I would like switchable sound effects.... anything from the Harley Tailpipe notes to UFO/Spaceship sounds. Galloping horses would be entertaining as well.

OK, you made me think twice about cutting the wires, this could be fun.

This highlights two problems:

1. Vehicles should not be in, or cross, a crosswalk when a pedestrian is walking across the street.

2. We are so addicted to the sounds of substituting oil for knowledge (or caution) that we require artificial sound to indicate something is operating.

Are Prii also now required to produce the sound of a mechanical starter to indicate the ICE is starting up? Absurd.

Whatever happened to the quaint notion that the vehicle driver is responsible for avoidance of pedestrians? While we're on the subject, what do these people propose for deaf pedestrians? Strobe lights on the front bumper perhaps?

I would cut the wires as well. After all, that's half the fun of driving a Prius: sneaking up to blind people in crosswalks and blasting the horn.

Unless it's an OEM horn. Nobody can hear those.

Why is the vehicle driver always assumed to be at fault??? I think that pedestrians should be held responsible for their own actions. Over the last several years I have seen numerous pedestrians using cell phones or using an Ipod step off a curb and walk right into automobile traffic without looking first and engaging their brain.

As for the Lotus device, if they want their noise maker to be really effective, they should make is sound like a screaming pedestrian.

Keith

I want a holographic projection of a man walking before the car, swinging a lantern and calling "Ahoy, ahoy!".

+1

+2 !!!!!:rockon:

My first thought was to put a microphone at the rear and play the sounds of surrounding vehicles through the speaker ... instant audio invisibility. But just have 3 or 4 Prius together and suddenly, the next one disappears. This is called "noise masking."

Seriously, posting here is 'preaching to the choir.' We really need to reply back if there is a comment log or better still, contact the editor with the facts and data. We have to use the most powerful 'clue' available, the truth, to put this to rest. But we have to do it every time and opportunity. I call it "Whack a Mole" and this is what it takes.

GOOD LUCK!
Bob Wilson

Oooh. I want one that has the sound of fingernails scraping on a blackboard.
That would get people out of the way.

Alternatively I want one that plays a loud sound at 7.5 hz.
That's the frequency, tested by the military, that makes people throw up.

Mmmmmm... Brown noise is perhaps not the reaction I want people to have to my car.

Maybe the sound that Howard Stern uses to make listeners climax?

Oh, and only those of us with Shark fin antennas are allowed to use the theme from Jaws.

Okay - now I understand the traction behind this movement. Companies like this are attempting to profit from what is an absolute non-issue.

SHAME ON YOU LOTUS!

... Brad

I wouldn't mind it if it sounded like Luke Skywalker's Landspeeder. Really...why do they have to make it sound like a car? They'd have much more success if they made cool sounds.

Except that would GUARANTEE you kill the poor blind people. Everyone except Harley owners with loud pipes knows that you don't hear the 'Loud pipes saves lives' Harley until it is moving AWAY from you. If you hear a Harley, it is SAFE to step off the curb. Unless they are traveling in a herd of course.

This afternoon, I was looking for a 12 VDC alarm, a noise maker, and discovered there are a large number of sellers for piezo electric, all-weather noise makers in the $12-25 range on Ebay. These are retail prices and most of these noise makers are in the 97-100 dB range. One can easily imagine the wholesale prices being half of this and wiring one with a 'wire-OR' diode pair would support both right turn signal as well as a backup alarm. This is trivial way to add noise to a hybrid.

Now I've read the business articles that claim Lotus sees noise makers for the hybrids as a business opportunity. But we all know Lotus does not make hybrids. Furthermore, I've also read about Stanford kids wanting to sell noise makers and a recent letter from another college wanting to investigate adding noise to hybrids. But they are all faced with a fundamental economic barrier ... a well established, existing, multiple-source, market of very low cost, 12 VDC noise makers.

Understand that everyone deserves an opportunity to pursue new business. But there has to come a point when a serious business manager does basic market research. They will then discover that what they propose is already available for much less than their proposed product. In fact, I found a backup light with a built-in noise generator for about $30.

If I am right and the "Bell the Hybrid" nonsense starts up again in January, I would expect Bloomberg, Forbes and other eye-wash business publications to repost news releases from Lotus about their noise makers. The obvious answer is to cite the part numbers and prices for existing noise makers. Point out that it is a silly proposal.

Bob Wilson