Why the NHTSA is mandating noisemaker for whisper-quiet Electric Vehicles by 2019

By 2019, All-Electric cars in the US of A will have to make noise when travelling at low speeds.

So says the NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) in their recently released “Quiet Car” rule as noted in the article “It’s the law: Electric cars must make noise after September 2019”, published November 14, 2016 by Sean Hollister, CNET.

The aim is that by September 1, 2019 these whisper-quiet cars travelling at speeds below 29.9 km (18.6 mph) will make noise so as to avoid 2,400 pedestrian injuries per year due to these silent assassins of the road. This is a long time coming in the US of A, with Congress having passed the Pedestrian Safety Enhancement Act in 2010 albeit Nissan's Leaf and Kia's Soul EV have had noisemakers from the get-go.

The NHTSA has also mandated that Car Manufacturers to install Rear-View Cameras by Tuesday May 1st 2018 as reported in my blog article entitled “NHTSA passes ruling for Car Manufacturers to install Rear-View Cameras by Tuesday May 1st 2018”. 

Making any EV sound like a racing car, especially one as unattractive as the Kia's Soul EV, now seems all but possible, spurring early adoption by many who miss the sound of a real gas-guzzler. So in summary Rear-View Cameras by Tuesday May 1^st 2018 and Noisemaking All-Electric Vehicles by September 1^st, 2019!

Definitely dates to mark on your calendar, with global impact to be felt if other countries like Jamaica adopt the NHTSA's stance on All-Electric Vehicles in the future!