Okay, this may be a potentially insipid question but has anyone succeeded in silencing their Prius C pedestrian warning system? If so, how? I find it annoying, sounds like something is wrong with my radio. I may be amongst the first to attempt to quiet it.
Play the video in this link http://www.plugincars.com/toyota-jo...-alert-sounds-plug-ins-and-hybrids-61906.html
you can unplug the speaker if you really want to.... (and no.. you're not the first person to attempt at silencing it.. because well.. i'd probably be the first who actually succeeded..) but as far as the unfortunate person who had two relatives killed by vehicles... the vehicles were probably speeding and there was probably nothing that any audible warning system could've done to prevent it.. it was probably the driver of those two cars that didn't pay attention... not the pedestrians themselves. and btw ewaboy, the speaker only makes noise at low speeds.. nothing fast enough to kill a person... so it wouldn't do anything if the driver was driving fast enough to kill someone.... thus.. yea.. again.. it's all on the driver..
yea.. it's a combination of mass and speed at that point.. physics crap.. obviously a small puny mass like a spitwad traveling at high speeds isn't as bad as a large bowling ball tossed at you.. again, it's unfortunate what happened to your relative.. but yes.. it really is all on the driver.
Exactly, the sound is loud enough for me to hear it but not really loud enough to "warn" pedestrians in a crowded city setting where it is needed most. And plus, since most Prius C's are bright colors, I feel that is sufficient warning to most pedestrians. Who'd dare step in front of a giant blueberry? I feel pedestrians share responsibility in their own safety. I drive through Downtown Minneapolis and University of Minnesota and frankly, pedestrians can be extremely careless with their lives. People listening to Ipods in particular dart off the road and those talking on cell phones will not be listening to the space ship noise the car makes. I think since it is my car, I should be able to disable the feature. I just wonder if anyone has actually done it.
yes.. it's on at very low speeds and gets quieter as you start to speed up. in Japan, the Toyota Aqua actually has a button that lets you turn it off.. however in America.. our Prius C doesn't have that feature.. it's always on for us. the only option is to wire in our own switch to kill the power to the speaker... or just unplug it completely... it's located behind the front bumper on the driver side.
i don't see why it would be illegal.. Toyota did it for safety concerns... but as i mentioned.. you as the driver need to pay attention to any pedestrians around you. and really... it's up to the pedestrian as well.. honestly.. the noise doesn't seem to do anything for me.. as most people are stupid as hell and will still walk in front of normal cars with their running gas engines... much less in front of a Prius in EV mode that makes a subtle humming sound that comes from a little speaker. i love how morons walk in the middle of the parking lot road when cars are trying to move around... like um.. HELLO?! at that point, you're better off using your car horn as a pedestrian warning system.. SERIOUSLY.
It's funny. Hybrids in the US are no longer allowed to have a cutoff switch for this system, and in England hybrids are required to have a shut off switch because of noise pollution between certain hours. What's really crazy about all of this is that there are non-hybrids that are quieter. I have a strong feeling this requirement will be history sometime in the not to distant future.
Most of the time you can't hear it unless you have the windows down. It is only on when you are traveling 16mph or less.
