Vehicle Proximity Notification System (VPNS)

after seeing what they can do to your hands? maybe.

 

well done!

 

omg... LOL.. ROFL.. I can't stop laughing..

you must be new.. you know people have been disconnecting airbags for decades.. right?

and if you consider driving aids like ABS, VSC, traction control, etc.. to be safety features.. there are reasons why in some cars.. you have a button that turns it off..

 

Honestly speaking, the only time I can hear it is when I park my C in the garage. I specifically roll down all my windows on the parking lot and turn my stereo down in order to try to hear the VPNS but I can't. And I am definitely not a deaf person.

 

Nothing personal, but not all the people on the road have the same "perfect" abilities to manage a dangerous situation on the road, and that is why car manufacturers put some extra safety features in order to make the car safer for the average driver. Those who have better driving experience can turn these features off (even though I've never seen the button to turn the ABS off) for their own pleasure or risk if you would like.
Not trying to show off, but I used to drive in some places where the road condition in any way (weather/quality) is much, much, much worse to what most people get used to, and believe me these features do help. In the mean time I agree that if these systems are tuned to strict they can make the car a bit dumb, but again it may be 1 person out of 100 who buys the car for ultimate driving experience, the other 99 buy it just for the safe commute between point A and B.

 

ABS is definitely something that you cannot turn off easily.. nor is it a switch that you can easily turn off vs the other driving aids I had mentioned.. however, it does not mean it isn't impossible for a person to hack into the vehicle to remove or disable the system completely.

it really isn't just about safety at this point... from the initial discussions of a speaker making a synthetic noise.. to airbags.. all the way to me discussing driving aids..

what it boils down to... is what are modifications about? why do people do the things they do to their cars? why do people want to disable the VPNS.. or change out the audio system.. or change the suspension.. or change anything from how the car was when they first purchased the vehicle?

it's simple... because they want to... and because they can.

as far as why they would want to? that's all up to the person really.. whether they prefer a stiffer suspension setup, or prefer a better sounding audio system... or disabling an annoying beep.. or in this case, for this thread, a sound that some people find annoying... safety feature or not... yeah.. it's changing the car to how the person wants it.

 

When I was little my parents taught me one thing, that my freedom ends where the freedom of the other person starts. Speaking of this, to change a stereo in the car, put some fancy schmancy stuff in my car, to remove/disconnect a safety feature inside of my car (such as an airbag for example) and get killed in the accident is all my freedom; however, the VPNS is the freedom of some other person, to be aware of the silent car approaching her/him.
I believe all of us, been a small car drivers will not appreciate if the truck drivers on their forums will start a discussion about how "stupid" it was to put a "safety" bar underneath their front bumpers at the legislation level. It was done for our common benefit, so in case of the accident they will not ride over the car of a smaller size so easily.

 

In house fire alarm and CO alarm will probably scare crap out of a lot of people (at least it does scare my wife's cat when I am testing them) in the middle of the night too. Let's disconnect them... sure why not???

 

When I first got my C at the dealership my father was with me and he said he couldn't hear the car make any sound at all. He's 63 and has no hearing problems. But if it does emit some kind of sound and my father can't hear it then I guess senior citizens and the deaf aren't really saved by this feature. So far I haven't really noticed it and I have extremly good hearing. But I mostly drive with my radio on or it doesn't seem to bother me.

 

I tired disconnecting mine and now I know what noise was fake and what's real. All the electric noise I thought was the vpns is actually real. The weird noise I thought was the inverter water pump was actually the vpns. It's pretty much inaudible from within the car .

 

i can hear mine much too clearly and will disconnect it when i figure out how. if this was a safety feature and not a politically motivated creation, why didn't they require it on all cars that are below a designated decibel level instead of just hybrids and ev's?

 

Why do you say this was politically motivated? The legislation was requested by the Federation of the Blind and the American Council of the Blind, and was passed unanimously by the Senate and 379 to 30 by the House, surely one of very few non-political pieces of legislation of the last three years.

 

they were catering to a political action comittee instead of studying the facts and making a decision that would have led them to drop the issue or at the very least, test all cars for decibel ratings at low speeds and required on all cars below a certain level.

 

The issue has been studied leading to this report by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. They found hybrid vehicles maneuvering at less than 35 mph were more likely to hit a pedestrian than ICE vehicles. Whether other 'quiet' vehicles would have an increased risk or not wasn't in the scope of the study. Still, this is a well done statistical report and shows there is some fire behind all the smoke.

I don't like Toyota's choice for a warning noise. It sounds more like a demented cicada than an automobile. I hope we get a better choice when these units are recalled in a couple of years.


Tom

 

why do you suppose the study focused on hybrids istead of all vehicles?

 

Because hybrids tend to be quieter than the average vehicle? Because they're a new technology? A combination of those two factors probably.

 

but there must be plenty of non hybrids that are quieter than the average vehicle. why wouldn't they have gone after lexus or infinity or some other high end cars when they came out before hybrids? you can't hear them at all when idling.

 

Probably, as laid out in the introduction, because that is what they were asked to study.

High end luxury cars could be studied the same way, if there are enough of them on the road to result in statistically significant conclusions.


Tom

 

I suppose it is only a matter of time before the after-market industry realizes a furtune is to be had manufacturing custom VPNS that sound like:
- Top Fuel Dragsters
- F1 Race Cars
- Harley Davidsons
- Etc.
Then every modder will be scrambling to add one to their vehicle of choice, regardless of legal requirement.