Ever completely freak anyone out during EV?

Freaking people out is never going to go away. Doesn't matter whether you're driving a quiet car or not. There are those that will not even notice a freight train about to pass in front of them - and I'm not talking about only the iPod generation.

Yes, I have had people look in disbelief at my car moving from or into a parking lot not making any noise except the tires squishing along on the pavement. In a few years, no one will give it a second thought as 1/3 of the vehicles then will be nearly silent - as long as we all don't have gov't mandated noise makers installed.

 

I had a similar event happen when I was visiting my aunt in LA. Since her apartment's garage is in the back, you have to drive through a narrow alley to get to it. I was driving my mom's Camry Hybrid at the time and while exiting the garage, there were 2 guys walking on the path, so I decide to slowly go behind them seeing if they would notice. It took awhile until one of the guys looked behind and said "Whoa! I didn't know you were there at all!", I replied "It's a hybrid!" and waved!

 

We have a nice Italian resturant that has outside seating on the sidewalk next to the parking area. I pulled into a parking spot right next to a table where a couple were really enjoying the food and each other's company, the nose of the Prius was less than 2' from their table. When they finally looked up and saw the car, they nearly fell out of their seats.

 

I followed two girls in a parking lot, amazed how they could walk down the middle of the aisle completely oblivious to the Prius headlights.

I finally hung my head out saying, "Excuse me."

Needless to say, their realization that the request had come from a car sure stirred quite a reaction.
.

 

I actually find I have more problems with people in the Prius when the ICE IS running then I do when it's in EV mode/engine off.

 

I think I freaked myself out the most, when we first took a test drive, prior to purchase. At the end of the drive there was an up-grade going back into the lot. I was going slow, and it suddenly dawned on me: "hey, I'm going up a hill, on just the battery power".

Our previous 06 Civic Hybrid will slip into electric-only propulsion, but only under absolute ideal conditions: relatively low speed, level or downhill, and bare minimum gas pedal pressure.

 

People in parking lots walking down the middle often seem to not know I'm there but then they've always done that. Then I honk and I get a look like "Wow, I can't believe there's a car behind me in a parking lot!".

 

The biggest freakout I've witnessed was not during EV. It was while the ICE was running in warmup, and a bit after blipping the horn.

While pulling through a national park, more than a dozen slowly ambling pedestrians were obstructing the entire width of the wide parking lot. After some period of oblivion, a blip of the horn caused the mass to slowly part, like Moses parting the Red Sea. But one woman, initially outside of my path and deeply absorbed in conversation, naturally gravitated towards the most open space, right in front of me. After about ten seconds, a companion alerted her to the car's presence. The visible shock was precious.

This is also part of my argument that artificial engine noise is not going to eliminate pedestrian problems. She didn't even hear the horn.

 

It's the animals that scare me. Deer, dogs, cats, etc. I noticed they didn't move out of the way immediately with our 04. Our daughter complains about it in her 06. I'm sure my 2011 isn't going to be any different.

 

I was riding with a friend in her Prius down a two lane park access road. We came upon two women walking with their backs to us on our side of the road in the grass, for no particular reason one of the women decides to start walking in the street without looking behind her, we have to slam on the brakes to keep from hitting her because there's oncoming traffic and she freaks and jumps out of the road, having no idea we were behind her until that moment. Some people just don't pay attention to their surroundings very well.

 

sure. Its fun sometimes, but other times it gets annoying. People standing in front of your parking and not noticing you itching behind them trying to park