[Quietcars] 2009 Detroit Auto Show

[Deborah Kent Stein]

Hi, Bob,

Thank you for the rundown on the auto show.  This is a great overview of 
what's out there and what seems to be on the way.

Debbie

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Robert Wilson" <bwilson4web at hotmail.com>
To: "Quiet Cars" <quietcars at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Friday, January 16, 2009 3:58 AM
Subject: [Quietcars] 2009 Detroit Auto Show



Hi,

I just got back from the Toyota 2010 Prius presentation and the 2009 Detroit 
Auto Show. These are my impressions:

A work in progress, this page shows what I found interesting at the 
[URL="http://hiwaay.net/%7Ebzwilson/prius/pri_2010.html"]2009 Detroit Auto 
Show[/URL]. Overall, the hybrid presence was good and there was a lot of 
attention paid to fuel economy. However there was plenty of stuff for the 
traditional 'gear heads.' As for the vehicle sheet metal shells, no doubt 
they were lovely.

There was one fuel cell and a couple fo electric vehicles. Tesla was there 
as well as several others. However, my real interest is in hybrid drive 
systems and there were plenty of engineering cut-aways.

Noise Makers on Hybrids and Electric Cars

I met Scott Innis of Lotus Engineering, Ann Arbor, who was the designer of 
the Prius speaker system, which he did for "Baxter." His primary interest is 
in noise canceling of the exhaust, which would reduce back-flow pressure and 
allow tuned, performance exhausts. He also mentioned making engine noise for 
those who need the illusion. I also asked him about the issue of blind 
pedestrians, "the bodies," and he doesn't see the need. His interest is in 
performance cars and selling systems to performance buyers.

Fisker was there and after asking about noise makers for the blind, one of 
the booth workers said, "Oh, the synthetic roar." (Only I had trouble 
understanding her accent.) Eventually they brought over the young lady who 
presented at the NHTSA hearing. She pointed to the speakers built into the 
bumpers, a pair at the front and the rear that come on at speeds of 0-30 
mph. I asked if they could play it but they weren't setup to do that at the 
show. I got the impression they see the noise generators as something to 
replicate 'pony car' noise for buyers of the $90,000 hybrid cars.

The Denso booth showed their lane following, adaptive cruise control system. 
It uses both a camera and radar together so it can also read traffic signs 
and identify pedestrians. This approach works for all pedestrians, the 4,700 
annual deaths, not just the 5 blind fatalities each year. It is an option in 
the new, 2010 Prius and one I am likely to order. So far, we don't know the 
price.

I also visited the Volvo booth and they have just a radar based, pedestrian, 
accident avoidance system. Theirs will apply the brakes to avoid an 
accident. Again, it is not specific to just the blind but all pedestrians.

The rest of my report is mostly text and photos of the engineering cutaways. 
It will take a while before I get more descriptive text. Many times I use 
high resolution photos that I can study later to find details that were not 
obvious in the beginning. Certainly you are welcome to it:
http://hiwaay.net/~bzwilson/prius/pri_2010.html

Bob Wilson

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