While I understand the spirit of your argument and totally agree that there is a big problem with the way people disregard the perils they place themselves in, I have to call you out on some of your logic, because I think it actually undermines the more important point. The whole comparison of vehicular deaths to "what if that many cellphones randomly exploded" is wrong. The majority of deaths are not the result of random product failures, and quite obviously from the amount of press things like stuck accelerators have gotten, a big fuss WILL be made if a vehicle is unsafe in the way you describe. When accidents occur, it is far more likely the result an external factor compounded by someone not paying attention, trying something foolish, being of impaired judgement or so on. And it's almost ironic to compare it to cellphones, since cellphones can definitely contribute to distracted driving, or distracted pedestrians that step out into traffic or put themselves in equally perilous circumstances. Anyway, my point is that fast moving, heavy objects like cars certainly posses the physical capacity to injure or kill, but so do many of the things we surround ourselves with every day: anything that can shock, burn, cut, crush, asphyxiate, poison, and so on if used with disregard for safety. To me, that disregard is and will continue to be the biggest problem.
I wouldnt mess with it, mainly due to possible civil liability reasons. I know chances are you wont kill anyone at these speeds. But you can defenitely injure and with that the posibility of a lawsuit if somehow it is found you deactivated a mandated safety feature. Oh by the way, there is no traffic laws at this moment that could enforce this. But again, be mindful of any possible civil liability. So in a criminal sence it is NOT illegal to disable it. Civil isa different story.
I don't want to deactivate it, I want to change the sound. I have some interesting plans, I just need to figure out if it can be done without violating warranty, or costing a lot of money.
I haven't read this whole thread, but I did disconnect my noise maker yesterday on my C. It is not under the bumper as some have said. It is easily seen under the hood behind the driver's side headlight. Look for a white two wire connector on what looks like a speaker and unplug it. Easy peasey. XCHII
OK.......... so this is how to do it on a 2016 Prius non-C non-V the regular 4th gen Prius. imgur dot com slash a/pivGZ Just take off the plastic on top of the radiator cage with by pushing in the middle of the 5 plastic tabs to unlock them. Find the speaker, a part of it is blue and the rest is black. The unlocker for the connector is facing the front of the car. Push in there and pull out. I zip tied the cord to another cord to prevent it from flopping around. This is how to install the plugs again. Get the thingie in the middle to go out somewhat and then place the tab back in the hole. You may need to go in at an angle so you won't encounter resistance by the plug flexing and thus becoming wider, too wide for the hole. Push the tab against the metal to compress it a bit as you push it in. Here is a video of how to do it (not me), doesn't show the pressing against the metal but is a quick overview of how to use the tabs.
I'm with Electric, I want my car to make a noise but it should be something customizable like a ringtone or notification sound. Always wanted the Jetson's flying car sound. I think it would put smiles on peoples faces. If you figure it out please share.
