Ask The Best And Brightest: Backup Beepers?

David C. Holzman
by David C. Holzman

Backup beepers are everywhere, it seems. Wherever the heavy metal–trucks, steamrollers, steam shovels, cement mixers, buses, or any other vehicle with substantial girth–is backing up, you know it, even if you can’t see it. Because like [monochromatic] laser light, monotone sounds carry further. And now, within the last couple of years, the backup beeper comes standard equipment on your Prius (and, pending passage of the Motor Vehicle Safety Act, all electric-drive cars). But if you don’t like it, you can disconnect it. My brother Tom—who has always considered cars to be appliances, but LOVES his Prius—has not disconnected his. “I am not bothered by it particularly,” he says. TTAC Prius owners: what about you? Have you left it on? Disconnected it? Why or why not?

David C. Holzman
David C. Holzman

I'm a freelance journalist covering science, medicine, and automobiles.

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  • Zackman Zackman on Oct 28, 2010

    You know, I learned to drive in my dad's 1960 Impala 4 dr. hardtop - 283, powerglide, MANUAL steering AND brakes, no A/C, but a very nice vacuum-tube radio. You had to actually turn your head and LOOK behind you through windows you could actually SEE OUT OF and see the edge of the trunk (ditto for the hood edge). In other words, you needed to watch where you were going and be alert for other people and objects. The manufacturers must be under orders of some sort to add this content in the interest of saving us from ourselves and giving us snooze-boxes that allow us to merely guide our vehicles down the road with all the "hard" stuff about what driving actually entails edited-out. Please don't get me wrong - I enjoy the ease of which contemporary automobiles drive and would never go back, but sometimes technological overload rears its head and content becomes irrational. Yeah, I'm venting a bit, and call me old if you like, but apparently this is the world we're stuck with. I do suppose, though, that the back-up beep or noise is the one sound other than the horn that people pay attention to. But, with the proliferation of this device, will people start regarding this as "crying 'wolf'" as they do about car alarm systems? Another thing: as cars are driven more and more "buttoned-up", all the racket of the outside world is filtered out due to increased sound deadening materials and powerful audio systems, in addition to styling seemingly dictated by the windtunnel and "stylistas". So, are or aren't these additional devices irrevelevent?

  • Russycle Russycle on Oct 28, 2010

    When I first got my Mini I had a hard time differentiating between 1st and Reverse, it's my first 6-speed. There were a few times I almost backed into the car behind me at a traffic light. Would have been nice to have some kind of indicator that the car was in reverse, like a single beep, with the option to turn it off. I wouldn't need it now that I'm used to the tranny, but my wife still gets into reverse by accident occasionally.

  • Tree Trunk Tree Trunk on Oct 28, 2010

    I disabled mine. Funny how you can reprogram the car doing a little raindance from the internet. Wonder what else you can do by opening and closing the doors times, turning the lights on and off number of times.

  • Advo Advo on Oct 30, 2010

    Maybe upload it to youtube and provide a link. And I guess you could include an appropriate pic as well just like the many songs there only show album covers, not videos.

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