E46CT

Just for an experiment, I unplugged the "noise making speakers" aka Proximity Warning System from my ES300h. No tools needed, just stick your fingers in the grill and at the rear under the right side where there's an access hole.

Unplugged both speakers and got a warning triangle on the dash. But wow the car was so beautifully silent and nice to drive.

I imagine you can trick the system by installing a resistor of some sort or modifying the noise makers internally, but I'll leave that to someone else.. i don't want to experiment further. But for the 5 min i drove without the obnoxious noise makers, it was SO nice.

Plugging them back in erased the warnings.

mikemu30

Is this a hybrid thing only?

mcomer

Yes the Pedestrian Warning is an audible sound when your Hybrid is moving with just the Electric Motor.
Silent when stopped, loudest when you first release the brake, ramps down in volume as you speed up.
Does not come on when the IC engine is running because that makes enough noise to warn pedestrians.
Particularly loud when reversing a 2020 or older model because the front speaker is extra loud to be heard
behind the car. Slightly less obnoxious on 2021's because they now provide a rear mounted noise maker.

ESh

You can leave it plugged but you can wrap it with duct tape.

whoa123

You could to simulate the speaker with a circuit...

https://circuitdigest.com/electronic...nt-rlc-circuit

TechNut

What I have never understood is why they decided to make it so much louder than the internal combustion engine. It is pretty obnoxious. And why didn't they make the sound similar to an engine running rather than the strangled cat sound that they decided to give it. I have received a lot of strange looks when running on battery, especially in reverse. Probably my biggest gripe about the latest generation of the Lexus drivetrain.

EV02is

iTrader: (1)

I mummified my speaker with microfiber towels, duct tape and a zip log bag. It’s near silent, without the warnings on the dash.

sderman

I understand this sound is irritating to some, but by defeating this function you might be looking for trouble from your insurance company if you unfortunately hit someone. Which, we can assume, is more likely if pedestrians cannot hear you coming. My 2 cents.

E46CT

I think a specific claim would have to be proven that the direct reason was they couldn't hear you, and not because they weren't watching where they were going, couldn't see you, or had headphones etc on. Because some traditional cars are quieter than these loud noisemakers already. Further the requirement is for automakers to supply the noisemakers, not necessarily that the driver use one. If there's specific requirements for the driver, i'm all ears.

Also as the mfr requirement is from 2018, there's hybrids/EVs out there that don't have noisemakers, particularly BMW who said they wouldn't include noisemakers as they don't think it actually provides benefits but they would do so only if law requires. Obviously you can buy, own, and driver older EV/hybrid models. They don't have noisemakers. What then? So I think it's murky at best whether or not you'd necessarily face some kind of trouble driving without the devices.

The auto industry as a whole was pushing back stating noisemakers don't really do anything. I know for a fact a 2020 civic backing up is quieter than my ES hybrid backing up.

I'll drive with mine installed for now only cause i really don't want to see any notification warnings or modify the system.

sderman

Can't say I agree. Defeating a car's safety feature, even thought it's not offered on other cars, could still present insurance coverage and personal liability problems down the road (so to speak).

DaveGS4

iTrader: (2)

you mean like blind pedestrians which is what the ruling was enacted to protect.

E46CT

^anything is possible. my understanding though is the requirement again is for auto manufacturers, not for drivers/owners. i'm not aware of any requirement to retrofit existing cars w/o it or cars below a certain DB threshold.

my point is the chances of any specific scenario happening to where the direct proximate cause was found to be the "defeating of a safety feature" aka the noise maker and not due to negligence, negligence per se, or other substantial contributing factor such as not watching where you're going, wearing headphones etc (the usual causes) are miniscule -- slim to none. sure you want to mitigate your exposure as much as possible and leaving the system alone technically does that but the overall point is i don't think there's precedent to make it a bigger deal. i'm actually one of the early "wave my fist and you can get sued for that!" when the requirement was going into effect in 2018 and people would talk about removing it, but i later mellowed out on this topic. if you want similar discussions, it's on many forums. the consensus seems to be it's still new territory and we just don't know.

I'm not advocating for its removal, however playing devil's advocate here. Put it this way, Lexus gives you the option on your steering wheel to disable LKA and PCS. those are technically "Safety features" which you have the option to disable. that ought to be food for thought. I removed it for a half hour out of curiosity to see what would happen. And like I said, a typical ICE car like my neighbor's Kia is perfectly silent when backing out, i couldn't even hear her. the ES hybrid however sounds like it's screaming.

I was at the lexus dealer over the weekend and the RX hybrid is even way louder. i heard it from across the parking lot.

DaveGS4

iTrader: (2)

it’s definitely the primary reason they added it. I have a friend with both parents totally blind and near silent cars are a real problem.

What safety retrofits have you seen in the past that makes you think they’d go back and add something like that?

Why don’t we have shoulder belts or airbags or padded dashboards in 57 chevys or even simple changes like 3rd brake lights added to 1984 Toyota Camrys which showed up the year after? They’re always added go-forward basis.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t like it in my 2019 Camry hybrid which makes noises like an ambulance siren every time I am on EV coming up to a traffic light. But understand the reason it was added. I’d love to have control over what noise it makes

E46CT

Oh I understand the reason it's added and believe me I'm a very strong "karen" and "debbie downer" when it comes to being the safety monitor, I just don't think it's as practically effective as people think it is. Maybe I'll be proven wrong over the years but it's so new there's just not enough data and it's something that's hard to pin down. And again a Lexus LS V8, Honda Accord V6 or other quiet car is super silent when traveling around--listen to your average car back out of a space and tell me if it's as loud as your hybrid.

Lets say for UPS trucks, big vans etc, i'm all for the beep beep beep when backing up... cause those drivers sit high and are often stopping and going often where kids are around. That i believe is effective. Our modern cars however sit low to the ground, have surround cameras, sonar sensors etc. I guess lets wait and see if traditional ICE cars get them.

mcomer

Our 2010 HS250h had a chime sounding Inside the car to remind us that we were reversing...
Needed the shop to use a tech tool to modify it to a single chime when first shifted into reverse.