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U.S. finalizes long-delayed 'quiet cars' rule, extending deadline

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The U.S. Department of Transportation on Monday finalized rules that will require "quiet cars" like electric vehicles and hybrids to emit alert sounds to warn pedestrians of their approach, extending to 2020 the deadline for full compliance.

The long-delayed rules, which were first demanded by Congress in 2010, will require automakers like Tesla Inc, Nissan Motor Co and General Motors Co to add sounds to vehicles when they are moving at speeds of up to 18.6 miles per hour (30 km per hour) to help prevent injuries among pedestrians, cyclists and the blind.

The regulation requires the sounds be added to all "quiet" vehicles by September 2020 - a year behind the schedule announced by the administration of former President Barack Obama in November 2016. Automakers must have the sounds in 50 percent of vehicles by September 2019.

To meet emissions requirements from California and other states, automakers need to sell more electrically powered vehicles, and those vehicles are often harder to hear at lower speeds than gasoline-powered engines.

At higher speeds, tire noise, wind resistance, and other factors eliminate the need for a separate alert sound, regulators say.

The Trump administration froze the Obama-era rule as it conducted a review of petitions from automakers. Nissan had argued that the alert was only needed up to 12.4 mph (20 kph).


Source :- yahoonews
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