Business Insider reports a quiet car does not alert pedestrians, cyclists and animals about its presence, posing a danger to both the general public and sight-impaired individuals who rely on traffic noise for their safety. This is why NHTSA “required that at least half of an automaker’s electric fleet be required to produce some type of audible tone when operating at speeds of up to around 19 mph.” There is a similar requirement in Europe as well. Automakers “want control over what their EVs will sound like, too, and it looks like they’re going to get it.” In America, NHTSA has “already stated that it won’t be locking in a specific tone for each vehicle and electric car owners will even be allowed to select from a palette of sounds to best reflect their taste.”
From the news release of the American Association for Justice.
