Ah well wrote on May 18, 2008 10:54 PM:I wasn't enjoying the silence, anyway

a concerned mom wrote on May 19, 2008 4:56 AM:One day when my kids and I were walking acrooss the crosswalk at their school, a hybrid approached the crosswalk. The crossing guard and I noted how freaky it was that it was so quiet.

A hybrid can definately take out someone and the person wouldn't even know what hit them! Good idea to make them make a little noise.

Paco wrote on May 19, 2008 6:24 AM:Noise is pollution also. The number of hearing and vision impaired people isn't large enough to justify making these vehicles noisy. The number of people who wear headphones would make this change unnecessary anyways.

Walt wrote on May 19, 2008 6:43 AM:Let's hope this doesn't lead to the awful beepers on electric carts in airport passenger terminals! (Except Dallas-Fort Worth). There are many electronic ways to alert sight and hearing impaired, with or w/o devices in the hybrid. But for pedestrians, kids especially, there is need for drastic improvement in safety education. An unfortunate unintended consequense of the pedestrian right of way laws is kids don't look. Watch their inattention crossing in front of a stopped school bus.

Randy wrote on May 19, 2008 7:00 AM:Too quiet?!? What will these whiners find to complain about next?

Mike wrote on May 19, 2008 7:21 AM:Lyrics to "The Hybrid Car Song" by Mary Ellen Gabias, published in March in Braille Monitor, the newsletter of the National Federation of the Blind. A recording of the song, which is sung to the tune of "The Surrey with the Fringe on Top", is available on the NFB website.

Kids and dogs won't know when to scurry.
Silent death arrives in a hurry.
All who walk have reason to worry
'Bout the hybrid car.
We all want to stop the polluting,
Save a lot of gas while commuting.
If they made sound there'd be no disputing
With the hybrid car.
Saving the planet we all hold dear,
Nobody wants to destroy it.
Please make cars pedestrians can hear
'Cause we want to be 'round to enjoy it.
We don't need a noisy vrum-vrumming,
Just a simple audible humming,
So that we can know when you're coming
In a hybrid car.
Then we all can walk with safety on the street
Without fear that we will accidentally meet
A hybrid car.

Never fails wrote on May 19, 2008 7:32 AM:It never fails. We must appeal to the lowest common denominator. Now we are worried about a car being too quiet.

Easy fix wrote on May 19, 2008 7:46 AM:Just clothespin a playing card to the brake hub so it flaps against the wheel spokes. It worked on my bike when I was a kid!!

mike in lsm wrote on May 19, 2008 7:51 AM:I drove a Prius in Europe last summer and it was too quiet. It was very hard to get people to step aside in crowded streets in touirist areas. But it is considered very rude to flash lights or beep horns. But 50 mpg and the occasional ability to do 100 mph (NOT kph) is really nice.

Thanks Mike wrote on May 19, 2008 7:56 AM:Now I'll be humming this insipid show tune all day long.

Umm.. wrote on May 19, 2008 8:15 AM:Key here is.. "without looking", kids will be kids. they will go out into the street anyway.

Makes me think of some of those old rules for the motor car in the days of the horse & buggy. Like where they had to place someone with a lantern so many feet ahead of the moving vehicle to warn people that it's coming.

OMG wrote on May 19, 2008 8:31 AM:I cannot believe this is even being discussed. Quiet is good. Noise pollution mean anything to anyone? Child hit by Prius? Child needs to be taught to look both ways before riding bike into street (glad it was not serious). Thank you for putting it in simple words Never fails - soooo true. Humans are the only social group that forces society as a whole to *pay* for the less fortunate. In years past it was the role of the family, now government is forced to cater and tax payers to pay.

Easy Fix wrote on May 19, 2008 9:24 AM:Agreed Never Fails & OMG; next we need to take back those blue parking spaces from those gimpy lowest common denominators and send them to the other end of the parking lot, the nerve of them!!!

Sarah wrote on May 19, 2008 9:27 AM:My husband drives a Prius. I can fully understand why people are complaining about the lack of noise though, especially for parking lot safety. Often times, while walking through the parking lot, there are close calls since the only way to know if a car is backing out is the noise level. If the noise isn't there, I can see there being a rise in accidents of this nature. Also, the noise just gives kids another tool to use which trying to stay safe while playing outside. Even with the noise, backup rollover accidents still happen. I can see that only happening more often if more cars go silent. We love the gas mileage on the Prius, but a little more noise wouldn't hurt and might help reduce injuries.

