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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Hi, All.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>For your information.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Jim Sofka.
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt"><FONT face=Calibri size=3>Nissan
makes the Leaf rustle; Car manufacturer adds noises to quiet electric
vehicle to alert pedestrians to its presence. by Peter Whoriskey. It was
quiet. Maybe too quiet. With advocates for pedestrians and the blind warning
that hybrid and electric cars could catch strollers unaware, the designers of
the Nissan Leaf have added sound effects to the otherwise nearly silent vehicle.
After exploring a hundred sounds that ranged from chimes to motorlike to
futuristic, the company settled on a soft whine that fluctuates in intensity
with the car's speed. When backing up, the car makes a clanging sound. Nissan
says it worked with advocates for the blind, a Hollywood sound-design company
and acoustic psychologists in creating its system of audible alerts. While
silence is golden, it does present practical challenges," a Nissan statement
said. The Leaf is scheduled to go on sale in part of the United States in
December. Nissan added the artificial noises as lawmakers and regulators study
whether auto manufacturers should be required to install warning sounds in their
vehicles to alert pedestrians. With more than 1.6 million hybrid vehicles on the
road, and the number of electric cars expected to rise with the introduction of
more vehicles like the Leaf, a number of safety advocates have warned of the
dangers to pedestrians. According to a study by the National Highway Traffic
Safety Administration last year, hybrid vehicles are twice as likely as
conventional cars to be involved in a pedestrian crash in some low-speed
situations. Others have argued that adding sounds to cars works against
decades of effort by automakers to make cars that run quietly. Some
electric car companies complained that silence is one of the main virtues of the
battery-run cars. Nissan's sound system is the first created by a major
manufacturer. The company says it is controlled by a computer and
synthesizer in the dash panel. The sounds are delivered through a speaker
in the engine compartment. A switch inside the vehicle can turn off the sounds
temporarily, but the system automatically resets to "on" at the next ignition
cycle. At speeds greater than 20 mph, any car, electric or not, makes
significant noise because of the tires slapping on the pavement, engineers say.
The noises for the Nissan operate only at the lower speeds. </FONT><A
href="mailto:whoriskeyp@washpost.com"><FONT face=Calibri
size=3>whoriskeyp@washpost.com</FONT></A><FONT face=Calibri size=3>. </FONT><BR
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