The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said the rule was needed because battery-powered vehicles are very quiet.
It said the rule would particularly help blind pedestrians, or those with a visual impairment, detect electric cars and hybrids on the road.
The new safety rule could help prevent 2,400 injuries a year, said the NHTSA.
The rule demands that the cars make a noise when travelling either forwards or backwards at speeds of less than 30kmh (19mph). The regulation covers vehicles with four wheels that weigh less than 10,000 pounds (4.5 tonnes).
The safety specification requires car makers to use a two-tone signal similar to that currently emitted by heavy vehicles when they are reversing.
It would be more fun if drivers could customize what that sound is, such as "La Cucaracha" or the whine of a Shadow vessel.
Electric and hybrid cars are to include a noise generation device for travel at low speeds with no internal combustion engine: http://www.nhtsa.gov/About-NHTSA/Press-Releases/nhtsa_quiet_car_final_rule_11142016.
There goes my quiet electric future.
(Score: 1) by shipofgold on Wednesday November 16 2016, @07:10PM
It seems like an awful lot of effort to save 2400 "injuries" when the total number of injuries per year in the USA is in the millions.
I wish they would take into account how many of those 30000+ deaths that occur per year would be saved by simply requiring forward looking warning systems instead to the Driver.
I always marvel that our regulators are OK with the annihilation of what is essentially a medium sized town every year in the USA alone. Yea, they will argue that they are not OK with it.
But this type of thing seems ridiculous.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by physicsmajor on Wednesday November 16 2016, @07:22PM
Great point - electric cars will be among the first to incorporate systems to automatically brake in these scenarios, making the entire argument moot.
This is entirely unnecessary and wasteful red tape.