Who would have thought that cars would one day be too quiet? Certainly not the residents living near busy roads. However, Japanese car manufacturer Toyota has discovered that hybrid cars can be a danger to other road users if they are powered exclusively by electric motors at slow speeds. This is because you can no longer hear them roaring along. To prevent accidents, Toyota has therefore been offering a noisemaker for its hybrid cars since the end of August. In electric mode, this imitates an engine noise that gets louder and louder as the speed increases. For the time being, the sound system is only available in Japan. However, the car manufacturer is also considering launching it in other countries.
So it is probably only a matter of time before electric cars with accident-preventing sound will be roaring through the countryside here too. That's progress, isn't it?
Motorengeräusche?
Wäre es denn nicht viel besser und auch angenehmer, wenn wir die Autos künftig mit Löwengebrüll oder mit Elefantentrompeten versehen würden. Erstens wäre es naturnaher und zweitens würde wohl unser ehemaliger Fluchttrieb angesprochen, was sicherlich wieder zu weniger Unfällen führen würde.