Wild Kat wrote on May 19, 2008 9:43 AM:These times they are a changin'...Hybrids are the cars of the future for all of us. As time passes, everyone will get used to the small amount of noise these cars make. In general, all cars are quieter than the decade before. A less expensive solution for the blind, have a sensor mechanism that alerts with a vibration or sound when any car is approaching. For hybrids, a sensor could be placed in the car that interacts with the device on the wrist or cane which would warn of the approaching car. Children could also where these bracelets - but also be taught to look both ways twice before crossing.

Noise will help wrote on May 19, 2008 10:08 AM:I agree with Sarah. When I first heard about this, it was due to a complaint from blind advocates stating that hybrids were too quiet. Well I'm sorry but the blind are just not a big enough group to justify making such a change (just like their proposal to change the size/feel of paper money...please!!!). Anyway, I have since changed my tune as it is clearly not just the blind that are impacted, but also people walking or even driving in parking lots. I'm sure that a simple inexpensive device can be added to the hybrids and any other new "silent" cars that are certainly coming in the future to make them safer. "Easy fix" above may not be too far off the mark with the "card in the spokes" idea.

Charlie wrote on May 19, 2008 10:13 AM: I was driving my Prius in a parking lot and slowed down when I saw a mom and her five year old standing on the curb. Mom had the phone glued to her ear, while kid was jumping off the curb into the drive. When I gave a gentle (honest!) tap on the horn, she turned and called me a dirty name! Ah well, better a dirty name that being the "elderly woman hits child in parking lot".

Randy wrote on May 19, 2008 11:49 AM:What next? The water is too clean! The air is too clear!

Johnny wrote on May 19, 2008 12:06 PM:I guess I'll patent the clothes-pin and playing-card trick we did when we were kids on bicycles, and sell to the hybrid companies. Or they could have a seat-belt warning buzzer under the hood that comes on at speeds under twenty-five miles per hour! (Although crossing guards might go postal on us.) The blind have caused the change of enough laws that I would think they'd have the drill down by now.

KJ wrote on May 19, 2008 1:01 PM:How about looking both ways before you cross the street...and crossing at cross walks..wow that's a new idea

Shhhhh wrote on May 19, 2008 1:49 PM:This is a fascinating article. Who's whining? Like most other things in life, hybrid cars have at least one downside. I don't think anyone's trying to argue that this downside is enough to cancel out the huge advantages of hybrids (less pollution, less CO2 and less revenue for state-run oil companies in Venezuela, Russia and Iran).

Just how many... wrote on May 20, 2008 1:37 AM:of the same folks lamenting that hybrids are to quiet to be safe wrote posts about how noisy the train whistles in their neighborhood are?

Policy Guy wrote on May 20, 2008 6:48 AM:This doesn't even mention the fact that hybrid vehicles, because of their lighter materials, are death traps should they get hit by a real car. Which would you rather be driving in an accident: a Ford Taurus or a Toyota Prius? Having driven both and having seen the results of accidents in both, I would most certainly take the Taurus. I love the concept of hybrids, but they are not perfect.

People Lover wrote on May 20, 2008 6:59 AM:My husband has a hearing loss from being around jet planes in the military, he turns the tv and everything else up loud. It's annoying to me and puts me in a bad mood because my hearing is extra sharp. I think I would enjoy the quiet of a hybrid!

Honey Wake up wrote on May 20, 2008 7:39 AM:I think I heard someone drive away in our car! "You of known if someone drove away by the noise, now go back to sleep"

Cheif this is wrote on May 20, 2008 7:41 AM:Officer Jim-Bob, somebody must of stolen my police car, but I don't know how I was here the whole time and didn't hear anything.

Put playing wrote on May 20, 2008 8:10 AM:cards on the spokes, like we did with our bicycles.

Roger wrote on May 20, 2008 8:47 AM:Have installed a turbo calliope on my Prius. Don't have to worry about blind people stepping out in front of me anymore, but all the neighborhood kids mistake me for the Good Humor man now.

To Randy am wrote on May 20, 2008 8:58 AM:Too true!

Maybe we can use wrote on May 20, 2008 9:34 AM:the same Technology on the $ploser, won't see it until it has run you over.
Sorta like what it is doing to NCTD with the extra costs.

loc wrote on May 20, 2008 11:53 AM:you should ad a louder exhaust to the prius,like the ones that the racing cars have so they can make some noise.

JP wrote on May 22, 2008 8:08 AM:This story is all backwards. Hybrids are not too quiet, it's just all the V8's, V6's, diesels and Harley motorcycles are too loud. You can't hear a hybrid over the excessive noise of these outdated engines. If you approach a blind man in your hybrid just crank the AC/DC because rock and roll ain't noise pollution.