Sounds coming?

I used techtream to set mine to full volume. But I still can't hear it even backing into or pulling out from my garage with the windows down. The sound in my PiP was very obvious. Knowing that it's that soft (if it's even there at all) makes me super cautious in parking lots. But then, I'm pretty cautious in parking lots anyway since so few other drivers are interested in what's going on on the other side of the glass.

 

In my 2013 Plug-in Prius it is there. But inside the car you have to have the windows down and near a hard surface to reflect it back to hear it.

 

There have been gazillions of new car regulations over the past half century, and I don't remember any recalls of older models to upgrade to new regulations.

If old cars had to be upgraded, then most cars would have to go in for recall upgrades nearly every year, an awful economic choice for nearly everyone.

Like several others, I hear my 2012's noisemaker only when entering the garage with window down, or when very close to a hard reflecting wall with window down. My 2010 predated Prius noisemakers.

 

When I went to a local dealer a month ago to see if they had any 2020 models on the lot, I was told by a salesperson that they (that dealer) disabled the noise maker to make city driving less annoying for everyone.
The conversation came up due to my year old case number with Toyota US regarding both the noise maker and the dynamic grille block leavers possibly not being turned on.
The dealer wants $100 to hook the car up to techstream and provide me with their report. No goodwill from Toyota US was offered either. Bummer.
I can only guess why....

 

The sound my Prius makes when the ICE is off to my ear is like brown noise ... which raises a concern some people around may fall into the state of deep meditation

 

While I don't personally believe in the noisemaker requirements, I can just see a unilateral disabling of it by a dealer as being a lawsuit magnet. The VPNS system on my 2012 just cannot honestly be portrayed as a meaningful contributor to the awful noise racket of the city.

 

barb! change your vehicle info

 

People walking in parking lots often couldn't hear a dump truck behind them. I don't think it's really that they don't hear, I just think they don't care.

 

Based upon some of the deaths on railroad tracks here, I believe a number of folks are so narrowly focused on the music in their earbuds or on their mobile phone conversations that they have tuned out virtually everything around them. Even the horn of diesel locomotives.

Some others do seem to hear the horn and still don't get out of way. The rail engineers give different descriptions of those victims' behaviors.

 

common courtesy is getting harder to find, at least for me it is. And oh such a welcomed diversion from the norm when exchanged by two people or more.

@fuzzy1 I was only parroting what a salesman told me during a short conversation. I usually don't pay much attention to the communication between dealer employees. It's more of a lose lose situation in most cases, unfortunately. If I wanted to know the price of any vehicle on a dealers lot, the salesman would be the first person I'd want to talk with.

 

Pretty much all of the noise comes from motorcycles, cars and trucks with modified exhaust, sirens, car horns, and commercial vehicles. I look forward to a future where most people drive EVs, so they can't install loud exhaust on their vehicles. I just hope they don't start modifying the VPNS to be equally obnoxious (although I do think it would be cool if they made Jetsons noises).

 

... plus construction, climate control compressors in adjacent buildings, street and highway tire noise, rumbling heavy truck loads on bridges and loose concrete road panels, rumbling trains, low aircraft flight patterns (my house sees and hears planes coming into four different facilities), sirens, etc.

My 2012 VPNS does have a 'spaceship' noise vaguely resembling the Jetsons. Is the Gen4 noise significantly different?

 

You really funny

 

barbs a card, isn't she?

 

Mine sounds like a swarm of the 17 year Locust.