NHTSA May Allow Drivers to Personalize EV’s Sounds

Oh this might be fun. Suggestions range from a stampede of bisons to just plain old screaming.

Starting in 2020, the National Highway and Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) will require that all battery-electric and hybrid vehicles sold in the US be fitted from the factory with an acoustic vehicle alert system (AVAS) so that pedestrians can hear the vehicles. The alert system will activate if the vehicle is backing up or traveling at or below 12.5-mph. The same regulation will take effect in 2021 in Europe and the United Kingdom.

Currently the sounds that electric cars make is determined by the manufacturer. For example, Audi gave their new E-Tron SUV a futuristic humming sound at low speeds to alert pedestrians of its impending approach. But according to recent reports, the NHTSA is considering giving the electric car-buying public the ability to choose the sound their car makes.

The Daily Mail says that the NHTSA is “currently considering if manufacturers should be able to limit the number of fake sounds they can install as options in new models, and also if they need to prevent drivers from being able to upload their own tunes.” Sounds produced by electric cars varies greatly depending on the manufacturer, from the Audi hum to the more dramatic whooshing sound that emanates from Porsche’s new Taycan sedan.

Regardless of whether it is the manufacturers or consumers who will get to determine the sounds that electric cars produce, there is no denying that the new laws are a necessity to prevent accidents involving pedestrians. Anyone who has spent time around an battery-electric vehicle knows how eerily quiet they can be. The organization Guide Dogs for the Blind claim that electric cars are 40% more likely to strike a pedestrian.

“There are two million children and adults living in the UK affected by sight loss and the rise in electric and hybrid vehicles pose a significant risk to them,” John Welsman, spokesman for the Guide Dogs for the Blind, told The Daily Mail. “We are delighted that from today it is now compulsory for new models to have an AVAS built in.” Jaguar is even working on a system for the I-Pace that seeing-eye dogs can detect, potentially saving the lives of their human companions.

Of course, these new requirements do not address the fact that there are already a lot of silent and potentially deadly electric cars on the road, particularly in the Unites States that have not been fitted with an audible alert system. According to the Edison Electric Institute, as of October, 2018 there were 1 million electric cars on U.S. roads, a number that has no doubt gone up since then. Whether or not allowing people to decide how their electric cars sound is a good idea is yet to be determined.

Of course, we’re partial to letting drivers choose their own exhaust note. Drivers in the U.K. took to social media with a lot of fun suggestions from a throaty V8, to Star Wars TIE Fighters, Fred Flintstone’s “Yabba Dabba Doo”, and the ultimate Rickroll: Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give you Up.”

What kind of sound would want your electric vehicles to make? Let us know in the comments, or join in the discussion in the forums.

Photos: Porsche, Audi, Jaguar

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