Enjoy the Silence (While You Can): New U.S. Safety Rule Says Electric Cars Must Be Noisy

The U.S. Transportation Department has finalized rules that will require electric vehicles and hybrids to emit “alert sounds” at speeds below 18.6 miles per hour, to warn cyclists, pedestrians, and the blind of the approaching danger.

By adding noise to silent-running vehicles, the NHTSA and DOT hope to reduce the number of people currently being run over by EVs. Is this a big problem, you ask? Apparently it is — the regulator claims EVs are 19 percent more likely to strike human flesh.

“This is a common-sense tool to help pedestrians — especially folks who are blind or have low vision — make their way safely,” said NHTSA Administrator Dr. Mark Rosekind. “With pedestrian fatalities on the rise, it is vitally important we take every action to protect the most vulnerable road users.”

The NHTSA estimates the automotive industry will need to spend an additional $39 million annually to provide compliant external speakers. Eating most of that cost, of course, will be EV manufacturers like Tesla, and brands with popular hybrid models.

At moderate and high speeds, electric vehicles aren’t appreciably quieter than their gas-powered counterparts. However, danger crops up at low speeds, when engine noise is traditionally the loudest sound being emitted by the vehicle. The regulator says the move could prevent about 2,400 pedestrian casualties each year.

Manufacturers have until September 1, 2019 to equip all new hybrid and electric vehicles with sound-emitting devices that meet the federal safety standards. The rule will apply to all vehicles with four wheels and a gross vehicle weight of under 10,000 pounds. While that includes passenger vehicles, it would omit all but the most svelte city buses.

One would expect electric and hybrid buses to need this sort of technology most of all, since they are frequently the vehicles spending the most time around pedestrians and operating at low speeds.

While advocates for the visually impaired pressed for the rules and praised the announcement, automakers expressed consternation.

The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers stated that it was imperative that automakers be allowed to equip vehicles with devices that emitted sounds that are sufficiently detectable without being unpleasant to hear. The fear being that consumers would abandon alternatively fueled vehicles entirely if the interior noise was obnoxious.

Annoying or pleasant, this does open up some interesting possibilities for automotive audio. Will we see more EVs making futuristic wooshing noises or mimicking the sounds of the traditional internal combustion engine? Maybe we’ll even get a rotating, randomized playlist — one day could be a small-block V8, and the next might be a clattering jalopy.

Either way, automakers have until 2019 to figure it out. Big readers can download the NHTSA’s minimum sound requirement rules PDF here.