Disconnected the EV mode speaker

I believe it is required now, don't think a cop will ticket you for it, but it is a safety item for others.


Personally I think you should leave it there and on.

 

You could save a little gas over the life of the car by removing the speaker entirely. If I had a prius it'd be the second thing I did after removing those atrocious wheel covers... Making a quiet car noisy is ridiculous. It's also why they made horns in the first place... You honk at them if someone doesn't see you. Or better yet just play really loud music on your real speakers! And yes I understand why the car maker needs the stupid speaker for liability reasons, but if you're about to run over someone maybe slow down and give 'em a gentle honk so they get you of your way instead?

 

It is a requirement. NHTSA begins writing electric car noise standards

 

It is a requirement that's easily disabled, just like the reverse beep. And yes its more dangerous, just like driving over the speed limit is. But sometimes breaking the rules is sensible and much more peaceful...

 

You can hardly hear it from with in the car.... Ignorant to remove it.

 

it's a requirement to install it, not for owners to keep it... yet.

 

Sometimes I'm tempted to sell all the garbage that my car used to have in it. Other times I'm inclined to keep it all to improve resale value.

 

No, it's not a matter of criminal law for a car owner, I don't believe. However, if someone was to hit a pedestrian with the feature disabled, that would be the pedestrian plaintiff's primary evidence in a negligence (or higher standard) lawsuit. Since the removal was done purposefully, other standards (like "willful and wanton") could potentially be met and potentially leading to higher damages.

Just giving fair warning that it's not criminal but civil liability that's a worry for doing this.

On edit: I'm not a lawyer- take everything I said about the standard of care (i.e., "willful and wanton") with a grain of salt. Just know that conduct purposefully setting up more dangerous situations than were previous tends to be more liable in the law than those that are unforeseen and purely accidental.

 

What's the big deal. It is a safety device.

 

Speaking as someone who didn't get this feature because I don't live in the US, I haven't found there to be much issue.

First and foremost, as a driver, I have primary responsibility to not hit pedestrians. There are some situations where a pedestrian can contribute to a collision (eg. willfully running into a road without looking) but I still have to be on watch.

If I'm in an area where people are less observant, I adjust accordingly.

The only time where I think this is a truly valid issue is in car parks and even here most people notice the light from my LEDs and realise I am there. If they don't, I stop or stay behind them, but to be honest I think I may have surprised only 2 people in 7 months. I didn't hit them because that's my job as driver.

 

The Pedestrians have rights also

 

Not yet:

"Jul 8, 2011 ...
The new regulation, however, is a long way off. NHTSA has until next July 4th to write the specific standards in the noise regulation, and until January 2014 to publish the final rule (which likely couldn’t take effect for another year after that.)"

 

Well, I have hit a pedestrian once and it does not only happen to others. Trust me, that's the last thing you want to do. There are times when the stars align just the wrong way and someone gets in the way of your car. Sunshine, busy traffic, you name it, if you spend a fraction of a second too long on one "high risk" situation at an intersection, you have one less fraction of a second to look around you. Speed isn't always a factor and if I could, I'd make the EV speaker louder!
My .02

 

Great! Now you will be able to hear the screams when you run over pedestrians!

 

If anything is going to make it easy to kill a pedestrian in a Prius it's those darn steep angled pillars on both sides of the windshield. Total blind spot... I've thought of plastic-dip for the light beige plastic covers just to limit the glare they create on the windshield and side windows. A pedestrian can easily not be seen (at least in Gen2) behind one of those steep angle pillars. It freaks me out all the time!!!

 

I note the manual mentions the VPNS turns off when you exceed approximately 16 mph (25 km/h), or if the ICE is on. I'm really wondering what people are doing to not be aware of what is crossing their path within their stopping distance at or below this speed.

I've only been driving the c for 7 months and perhaps I've been looking out for it - knowing that VPNS was not fitted to my vehicle - but to be honest, people used to walk dangerously close to my car just as often if not more often with my old Corolla than they do with my c.