I never heard it coming
Classic unintended consequence…
“It was during her first trip out of the driveway on a warm August morning that Sant’Anna learned about one of the dangerous drawbacks of driving a hybrid: It’s so quiet that pedestrians can’t hear it when it’s starting up or idling, and they often walk right into the path of the moving vehicle.”
Article here.
I can guarantee some “unbiased” policy maker is going to demand banning hybrids… “they are killing machines I tell you!”
March 15th, 2006 at 1:30 pm
Or rather, they will require all hybrids to emit at least 90 decibels of sound.
March 20th, 2006 at 12:12 am
Ha! Just bought the wife a hybrid Prius. My hope is now (in addition to doing a good turn for the environment and saving a buck on gas) that she ‘accidentily’ runs over the damn dog next door who doesn’t know how to shut up. Ahh, if only…
Our hybrid used to beep when reversing. I say used to because it is a feature that is easily disabled. Thank god. If you’re stupid enough to not rely on all your sensory inputs, including vision, then far be it for me to stop you from getting behind an obviously slow-moving vehicle.