[nfbmi-talk] FW: Sound Option for Electric Car

[Fred Wurtzel]

-----Original Message-----
From: thisismichael at att.net [mailto:thisismichael at att.net] 
Sent: Saturday, September 04, 2010 8:06 AM
To: Alice J. Landino
Subject: Sound Option for Electric Car

Here's a recent article from the Associated Press.

 

Michael Patten

 

PRIUS GETS SOUND OPTION TO PROTECT PEDESTRIANS

 

By YURI KAGEYAMA, AP Business Writer Yuri Kageyama, Ap Business Writer - Tue
Aug 24, 3:38 am ET
TOKYO - Toyota's Prius hybrid is becoming a little less quiet with a new
electronic humming device that is the automaker's answer to complaints that
pedestrians can't hear the top-selling car approaching.
The 12,600 yen ($148) speaker system that goes under the hood of the
third-generation Prius sets off a whirring sound designed to be about the
same noise level as a regular car engine so that it isn't annoying, Toyota
Motor Corp. said Tuesday.
It goes on sale Aug. 30 in Japan, and owners pay extra for installation
charges. Its use is voluntary.
Overseas sales plans are still undecided, but Toyota is studying regulations
and considering offering it in the U.S. and other markets, said spokeswoman
Monika Saito.
The gasoline-electric hybrid gets good mileage but is also quiet because it
runs as an electric car much of the time. That advantage has drawn
complaints that pedestrians, the blind in particular, are at greater risk of
being hit by the car, especially at low speeds.
The U.S. government's auto safety agency found in a research report last
year that hybrids are twice as likely to be involved in pedestrian crashes
at low speeds compared with cars with conventional engines.
Toyota, which also makes the Camry sedan and Lexus luxury models, said it
plans versions of the device for other hybrid models, plug-ins, electric
vehicles and fuel-cell vehicles.
Pedestrian deaths compared to overall traffic fatalities are higher in Japan
than in the U.S. and many other nations because of Japan's narrow and
crisscrossing crowded streets. Japan is also a rapidly aging society, making
audible cars critical.
Toyota said the device is based on guidelines addressing the dangers of
silent cars, including hybrids, issued in January by the Japanese
government.
Other automakers, including General Motors Co., Ford Motor Co. and Nissan
Motor Co., are also working on countermeasures to make quiet ecological cars
safer.
The Prius device's humming is so soft it is barely audible in a noisy street
but can be a lifesaver in quieter environments. It can be turned off with a
switch but goes on automatically every time the car starts.
The Prius has been the top-selling car in Japan for the past 15 months
straight, benefiting from incentives designed to boost sales of green cars.
Toyota, the world's biggest automaker, has sold nearly 337,000
third-generation Prius cars in Japan. It has sold more than 2.68 million
hybrids around the world so far, a million of them in Japan.
___
On the Net:
Video demonstration of the device:
http://www2.toyota.co.jp/en/news/10/08/0824.html
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hybrids/37322103/SIG=11iqc8fkj/*http:/www2.toyota.co.jp/en/news/10/08/0824.h
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