Toyota Adds External Speakers To Warn Pedestrians

HockeyPuck writes "When I was a kid, playing with my matchbox cars, I used to say 'VROOOM VROOOM' to pretend my toy cars had big engines in them. Well it seems that Toyota has decided to do the same thing with the Prius by optionally installing, in Japan, external speakers to alert pedestrians of oncoming Priuses."

Comments

Horn?

[ruiner13]

Isn't that what the horn is for?

Re:Horn?

[oldspewey]

For most vehicles travelling at around 30km/h or more, unless the driver is standing on the gas pedal, most of the noise comes from the tires, not the engine.

Re:Horn?

[Rakshasa Taisab]

So you propose we introduce traffic laws that require cars to at all times be going above 30 km/h?

You don't need much speed to kill a kid or dog, and it'll just feel like a small hump in the road when you start dragging the corpse under your car..

Re:Horn?

[coolsnowmen]

what? From the age I was allowed to cross the street, I was told to LOOK both ways, never to just listen for a car. There are many things that move that don't make loud engine noises (bikers, runners, segways, animals) AND fast moving cars. If a car is moving fast enough, you won't hear is coming [till it is too late], especially in a traffic filled area, there are always car sounds. you _ have _ to _ look.

If you consider the quiet of the prius to be a disadvantage, then roll down the window and just scream the whole time.

The only reason this would be useful for is blind people. The only [legally] blind person I've even known, only walked in neighborhoods (where cars should be going slow enough to yield to any pedestrian) and cross walks (that have an auditory signal). No where is car sound reliable enough to be a decision making factor.

Re:Horn?

[blair1q]

Then they won't mind the dent you leave in the hood.

Re:Horn?

[Bobfrankly1]

Those tires make almost no noise at all.

Do they make these tires in a wife-sized model?

Re:Horn?

[yurtinus]

Indeed, read the study. I am even more dubious of the threat posed by quieter cars. The sample size of hybrid accidents with cyclists and pedestrians is 125. 125 incidents for HEVs versus 5440 similar incidents in ICE vehicles. The study controls are also *very* dubious. For ICE cars they analyze the Camry, Corolla, Civic, and Accord. For HEVs they compare with the Camry Corolla, Civic, Accord, *and* Prius - a car with a fairly novel design and different viewability than you find in the more "standard" sedans. I'd be very curious to see how the number line up without including the Prius, but seriously doubt there will be enough data to prove anything conclusive.

So yes, I am extremely dubious about the threat of "quiet cars," thinking it is often being used as an excuse in place of an actual cause (say... driver or pedestrian inattention?). Sure, some tech-gadgets really do save lives, but too many new "safety and convenience features" on cars simply encourage lazy drivers.

Re:Horn?

[GrumblyStuff]

I don't know about your town but everyone here is jogging or walking around with headphones or earbuds bolted to their head. Unless the plan is to make these cars sound like some POS ricer or a Harley, it won't make a difference.

Drivers certainly don't help matters either. The morons here tend to read STOP as Hey, cruise through without turn signals at 10-15 MPH.

So, yeah, it would be good if people weren't idiots who only focused on themselves but you can legislate or require commonsense. It's the same crap as when iPods started having settings to limit the volume.

Maybe it's just me but I try to keep my eyes and ears open. If I'm walking along a road without sidewalks, I'm looking back every now and then. Not good visibility? I'm keeping a close eye at the corner obscured by parked van.

What's next? Warnings on bags to not put them over your head and on buckets about not putting small children upside-down in them with water?

What does it play when acceleratng uncontrollably?

[Rockoon]

"ATTENTION PEDESTRIANS! This vehicle is accelerating uncontrollably while an elderly man panics in the drivers seat! Please make way!"

Also add horse sounds

[Ossifer]

They need to add the sounds of hooves and the cracking of whips too, for those of us not used to these newfangled horseless carriages...

Re:Also add horse sounds

[bsDaemon]

Can't you just hire someone to sit on top of the Prius and crack some coconuts together?

Re:Also add horse sounds

[SleazyRidr]

Just take the lime out.

