Something to look forward to ...

[Clitheroekid]

This is Jaguar's artificial sound that they're proposing to install on the Jaguar I-Pace (apologies for the DM link) - https://www.dailymail.co.uk/money/cars/ ... 0325782957

To my delicate, shell-like ears it sounds horrendous - like an air raid siren. The thought of walking down a street populated by cars making this sort of racket is a nightmare.

I can't even see that it's necessary. Most cars these days have engines that are so quiet you don't really hear them anyway at the sort of speeds they're doing on a busy street. It's the tyres that make most of the noise, and that will obviously be the same on an electric car.

If they do have to install such a device (and it appears that EU legislation will require it) then surely the best solution is to install something that synthesises the sound of an internal combustion engine, which everyone's already used to. I'll have a Ferrari V8 please!

[chas49]

It's more complicated than I imagined....

The unique tone sounds somewhat different to the noise engineers had originally embarked on creating.

The British manufacturer said its technicians had developed a sound that was like a 'sci-fi spacecraft', but the soundtrack had to be shelved because pedestrians reacted by looking up at the sky rather than at the road.

[bungeejumper]

Unaccustomed as I am to taking anything the Daily Mail says at face value, I can only nod in agreement. Only the other week, I was almost taken out of circulation by some sweet little old biddy who careered soundlessly through the Sainsburys car park and didn't spot my backside in time as I was loading up my car. I had no way of knowing that she was about to wipe me out, and it was only by chance that I moved out of her target range at the last moment.

If I'd been a toddler in a pushchair, that would undoubtedly have been curtains for me. And the blind person's argument in the video is also utterly compelling. I am no particular fan of making vehicle safety requirements retroactive, but every single one of the silent electric cars out there ought to be recalled for a mandatory sonic upgrade, right now.

Given that silent cars have a 40% greater chance of being involved in a pedestrian accident (surely the most expensive kind?), it would be interesting to know how much of a premium the silent running feature adds to a driver's insurance?

BJ

[Slarti]

Given that silent cars have a 40% greater chance of being involved in a pedestrian accident

Given how few all electric vehicles there are on the roads, one does wonder how this 40% greater chance of being involved in a pedestrian accident was arrived at.

And did it allow for the fact that, until recently, most electric vehicles were only used around town whereas IU vehicles got out of town a lot more?

Slarti

[bungeejumper]

Given how few all electric vehicles there are on the roads, one does wonder how this 40% greater chance of being involved in a pedestrian accident was arrived at.

And did it allow for the fact that, until recently, most electric vehicles were only used around town whereas IU vehicles got out of town a lot more?

No idea about how the figures were calculated - I think the original impetus came from the Guide Dogs report for 2015 (https://www.rnib.org.uk/rnibconnect/sil ... sight-loss), but it's subsequently been reported by LV insurance. It may be an accident-centred computation rather than a driver-centred one, of course.

What's a IU vehicle? (Hybrid? Those are included in the Guide Dog stats.) Either way, it seems self-evident (to me) that there's an issue that needs addressing here.

They tell me that cars are allowed to be silent up to 19 mph. Which is really quite fast in a busy car park.

BJ

[Slarti]

What's a IU vehicle?

A typo!

Should have been ICU = Internal Combustion Unit

My current car (petrol Avensis) is silent at car park speeds, so much so that I often have to blip the throttle when people are going to walk out in front of me, without looking.

The new rules are artificial noise up to 12mph, from the story as tyre noise should be enough above that.

Slarti

[redsturgeon]

It is indeed a problem, I have a PHEV and when coming up behind people walking down the middle of the road in the town centre, I sometimes have to honk the horn to warn them of my presence...which I don't really want to do since it feels rude but it is preferable to running them down.

John

[DrFfybes]

If they do have to install such a device (and it appears that EU legislation will require it) then surely the best solution is to install something that synthesises the sound of an internal combustion engine, which everyone's already used to. I'll have a Ferrari V8 please!

That will just make them think you were speeding.

If you really want to attract their attention, you want the sound of hooves galloping towards them.

Paul

[jfgw]

Can't we just choose our own like we do ringtones?

Julian F. G. W.

[bungeejumper]

Can't we just choose our own like we do ringtones?

Sounds good to me. So what would get people's attention? Boudicca's chariot, or just a Centurion tank? Or a Stuka, perhaps?

BJ

[UncleIan]

If you really want to attract their attention, you want the sound of hooves galloping towards them.

Some time in the 80s we had a tape of old single cylinder norton motorbikes recorded at the TT in full glorious stereo sound. It regularly got played at full volume with the windows down while the car sat waiting at pedestrian crossings. Bad people that we were.

[scotia]

It is indeed a problem

Agreed - the Trolley Buses in Glasgow were called "silent death" by the natives.