Hybrid vehicle designs under fire - Quiet hybrids: An end to their sounds of silence?

hybrid creeps? name calling isn't going to resolve the issue.

 

Congress is on the July 4th holiday break. Now is the time to call your Congress critter offices, both House and Senators and voice your objection. . . .

The bills are:

• H.R. 5381 without the Stern's Amendment
• S. 3302 the original without the substitute including the hybrid car nonsense

Point out that the September 2009 NHTSA report is flawed because it did not calculate the rate of accidents per vehicle but played a percentage trick. We know the Prius has half the fatality rate as the NHTSA reported annual rate. For details:

Prius Fatalities 2001-2007

Better still, use your own words, your own reasons for opposition. From the heart is the most effective argument.

Bob Wilson

 

My angle would be to insist that any minimum sound level requirements apply to all vehicles, regardless of propulsion system.

I.e. my congresscritters will hear pressure to not allow non-hybrids/non-EVs an exemption, even on Day 1, from the same testing to ensure they meet the minimum noise requirements.
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PS. Immediately after the above post, I went for an evening walk in our residential area, far quieter than any bustling downtown. Most vehicles behind are detected by tire noise, not engine noise. But I was startled by an ICE spinning up to pull into the driveway a few feet behind me. He had apparently seen us in the distance, and glided in slowly to allow us time to cross. Between a very quiet idle, and lack of tire noise due to the slowing glide, I couldn't hear it until some additional engine power was needed for the final pull into the driveway.

It was a non-hybrid, non-EV Tercel.

 

Politics in this country is getting dangerously irrational. And that includes the media.

 

I just watched the Capital Celebration on tv and felt gratitude, pride, and sadness.
"One nation under God..." A lot is being said about keeping God in the pledge but so many people seem to forget that "One nation" part. We are becoming a nation very divided. I wonder if someone has a strategy to divide and conquer ? It seems to be working very well so far

 

Hybrids are a hazard to inattentive pedestrians. So are bicycles. If the government is considering "belling" a hybrid, maybe they should alternatively consider licensing pedestrians. The written test could include questions about "looking both ways before you cross the street".

Or we could try a crazy thing where both drivers and pedestrians use common sense and maintain awareness of their surroundings.

 

Question: IF congress passes something like this, does this apply to new cars only, or will cops start pulling our Priuses aside too if we don't fit them with the noise device?

BTW this proposal sucks. It's basically jealous fat old non-hybrid owners trying to get back at us. I agree with whoever said road noise>engine noise. It's true, you CAN hear a hybrid if you pay attention and have any sense of hearing whatsoever.

 

That is the very point that ignorant legislators parrot. Meanwhile, quiet cars run down just as many ped's (sighed and/or non-sighted) percentage wise ... but our nut-less legislators won't dare burden ICE manufacturing with an irrational bell because the ICE manufacturing has the power to send these ignorant legislators back to the stone age. The nut-less legislators (rather than look at the numbers) are afraid to stand up to the blind out of fear ... after all (so goes the logic) who'd want to burden the blind?

.

 

Umm, isn't it the responsibility of the driver, whatever vehicle they're driving, to NOT run over people?

 

I would beat a blind man on life support with one leg completely senseless before he got between me and my car. Fact.

 

Soon cars will need to be dayglo orange with flashing lights to protect the deaf and partially sighted.

 

Being hearing impaired myself, the last thing I would want to see is anybody pushing legislation for this. I have worked around heavy industrial equipment most of my adult life and just know to use commom sense and always be aware of my surroundings.

Not to upset the blind, but I think the same should go for them. Adding noisemakers is just not the answer.

I have pulled up behind my wife in the driveway and surprised her in both the Prius and her Honda Accord. I have asked her which one was quieter in her opinion and her comment was the Honda since the Prius makes some wierd noises that she is not used to hearing !!

 

what is also not taken into consideration, is hybrid drivers are probably more aware of traffic / pedestrians than non hybrid dirvers.

 

It would be much cheaper, and arguable just as effective to outfit each blind person with a flashing light and siren. This way the extra noise pollution is only exactly where it is needed - not everywhere, all the time just in case there's a blind person around.

I'm actually quite curious as to what the response to that suggestion would be. If I were blind and needed to walk among cars alone - I'd at a minimum wear a bright orange "road worker" vest. I have yet to see any such safety measure deployed by a blind pedestrian (beyond a white cane). Would this be an inconvenience to them? Should the entire population be inconvenienced to avoid their inconvenience?

It is amazing how this whole situation makes anybody against it sound like an insensitive heel, yeah? It really can't be discussed openly - without fully measured words because of the political incorrectness of wanting to burden anybody with a handicap.

 

Exactly! And that means we also don't get to run over people with iPods blaring away - even though they wouldn't hear that great "safety" sound. We can't run over playing children. Yuppies breaking up with their brokers on cell phones. Old people with no hearing or peripheral vision. Young guys who are too cool for school. Ugly guys who are pissed off at the world.

I wonder why the blind think we're out to get them? There are enough signted people who aren't paying attention that we could run down if that's what we were looking for.

 

Since the government is concerned about making our cars more idiot friendly (not referring to the blind here, I have to wonder if the law will apply to Bicyclists as well. Here in Brooklyn they are some of the MOST dangerous drivers I've ever seen.