2022 backup white noise. How to stop it

I suspect the dealer is correct. I don't think we get it here - yet, but when it becomes LAW, the manufacturer MUST comply - and owners have to accept it. Insurances could be invalidated (if for instance someone was injured or died) or worse.

 

it's not just reverse, you just haven't been in the right circumstance to hear it in forward.

it's a new law to protect pedestrians from quiet electric vehicles, and cannot be changed legally. for those on the legal periphery, there are threads here.

 

Electric motorcycles have been popular in China (and other places) for a number of years, now. Many people (both riders and pedestrians) have died or had life-changing injuries due to collisions. They just don't hear them coming.

 

Wish they would have picked a different noise. This one sounds too much like something seriously wrong under the hood.

 

Do some searching on this site… I believe people have put socks or other insulation over the speaker to silence it.

 

covid mask

 

I've received the impression that invalidating insurance due to vehicle modifications, after the incident, is more of a thing in certain Commonwealth countries than in the U.S. The U.S. insurance market is more tolerant of modifications, and generally doesn't (can't?) revoke insurance retroactively.

In my community a few years back, a domestic abuse situation lead to an abuser deliberately crashing his vehicle into his abusee's vehicle on a very busy street, with additional collateral damage to others. The insurance company initially refused all claims from everyone involved, because the crash was an intentional criminal act. But the state insurance commissioner stepped in and ordered them to honor all liability claims from the several victims. The insurer could refuse collision and other claims from the driver who committed the crime, but not refuse to cover liability claims from others.

Though rules on this, degrees of enforcement, may vary by state,. My state's insurance commission office seems to be on the more activist side.

 

Ah the old "ufo speaker" is what folks are calling that thing! Toyota says hybrid-driving people pull into the service bay all the time saying something is wrong with their car!
Starting in 2020 or 2021, all hybrids and EV's have to have a speaker which emits an annoying noise when backing up and when driving slow...supposed to let people outside the vehicle know you're there.
My wife's 2017 Prius does not have that but it's in my 2021 AWD Prius. I located the speaker in front of the radiator, removed it, and wrapped it all around with pipe insulation and replaced it. (If you remove it, you'll get a check engine light...which you never want) Now, I can still hear it but it's volume is WAY down.
Actually, I'm getting a new one....I hit a stupid deer a month ago and they are almost done with the $9,300 of repairs. (New hood, front parts, windshield, etc.) Mechanic noticed the strange box all taped up and didn't know what it was...said I need a new one....great, now I'll have another one to remove and un-UFO !!! (I think I'll use even thicker insulation next time....stupid thing.)

 

Maybe the deer didn't hear you coming.

 

Ha, he sure didn't! But after I hit him I pulled over and he was nowhere to be found! The only thing from him was a little bit of his brown fur was in a new crack on the front plastic shield and a little clear liquid on the top of the passenger door. (Maybe urine or something.) I didn't see any blood....those things are pretty tough!

 

The US insurance market may be more tolerant, but the other thing the US is known for is lawyers. If you hit someone while backing up and it becomes known that you modified the system to eliminate the 'slow moving car' sound, then you've just lost your case in court.

 

That seems odd, as my 2012 Prius does have this VPNS system. It wasn't yet mandated, Toyota was putting them on early.

By design!

How much litigation has happened on this so far? Absent deep pockets, most lawyers are uninterested.

 

Here - have an accident, and insurance will look for any "little" thing.

25 years ago, my Dad reversed into my car. Did nearly no damage to mine, but needed a new bumper and paint on his. Probably driving at 5km/hr in reverse.

Insurance assessor came - walked round his car looked at all 4 tyres - and signed the claim.

As for litigation - I'm sure that if you hit and killed a child in a carpark situation - the parents would be after you in $$hort time. And I suspect police would too.

I'd rather put up with the noise.

 

Some estimates put the annual number of backover deaths of children in the U.S. at over a couple hundred per year, while others put it in the high 2 digits. Traditional SUVs are particularly susceptible. The child's own parents are the most common causing drivers.

These child backover deaths are why we got backup cameras, not 'electric car' noisemakers. Most children don't have the situational awareness to respond to these noisemakers, it is the adults who must take responsibility.

Yes, a driver who backs over someone else's child will very likely be held civilly liable, far beyond most driver's insurance levels. In the U.S., usually it is not criminally charged unless it was intentional or involved alcohol.

But you originally brought just insurance coverage denials, not relative's lawsuits or police. They are not the same fields. While our auto (and medical) insurance companies are constantly looking for ways to screw customers, our auto insurers don't seem any where near as hung up on modifications or minor equipment discrepancies as you and several UK readers have described for your countries. Ours use other means.

 

Ahh - here, the car-registration includes 3rd party insurance - to cover injury to other people - so insurance is certainly interested. Never having had a 3rd party claim, I'm unsure of the details.

 

Here the legally required insurance is called liability (to the parties you hit, not to yourself), and is completely disconnected from vehicle registration. Though some states may require the owner to show proof of insurance when (re)registering, my state only requires one to show it when asked by a law enforcement officer, such as during a traffic stop. The registration agency never asks.

Minimums vary by state, and most are absurdly low, seriously outdated. My state:
-- $25,000 bodily injury liability per person
-- $50,000 bodily injury liability per accident
-- $10,000 property damage liability per accident

Besides higher levels of coverage for these elements, there are also many other options to add. All finance entities require collision and comprehensive for the life of the loan or lease. Some states require uninsured/underinsured coverage to pay your medical bills or damages if you tangle with an un- or under-insured motorist (State Patrol here believes that about 20% of drivers are uninsured, though that is likely from a biased sample, over-weighted by people prone to traffic stops and crashes). Other options include loan payoffs, your own medical bills, rental car reimbursement, roadside assistance, etc.

Skimming a list, I see only one state with a $100k minimum for causing a death, and three states with a $50k minimum for bodily injury to another person. All others require $30k or less. Lawsuits will climb far above those values. For injury crashes involving minimum coverage, the insurance company's cheapest and best action is to just write their checks for the coverage amounts, and walk away from the subsequent legal wranglings.

Rather than quibble over equipment modifications, insurers here seem more likely to pay the claim then drop or refuse to renew the customer.