U.S. ends “noiseless” electric cars

U.S. Department of Transportation, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has finalized rules regarding electric vehicles requiring that “any four-wheeled vehicle with a GVWR of less than 10,000 pounds must emit a pedestrian-warning noise at speeds below 18.6 miles per hour.”

So what will the pedestrian-warning sound like? It’s not been determined yet, writes Steph Willems, Hybriedcars.com, noting that people who have driven an electric vehicle with a pedestrian-warning noise find it “can be unsettling, even unpleasant.” Willems adds that the NHTSA hasn’t yet decided whether to give drivers a choice of sounds, though “automakers hope to have owners select from a list of regulator-approved warning tones.”

Let’s hope that someone with some taste and sense is involved in the decision-making, because the consequences of allowing brand managers and marketers to make that decision is, at best, horrifying.