Gov't wants electric cars to be noisy

Timo

Maybe BSG Cylon sounds?

hamer_117146

Since I got my Tesla, when I have been a pedestrian I have listened carefully when a Leaf or hybrid has passed me, and honestly, I can't hear the difference between those and an ICE. Mufflers are good enough these days that at slow speeds, all a pedestrian really hears is tire noise anyway.

I'll need to get my wife to drive the Tesla by at high speeds and see if I can tell a difference at higher speeds, but I suspect this is really a non-issue and any rule, if implemented, is really stupidity.

lph

Add noise suppression that way you can make a noise without hearing it. ;-)

Vawlkus

FYI the KITT LED bar is illegal in some places, as I found out when I went to add it to my Mustang -.-

ajamison

Vawlkus What why would they make it illegal silly law makers and their pointless laws

Brian H

Distraction?

Timo

Probably because it may look like brake light from distance in dark making difficult to people distinguish how close the car actually is. Also could be interpreted as emergency vehicle (it's flashing: police).

If you change red to green then it probably would be legal (blue is emergency vehicle, yellow/orange is turning light).

Anyway the sound alone probably is not illegal (barring copyright issues).

Vawlkus

Actually the original law was to inhibit the underside lighting, and they just expanded it to include anything that isn't a headlight, brake light, or used to light up a license plate. Idiocy IMHO, but there ya go -.-

cloroxbb

I don't want it to be LAW, but I think having a dedicated "button" for sounds would be kind of fun. I mean, yes, we already have the horn, but I don't want to "startle" pedestrians, just make my presence more known. Just think of the possibilities of sounds we could use:

Horse hooves clanking on the ground
Ice Cream truck music (haha, that would make people aware)
Sound of lightning cracking

etc...

Just a couple ideas.