23/2009
<http://c.moreover.com/click/here.pl?z2220551574&z=950243970>Link  to 
Article



After years of trying to make cars sound as if they  were riding on 
air, engineers are considering how they might bring back  some noise. 
They're trying to make some of them -- those silent hybrids --  more 
audible.

But how?

A team of engineers developing the Leaf,  the forthcoming electric car 
from Nissan and a front-runner in the race  for a mass-market electric 
car, have recently been presenting their ideas  for artificial noises 
to government officials and focus  groups.

Maybe Chime Number 22?

Melody Number 39?

Perhaps  a futuristic whirring like the aircraft in 'Blade Runner'? As 
hybrids  proliferate and major automakers such as Nissan and General 
Motors prepare  to launch battery electric vehicles next year, some 
automakers are seeking  to address concerns in the United States and 
Japan that the nearly  noiseless vehicles may be so quiet that they 
pose a threat to  pedestrians.

At a meeting earlier this month and another over the  summer, Nissan 
presented the chime, the melody and a futuristic whir to  the National 
Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which has recently  gathered 
evidence that the vehicles may pose a safety  risk.

Regulatory committees in the United States and Japan are also  
studying complaints about the cars, and Congress is weighing a 
measure  requiring vehicles to issue 'non-visual' warnings to 
pedestrians. 'We are  studying potential artificial noises that can be 
added to the vehicle,'  said Scott Becker, a Nissan senior vice president.

But the nascent  industry is divided over whether safety sounds should 
be added to the  quiet cars and, if so, what those noises should be. 
'Frankly, we've been  working for 30 years to make cars quiet -- never 
thinking they could  become too quiet,' said Robert Strassburger, vice 
president for vehicle  safety at the Alliance of Automobile 
Manufacturers, an industry group that  has been working to address the 
concerns. But now 'those vehicles may be  difficult to detect.' Hybrid 
vehicles typically operate on hushed  battery-powered electric motors 
when idling and traveling at low speeds.  At higher speeds, the 
noisier internal-combustion engine kicks in. Toyota,  which makes the 
popular hybrid Prius, a small car that runs very quietly  at low 
speeds, does not add artificial sounds.

Cars like Tesla's  Roadster, Nissan's Leaf and General Motors' Volt, 
which will depend on  battery electric power, may be even quieter.

Officials at Tesla say  they have no intention of implementing 'fake 
noises.' The company already  makes the $109,000 electric Roadster, a 
luxury product popular with  eco-conscious celebrity customers. 'We 
have delivered more than 700 cars,  and our customers overwhelmingly 
say the relative quiet of the powertrain  is one of the most appealing 
aspects of the car,' said Tesla spokeswoman  Rachel Konrad. 'Thanks to 
widespread electric vehicle adoption, we will  all enjoy far less 
noise pollution in the future.' Evidence that the  hybrid sales spurt 
poses a safety threat has been scant, in part because  the phenomenon 
is new and the hybrid cars represent only a small fraction  of the 
more than 230 million vehicles on the road, transportation  officials said.

But an as-yet-unreleased NHTSA study of accidents in 12  states 
compares accident rates for some hybrid vehicles and their internal  
combustion engine counterparts.

Covering more than 8,000 hybrid  electric vehicles and nearly 600,000 
gasoline-fueled cars, the analysis  suggests that during certain 
low-speed maneuvers such as turning and  backing up, hybrid vehicles 
are 50 percent more likely to be involved in  an accident with a 
pedestrian, said Ronald Medford, acting deputy  administrator of 
NHTSA. 'We certainly know that blind pedestrians rely  heavily on the 
sound of vehicles as a means of determining when it is safe  to cross 
the road,' Medford said. 'But all of us are susceptible.' The  
potential problem arises at speeds less than 15 mph, when the 
electric  and hybrid vehicles are notably quiet, almost silent. At 
higher speeds,  the rush of air and the slap of tires makes the 
electrics almost as noisy  as their gasoline-powered counterparts.

Rep. Edolphus Towns (D-N.Y.)  has introduced a bill that would require 
the Department of Transportation  to establish a safety standard under 
which cars would have to be equipped  to issue 'non-visual alerts' so 
that pedestrians can determine the  vehicle's location, motion and speed.

It has garnered 139 sponsors,  among them Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.), who 
says he has been startled by a  quiet car. 'I was down in Florida in 
the parking lot of a shopping center,  and I was wheeling my groceries 
with my wife, and I didn't hear a car come  up behind me,' Stearns 
told reporters. 'If all the cars are silent in the  future, it does 
pose a problem.' But if electric cars are to be equipped  with sound, 
there is little agreement over what the sound should be, how  loud it 
ought to be and whether manufacturers should be allowed to create  
their own distinctive audio tracks.

Some automakers are already  experimenting with or planning to develop 
noises.

The Fisker Karma, a  luxury electric vehicle, will have an integrated 
audio system that will  both alert pedestrians and give the car a 
'distinctive audio signature'  that will be 'reflective of the car's 
advanced technology,' a spokesman  said. Officials with the National 
Federation of the Blind, which has  pressed the safety issue with 
automakers and regulators, have advocated  that electric cars make 
sounds similar to those of gas-powered cars.  'Society is conditioned 
to that sound,' said John Pare, director of  strategic initiatives for 
the group.

There is some concern that if  a variety of noises are permitted, then 
electric cars could merely add  another layer to the urban cacophony, 
potentially conflicting with state  and local laws governing decibel 
levels. 'If we all do it differently, we  will confuse the heck out of 
the consumer,'' said Nancy Gioia, director of  hybrid and sustainable 
technology at Ford.

Nissan declined to  release the audio tracks being considered but said 
it would make its final  decision in consultation with regulators.

It is also seeking approval  from drivers, some of whom have been 
fussy about the various sounds  tested. 'They are too flat and 
irritating in hearing for more than even  five minutes,' one 
respondent in a Nissan test said. 'Monotonous sound  makes me sleepy,' 
said another.

Said Pare: 'We are certain that  there is a safe level of sound that 
isn't burdensome to  society.'

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