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."

Re:Horn?

[santax]

No. Think about a (hehe) child (hell or even a Santax) playing between some cars. It is silent, I can hear nothing. I assume (since I know when I hear nothing there are no cars) I can safely cross the street. Only to Die by Prius. This really is one of the biggest disadvantages of these types of cars. You can't hear them, so your brain isn't in the alerted modus. If every car we have today would be silent you would see a great increase in traffic-deaths. So for me this worth applauding. Will safe some lives.

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. [gizmodo.com] 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:Horn?

[Abstrackt]

What if they have a heart attack, die, don't land on the horn, and are speeding out of control in electric silence?

Assuming they push the pedal to the floor during the heart attack and rigor mortis kicks in immediately, the gas engine would kick in and produce noise. Otherwise, their leg muscles would relax once they die making it near impossible for them to push the gas pedal.

Re:What does it play when acceleratng uncontrollab

[Bryansix]

Actually, Volvo intoduced a pedestrian protection system which instead stops the car. I think it functions at speeds below 30 mph if I remember correctly.

$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....

Re:If they do, I want options!

[NevarMore]

TIE fighter.

Re:$148? How about bicycle tech?

[pspahn]

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

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:Only Priuses?

[AGMW]

maybe it is just me, but wouldn't it be easier to just teach drivers to watch the hell out for pedestrians?

oh right, my bad, in this world no one can be bothered to look out for themselves or anyone else... we need to pay $150 for an extra to make our nice, quiet car contribute to the already horrific noise polution.

The problem is that people (pedestrians) will simply step off the pavement without looking if they think it is safe to do so, and not hearing any danger may fool them into thinking there is no danger - it's not about drivers looking out for pedestrians, the hell or otherwise! They do it all the damn time, and just because it's not the driver's fault doesn't make the pedestrian any the less squashed!

Now, that all said, I had a ride in an Electric MGF [epowercc.co.uk] on Monday morning and I asked the owner this very question, "do you need to be extra careful about pedestrians" and he said he was careful but that modern cars are (or can be!) so quiet these days anyway that it's actually not so different an experience to driving a modern/new car.

And FWIW the Electric MGF was awesome and I'd love one!

Re:What a shame

[TheVelvetFlamebait]

We "cripple" it because it isn't safe. Just like spooking the horses also wasn't safe when they were populating the roads. Until people learn that cars are no longer noisy, I would except nothing less than "crippling".

Re:What a shame

[Anonymous Coward]

For bicyclists, who must ride in the road, Priuses are a bit of a nightmare. They creep up on you and you cannot hear them coming from behind. It's because of them that I opted to get a mirror to install in my helmet.

How about some location sensitive ad?

[cf18]

On board computer see external temperature > 26C: "McDonald is only 2 block to your south, $1.50 for a cold drink!"
On board computer detects police radio frequency close by: "Turn left here and you will see Dunkin Donuts in 1 minute!"
I bet it is already patented.

Re:Horn?

[X0563511]

Well, interestingly that under 30 km/h, my fan and/or AC compressor is louder then the engine too. Those would still exist on electric cars too, you know.

Re:Horn?

[Tanman]

http://www.myfoxtampabay.com/dpp/news/local/pinellas/pedestrian-fatally-hit-by-bike-rider-070510 [myfoxtampabay.com]

This was just the first link in google when I searched for "bicycle fatally hits pedestrian" -- I'm sure there are many more.