Low speed sound deletion.

I would be concerned about liability if I were to hit someone (bad enough all by itself of course) and being blamed because I had disabled the sound. I'm not sure if it is illegal but I'm guessing it is.\

I also like the sound the Clarity makes. When laws were being formed about low speed warning sounds I didn't want an obnoxious sound. I do believe all cars should have the same sound so pedestrians would recognize the sound. It is very handy in our church parking lot where people tend to stroll in the isles on the way to their car.

 

Prius regular Hybrid has had a warning sound for years. I always noticed it when pulling into the garage with a window down.

 

https://www.theverge.com/2016/11/16/13651106/electric-car-noise-nhtsa-rule-blind-pedestrian-safety

 

Amen, loomis2.
As to ethics, most late model ICE cars at idle are just as stealthy as the the Clarity.
Evidently personal responsibility is a thing of the past and we are fast approaching a Nanny State. Survival of the fittest ideology aside, I don’t mind the music since I can’t hear it with the windows up. It’s just that passing a law for some cars and not others and then forcing me to participate puts sand in my gears and a burr under my saddle. Personally, I would find a beep beep back up alarm a better safety feature.

 

I just got rid of our 2010 Prius but I never heard it make a sound for pedestrians, just the reverse beeping INSIDE THE CABIN when you put it in reverse. I never understood that. Now I wish I still had the Prius to really listen for it, but I imagine if it made a specific sound I would have noticed it, since that is the point. My mom has two Prius' (Priusi?) and I never heard them make any noise, either.

 

Laws for some cars and not others? Do you mean like tax credits and driving in the HOV lane with one person? We can't have that sort of thing.

 

I think the law came into effect in 2014 and is to be fully implemented by 2020 with at least half of each mfgs cars needing to be compliant by 2019. Read that some where.

 

Of course you have different laws for different situations. Nobodies denying that Timothy. The point was that late model ICE cars and hybrid/electric cars have the same level of sound or quietness at low speeds and should be treated the same for the sake of safety. Your examples are specious.

 

I don't think it's specious. It's a different law for a different situation. I know that organizations for the blind believe our cars could be dangerous. I do know that in my parking garage I marvel at how loud the ice cars sound. It is not hard to imagine the sound would be very different to a blind person who relies even more on hearing. If the artificial sound that I can't even hear from the inside could make blind pedestrians safer, I'm glad to have it.

Also I'm just having fun (forgetting that I'm also right), please don't take offense. Tax credits and HOV are the "treating cars differently" items that ICE users complain about. It made me smile to hear one of us complain about the "low speed noise." It seems we got the better of that deal.

 

https://www.wired.com/2017/04/evs-dangerously-quiet-heres-sound-like/

 

The parts department at your local Honda dealer can bring up a screen that shows the external speaker box. It's located low, behind the front grille on the driver's side (shouldn't it be on the passenger's side to put it closer to pedestrians?). It would require studying the Clarity's wiring diagram (how complex must that be?) to determine if it's just a 12-volt DC-powered noisemaker or a speaker driven by a computer-generated audio signal. A study of the Canadian Clarity's wiring diagram (which must be even more complex) would be even more instructive.

 

No offense taken Timothy and didn’t mean to be harsh either. If you bought a Clarity you are obviously a very intelligent person!
Pardon me for putting my thumbs in gear before my mind was in motion.
Rereading my post, I see it’s a little abrupt and not at all like I would have spoken to you in person. My apologies.

I agree with the logic behind your examples in each of their respective cases; I just don’t think they fit this particular scenario. You’re correctly saying treat cars with different attributes differently and I was trying to say ICE and electric share the same attribute of quietness so treat ‘em the same.
In the final analysis, it’s probably a good idea to err on the side of safety. So I guess I’ll give up a little freedom if it has the potential to save a life. A doctor at work once said “Life is precious; just one to a customer”.

You’re right that we must have a great car that’s luxuriously quiet if we can digress so much on this topic.

 

@Lucien Mcleod - I am considering doing a high-end aftermarket sound system (replacing mids/tweeters and adding sub, amps and signal processing). Does the car seem noisier after disabling the ANC? Also, do you know the speaker sizes of the front and rear mids, plus front tweeters? (wondering if this should be moved to a new aftermarket sound topic)

 

It's a strange noise. You can here it in this video.

Ours was a 2015 but it made the same sound. Never noticed it in our 2008 before that.

 

I haven't bought my Clarity yet. But I test drove one yesterday and noticed there was a low rumbling sound when I was driving at a fairly low speed. I found it a little disconcerting. Especially since I hadn't noticed it in previous test drives at other dealerships. Is this the low rumble sound your'e referring to?

 

You may have to wait for someone to figure it out. I know there is an app someone in the community developed for the Nissan Leaf called LeafSpy that can turn off the low speed pedestrian noise and the startup sounds, backup beeping and a few other things. It connects through the canbus using a bluetooth adapter.

It also provides more information on the battery and range then I know what to do with. But as I said it isn't an official app from Nissan. It was developed by some entrepreneurial owners that wanted more info and control. Hopefully the Clarity can be hacked the same way, but I imagine it will be years at the earliest before anything like that is available.

 

Canadian model it resets on every restart.

Just wondering if it is the same speaker used for the door lock beeps.