A test to study the danger of noiseless hybrid and electric cars to pedestrians was held with the cooperation of some 20 visually impaired participants.

While automakers enjoy brisk sales of the eco-friendly next-generation vehicles, there have been some claims that the engine noise of hybrid and electric cars is barely audible for pedestrians to notice approaching vehicles.

In the field test, a Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism study committee conducted experiments to gauge the audibility of such automobiles, and the danger pedestrians could face due to their quietness.

Hybrid cars including the Toyota Prius, Honda Insight and Nissan Altima, and Mitsubishi Motors’ electric car i-MiEV were compared with a conventional gasoline vehicle in terms of the noise they produced at low speeds of 10 kilometers per hour or less, medium speeds of around 25 kilometers per hour, and upon stopping or starting to move.

Various other sounds, including a chime and fake engine noise, were also used to see if they could warn the visually impaired and other committee members of quiet cars approaching.

“We could hardly hear the cars approaching when they ware running at low speeds of less than 10 kilometers per hour. It is imperative that we can recognize vehicles by sound, and that the volume is loud enough,” said Yoshihiko Sasagawa, president of the Japan Federation of the Blind and a member of the study committee.

The committee is hoping to set out countermeasures by the end of the year.

Source for complete article: http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/national/news/20090806p2a00m0na003000c.html

Japan is considering the introduction of noise-making devices for near-silent hybrid cars following safety fears from vision-impaired pedestrians.

“Vision-impaired people feel that hybrid vehicles are dangerous”, a transport ministry official told AFP.  The top-selling hybrid vehicles run almost without any sound when they change from fuel to battery mode. The ministry of transport has brought together a panel that will draw up a report by the end of the year.

The panel is considering forcing manufacturers of hybrid cars to introduce a sound-making function that alerts passersby to the presence of a vehicle.
“Blind people depend on sounds when they walk, but there are no engine sounds from hybrid vehicles when running at low speed,” the transport ministry official said.

The world’s most popular hybrid, the Prius, was launched by Toyota in 1997.

Paul Nolasco, a spokesman for Toyota Motor in Tokyo, told the BBC it had no immediate plans to add noise-making devices to the hybrid vehicles. “But if it becomes a social concern, it is something we will have to address”, Mr Nolasco added.

Source for complete article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8132548.stm