Model X optional tailpipe speaker and fog light speakers

[NigelM]

I hear what you're saying (pun intended) but what I was referring to as unworkable is the fact that EVs in many situations would be making more noise than ICEs. At present our main street is very quiet and pleasant and I'll give you that one car beeping would not be intrusive but I can only imagine it when all cars are beeping (maybe softly) away. On that subject, who decides how loud is acceptable from a pedestrian viewpoint, what about the elderly and hard of hearing? Make the noise unobtrusive and no-one will hear it anyway, make it too loud and it's super-intrusive for the majority.

I don't buy the argument for mandating this; if there was a role for government then they should have mandated pedestrian sensors already, or sensors to stop you leaving a child alone in your car, or breath alcohol testers on every ignition, or stop subsidizing oil companies and cut down on pollution (which kills far more people than EVs do). That sounds like a rant, which wasn't intended, but just noting that IMO there's many more things where the "Nanny State" should become involved before telling us our cars must make an arbitrary noise level.

 

[Merrill]

Why do people feel the government must baby sit everyone. Take responsibility for your actions, you cannot legislate out all the things people do that might cause a problem. I have had my car for over a year and live on a road that is very popular for dog walking and strollers etc. I go very slow and give them plenty of room, they eventually hear my tires or see me in there periferal vision. If you drive with the thought that people may not hear you then you will not have a problem, you could have the same problems with an ICE.

 

[Nubo]

I hear what you're saying (pun intended) but what I was referring to as unworkable is the fact that EVs in many situations would be making more noise than ICEs. At present our main street is very quiet and pleasant and I'll give you that one car beeping would not be intrusive but I can only imagine it when all cars are beeping (maybe softly) away. On that subject, who decides how loud is acceptable from a pedestrian viewpoint, what about the elderly and hard of hearing? Make the noise unobtrusive and no-one will hear it anyway, make it too loud and it's super-intrusive for the majority.

It's not a beeping. Well, the reverse sound is sort of a chime but forward is a whirr reminiscent of an electric motor. Regarding proper sound level, quite a bit of research and thought went into addressing the points you made, using a wide spectrum sweep to accomodate various types of hearing loss and age-related frequency deficits -- achieving noticeability with as low a sound pressure as possible. Nissan did this independently so I have no idea what the govt may be dreaming up (maybe this...

Hopefully it's closer to the LEAF because I think the LEAF sound is effective without being too disruptive. It's a pleasant sound really. I understand the opposition; just trying to give my experience having lived with the system for nearly 3 years.

 

[brianman]

Why do people feel the government must baby sit everyone. Take responsibility for your actions, you cannot legislate out all the things people do that might cause a problem.

This comes from an overbearing cocky mindset thinking that "I can solve it" and then translating that to an expectation that government can. Both are wrong.

 

[dsm363]

They should mandate a pedestrian horn ( driver pulls back on brights and after two seconds you get soft beeping sound instead of blasting horn).

 

[NigelM]

"Bored Elon Musk" had the next great idea on Twitter today:

 

[HankLloydRight]

Forget the bicycle bell, I think this is the sound I want to add to my MS to warn pedestrians:

 

[brianman]

I think I would go for yelling at Astro instead.

I'm sure some might mistake it for a different 7 letter word but that's just purely coincidental.

 

[Cottonwood]

I hear what you're saying (pun intended) but what I was referring to as unworkable is the fact that EVs in many situations would be making more noise than ICEs. At present our main street is very quiet and pleasant and I'll give you that one car beeping would not be intrusive but I can only imagine it when all cars are beeping (maybe softly) away. On that subject, who decides how loud is acceptable from a pedestrian viewpoint, what about the elderly and hard of hearing? Make the noise unobtrusive and no-one will hear it anyway, make it too loud and it's super-intrusive for the majority.

I don't buy the argument for mandating this; if there was a role for government then they should have mandated pedestrian sensors already, or sensors to stop you leaving a child alone in your car, or breath alcohol testers on every ignition, or stop subsidizing oil companies and cut down on pollution (which kills far more people than EVs do). That sounds like a rant, which wasn't intended, but just noting that IMO there's many more things where the "Nanny State" should become involved before telling us our cars must make an arbitrary noise level.

Hear, hear!

I have ridden a bicycle about 100,000 miles in my life, probably about 25% or 25,000 miles in urban settings, almost all of this on roadways (I had a couple of 10,000 mile years); I have commuted to work on about 80% of my adult work days. I have never hit a walker, and the two times that I have intersected a car's path were because a person opened their door on a city street without checking, and when a truck blew through a stop sign into my path. Walkers and I missed each other in spite of my and their silence. Noise did not change my meetings with ICE vehicles.

I claim that my bicycle is as quiet as an EV. I do whistle when needed and EV's have horns. What else do we need?

 

[Nubo]

Hear, hear!

I have ridden a bicycle about 100,000 miles in my life, probably about 25% or 25,000 miles in urban settings, almost all of this on roadways (I had a couple of 10,000 mile years); I have commuted to work on about 80% of my adult work days. I have never hit a walker, and the two times that I have intersected a car's path were because a person opened their door on a city street without checking, and when a truck blew through a stop sign into my path. Walkers and I missed each other in spite of my and their silence. Noise did not change my meetings with ICE vehicles.

I claim that my bicycle is as quiet as an EV. I do whistle when needed and EV's have horns. What else do we need?

Ok, so you don't have a Chris King rear hub. :smile: Then again, real riders don't coast :tongue:.

I get what you're saying but the visibility from within a car is so much different. There's a wider gulf between a motorist and pedestrian than there is between a cyclist and pedestrian in how they perceive and react to their surroundings.

I used to scoff at rearview cameras. Until I got a car with one and suddenly realized how much I never saw when backing up. I still give thanks that I never ran over a child all those years from lack of seeing them -- the diligence of their parents notwithstanding. I think a VSP is similar in that it's easy to not recognize a danger in the familiar.