Vehicle Proximity Notification System (VPNS)

I wonder how much sympathy the jury will have for an owner who disconnected the VPNS when the first lawsuit by an injured blind pedestrian goes to trial...

 

what are you talking about?

*plugs the VPNS speaker back in*..

i don't see anything wrong.

 

i don't buy that a hybrid backing out of a parking space is any quieter than a lexus or bmw etc. especially since the ice is at the opposite end from the ped.

 

I don't understand why anyone would disconnect a safety feature that you can't even hear from inside the car. Check with your blind friends and see what they think.

 

they all want to be super spy like i spose. i personally cant hear it inside the car and i run in ev frequently.

 

you should check with your deaf friends and ask them how they avoid vehicles... oh wait..

 

ditto.. i can hear it in my car too... even with the windows up.
it's irritating to my musician ears... then again.. i guess that's what Toyota was probably aiming for... irritating..

except it doesn't seem to work on ignorant/stupid pedestrians...

even if it might work for the rest of them.. though.. most times.. the rest of them are smart enough to see my car.

so in the end.. it's some safety.. liability crap.. that ends up being pretty much useless... but it's there.. just so Toyota said they did something..

 

I still like the sound. *shrug*

 

Sounds like an electric motor noise to me. Not sure why it bothers people.

 

But why does that matter? If it sounds like an electric motor, and you originally enjoyed the sound, why does it matter if it's simulated?

 

I'm bothered because it sounds like a video game, not an automobile. If a pedestrian doesn't realize that sound is a car, what is the point of a noisemaker?

I suspect Toyota will recall the Jetson Noisemakers in a year or two. I don't think they meet this requirement of the Pedestrian Safety Enhancement Act, "...an alert sound that is recognizable to a pedestrian as a motor vehicle in operation." Sec. 3. (a) (2).


Tom

 

Next time my blind friend comes over I'll ask him what he thinks of the c's noisemaker.

 

It sounds like an electric car, very similar to an all-electric train in fact. Had I never seen this thread, I would have thought the noise was real. I think they did a solid job. Would you prefer a fake ICE noise? Now THAT would be horrible.

 

Well, the Prius must make some noise that non-oblivious pedestrians can hear without a noisemaker. When I go through parking lots people do turn their heads and look when I roll up behind them, if they're not on their phones! That reminds me of the time a guy walked right into the side of my old truck because he was on a cellphone... sigh!

 

Come on, who cares? What safety feature gets disconnected next? Airbags?