Just when you think...

[nine-times]

Just when you think quiet electric cars are going to help diminish the noise pollution problem, they go and do this.

Re:What a shame

[Daniel_Staal]

Also, it reminds me of the old rules requiring someone to walk ahead of automobiles with a bell, so you wouldn't scare the horses...

We have a car with an advantage (that it is silent at low speeds), and we cripple it because we aren't used to it.

Takes out all the fun from old jokes

[A beautiful mind]

There was a campaign a while ago where people could suggest advertisement plots for some car brands. Some guy sent something like this in:

Scene: Blind 9 year old girl crossing the street.

Camera alternates between showing the closeup of the girl and showing the empty road.

Screen goes black and in a short while there is a loud noise as if someone was hit by a car.

The following appears on screen: "New Audi type foo. Very fast. Very quiet."

The guy didn't hear back about his plot suggestion for some reason.

If they do, I want options!

[DarthVain]

Pick your Engine sound:

1) Default Camcord
2) Italian Sports Car
3) Half ton Truck
4) Harley Davidson Motorcycle
5) Tank
6) Horse and Buggy
7) Monty Python
8) Ice Cream Truck
9) VW anything
10) F1
11) Flubber
12)...

Re:If they do, I want options!

[NevarMore]

TIE fighter.

Re:What does it play when acceleratng uncontrollab

[blair1q]

I'm not panicking, and it's not uncontrolled.

Learn to cross at the light, asshole.

So it'll be like Nissan's electric cars

[Kitkoan]

This was already noted by Nissan a while back when they decided to make their next electric cars sound like Blade Runner. Its a safety feature to make sure people like the blind can hear them so they don't walk right into a quiet electric car just as it's turning a corner at the lights.

Re:Only Priuses?

[h00manist]

And do they go VROOM VROOM? That sound that legacy engines used to make, sort of like a SteamPunk car sound effect? I wonder if you can install a tailpipe and make real smoke, and get a radiator full of hot water and stuff. These electric engines are just so boring, they make no noises with water steam smoke etc like cars used to.

Re:What does it play when acceleratng uncontrollab

[Sponge Bath]

...while an elderly man panics

Hey! Some of us Prius drivers are trying to score Death Race points, and this proposal will really impact our scores :-(

$148? How about bicycle tech?

[aapold]

A playing card in the rims could do that for a lot less, and I'll wager the drag would cost less than the energy drain of the speaker system too....

I knew I should have patented my idea

[beschra]

Ringtones for your hybrid car. Downloadable for 99 cents.

Re:What a shame

[cgenman]

To be fair, Toyota is crippling it in one market, optionally, by the owner's choice. That's very different than a state requirement that must be met.

Of course, I've always wanted an option that wasn't quite horn, but wasn't just sitting-politely-waiting either. Keep the horn for the "Oh God We're All Going To Die" moments, and have some sort of sub-horn for "The light turned green: stop texting and drive" or "No really, we're in a right-turn-on-red state."

If we could hook the outside speaker up to a microphone on the dashboard, I'd be happy. Well, I'd be angry, and there would be a string of expletives that came out of it. But it would be satisfying.

Re:$148? How about bicycle tech?

[Bobfrankly1]

Heck, why not just bolt a vuvuzela to the hood?

Because unlike a Toyota, a vuvuzela can stop.

Re:Only Priuses?

[PunditGuy]

Forget mimicry. I want either Peter Weller (in a Robocop voice) or Patrick Warburton (in a Tick voice) to say "Step aside, citizen."

Re:Only Priuses?

[icebike]

So record the Corvette and play it on the Prius speakers.

Of course the crowd reaction will be one of rolling in the street laughing their asses off. But at least they were warned.

Re:Only Priuses?

[sexconker]

The blind have no problems hearing electric cars.
They aren't deaf, like the rest of the retarded populace, and they don't have shitty white earbuds jammed into their ears 24/7, like the rest of the retarded populace.

Electric cars driving down a street are not quiet.
They are simply quieter than a regular car.

It's not like trying to listen to a cat sneaking up behind you on a carpeted floor.