In the spirit of putting little whistles on your car to warn deer of your approach it now appears hybrid car owners will need a similar recourse. Why? Pedestrians can’t hear the quiet cars.
Mercury News: “Jenny Sant’Anna was so excited. She had waited months for just the right hybrid, choosing a Toyota Highlander because, though she wants great mileage, she also needs space to cart around her two elementary school kids and three classmates.
It was during her first trip out of the driveway on a warm August morning that Sant’Anna learned about one of the dangerous drawbacks of driving a hybrid: It’s so quiet that pedestrians can’t hear it when it’s starting up or idling, and they often walk right into the path of the moving vehicle.”