Noise Makers For Electric Cars: Won’t Be Law In The U.S. Until 2018

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Rules mandating that all plug-in and hybrid cars make some form of artificial noise to alert pedestrians of their presence have long been promised by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) following a large amount of lobbying by the National Federation for the Blind.

In fact, it was as far back as 2011 that a law — the Pedestrian Safety Act — was put onto the books to ensure that automakers include noise makers on all hybrid and plug-in vehicles. But despite being on the books for four years, there still isn’t an agreed implementation detailing how automakers must comply with the law.

Hammering out that implementation has been the job of NHTSA since the law was passed, but as Wards Auto detailed in early-February, despite originally planning to bring guidelines into force far sooner, NHTSA has now set a deadline of September 2018 for all automakers to comply.

This delay might have pleased automakers who have been lobbying for an extension for the compliance and are reticent to add noise-makers to their plug-in and hybrid vehicles, but it hasn’t pleased lobbyists at the National Federation of the Blind. Yet while lobbyists for pedestrians — both sighted and visually impaired — argue that noisemakers would dramatically improve pedestrian safety, a large number of studies and automotive insiders remain to be convinced.

Hybrid cars -- and presumably hydrogen fuel cell cars -- will also need to make noise from September 2018.

 

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