Toyota Explains, Demonstrates Noisemaker coming standard in all 2012 Prius models

oh my hahahahahahaha

 

Do you think you should have contacted your congress person before this happened? I did, I wrote to both senators and my representative.

I explained that a hybrid car blind pedestrian accident had never occurred to anyones knowledge. I pointed out that we live in a very noisy world and adding another noise maker was a very poor idea. I also mentioned that mandatory noise makers might adversely effect hybrid sales at a time when better mileage cars were badly needed.

Of the three congress people I contacted I received one reply, a note from a staffer telling me that they always appreciate "alternative points of view" the other two did not even bother to acknowledge my communication.

Congress only listens to people who have a lot of money and/or access to the media. Hybrid car owners as a group are not organized and our opinions are not relevant to congress. Blind people are organized and have a lot of money (mostly taxpayer money I suspect) to throw at congress. Once the blind lobby groups brought up noise makers and companies such as Toyota agreed it was a great idea there was no way it was not going to happen.

 

Still, the new law is not written in stone. It can be rescinded. If this results in a decrease in hybrid sales, the noisemaker will have cost Toyota and other hybrid makers a tremendous amount of money.

The poll showed in the other section of the forum showed that around 40% of posters would be less likely to buy a 2012 Prius because of the noisemaker. While this of course is not a scientific poll, it does reflect that there is a lot of concern about this.
I suspect that hybrid sales will indeed decrease as a result of this.

 

I have to admit, it's happened to me. Fortunately, I was using my eyes, even if they weren't.

I can't say they wouldn't have walked into the path of some other car, too, but I don't remember that happening to me before the Prius.

 

go listen to a Prius v

Maverick: Since you were say adamantly anti-noisemaker, to the point where you'd rule out buying a Toyota hybrid with one, go listen to one on a Prius v, now that they're at dealers.

Same goes for the others that are dead set against it.

Someone else posted their experience at http://priuschat.com/forums/prius-v-main-forum/99453-ive-finally-heard-vpns.html. I already posted my experience w/them earlier at GDE (not even knowing that the test vehicles had them).

 

Where are my wire cutters???? I think the first time in my driveway there will be an accident. My wire cutters will jump off the asphalt and somehow get tangled up with the notification wires!!!

 

That has been known to happen.

 

Re: go listen to a Prius v

Well I would except I've already bought a 2011 Prius now. So I'm out of the market for the 2012's. The 2012 Prius noisemaker was one factor in several in my decision to buy a 2011 Prius instead of waiting for the 2012's.

I'm very happy with my new 2011 Barcelona Red Prius. It's a great car and I love the 52MPG I'm getting!

 

to put simple, I thought that was what the HORN was for.....


...you see someone walking out in front of your car, you blow the horn...

 

I really hope it's hackable to allow custom warning sounds, a la ringtones. And if anyone asks, you can tell them it's just charging the warp-field generator and the sound is to alert anyone with any metal in their bodies to stand clear. We should have a contest to come up with the best explanation. After all I've heard, though, I don't think this would be enough to discourage me from buying a '12, but it's a moot point since my '05 is just getting nicely broken in.

 

just bought a 2012 Prius V III and so far we have not heard this sound at all.. Was this a joke or were they pressured not to make it standard. I have coasted with just the electric next to a building with the window open and no noise at all even when coming to a stop at the intersection.

 

^^^ Hmm, was the AC on? If not, try again w/the AC AND auto.

I posted my observations at GDE at http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-iii...8122-prius-vs-camry-hybrid-2.html#post1393497 (not even KNOWING the cars had VPNS). After some other posts, I posted at http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-iii...8596-2012-prius-noisemaker-4.html#post1399483 that maybe I mis-attributed the sounds I heard to the electric AC compressor since I know what the electric AC compressor sounds like in my Gen 2.

 

It turns out you can get noise generators for other cars: SoundRacer

Now, we just need someone to figure out how to modify Toyota's noisemaker to sound like this Unfortunately I think this device won't work on the Prius, since it seems to depend on alternator noise to sense engine speed.

 

Have someone stand outside the vehicle then YOU drive by them and then ask them if they hear anything.

My understanding is the whole system is designed to be very directional. In other words, designed so that as the vehicle occupant you don't hear it...

Obviously it's also speed related, so at a complete stop you would hear nothing, and slowing it would be increasingly quieter.

 

Thats it!!!!, I am getting Harley straight pipes put on my 2012 Prius:rockon::rockon:

DBCassidy

 

On a related note:

http://mobile.businessweek.com/news...wearing-pedestrians-increase-study-finds.html

Jan. 16 (Bloomberg) -- The number of headphone-wearing pedestrians seriously injured or killed near roadways and railways has tripled in six years, according to a U.S. study.

The number of cases rose from 16 in 2004-2005 to 47 in 2010-2011, according to the research published today in the online journal Injury Prevention. Thirty-four of the 116 total cases in the study specifically mention horns or sirens being sounded before the victims were struck, wrote researchers including Richard Lichenstein at the University of Maryland Hospital for Children...

 

i have seen people lately driving car and listening to headphones... Wth.

 

That's already illegal in Florida; here are the gory details:

316.304 Wearing of headsets.—
(1) No person shall operate a vehicle while wearing a headset, headphone, or other listening device, other than a hearing aid or instrument for the improvement of defective human hearing.
(2) This section does not apply to:
(a) Any law enforcement officer equipped with any communication device necessary in performing his or her assigned duties or to any emergency vehicle operator equipped with any ear protection device.
(b) Any applicant for a license to operate a motorcycle while taking the examination required by s. 322.12(5).
(c) Any person operating a motorcycle who is using a headset that is installed in a helmet and worn so as to prevent the speakers from making direct contact with the user’s ears so that the user can hear surrounding sounds.
(d) Any person using a headset in conjunction with a cellular telephone that only provides sound through one ear and allows surrounding sounds to be heard with the other ear.
(e) Any person using a headset in conjunction with communicating with the central base operation that only provides sound through one ear and allows surrounding sounds to be heard with the other ear.

(3) The Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles shall promulgate, by administrative rule, standards and specifications for headset equipment the use of which is permitted under this section. The department shall inspect and review all such devices submitted to it and shall publish a list by name and type of approved equipment.
(4) A violation of this section is a noncriminal traffic infraction, punishable as a nonmoving violation as provided in chapter 318.

Loophole city: the statute says "listening device", strongly suggesting that the use of a purely sound-suppressing earmuff would be legal, for those of us merely wanting to shut out the world. OTOH, it makes illegal something like a shooter's active earmuff, which lets in all sounds below a certain level, but shuts down sudden louder noises (e.g., a gunshot).

 

Well, since I drive down Constitution Avenue on Capitol Hill twice a day, I am going to amplify my noise maker (when I get my 2012 or 2013,) and add reverb. It will definitely sound like a flying saucer from a 1950's movie, then. =D