[Fopbc] Fwd: Washington Post article on silent cars

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-----Original Message-----
From: Freeh,Jessica  <JFreeh at nfb.org>
To: david.andrews at nfbnet.org
Sent: Thu, Sep 24,  2009 12:41 am
Subject: [blindkid] Washington Post article on silent  cars

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_ 
(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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