Maryland

Making Hybrids Noisy

A proposed law, HR 5734, mandates noise making generators on quiet vehicles.

The National Federation for the Blind has been lobbying congress for noise making generators on hybrid-electric cars, claiming that the noise will allow their members to better hear them. If passed, automakers will be mandated to add external speakers on all hybrid vehicles.

In 2008, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) held a public meeting to bring together government policymakers, industry representatives and public interest groups on the issue of noise making generators on quiet cars including hybrids, all-electric vehicles and quiet internal combustion engine vehicles.

Representatives from the National Federation for the Blind testified for mandating noise. They also provided grant money to a start-up company to design and build external speakers on hybrid automobiles.

Millions of people who live near busy roadways, thoroughfares, intersections and parking lots are adversely affected by vehicle noise at all hours of the day and night.

Hybrids reduce ambient street and highway noise. The reason why people purchase hybrids, among other reasons, is because they are quiet vehicles.

There are other viable solutions, including wireless audible receivers that can alert blind pedestrians to oncoming vehicle traffic.