Are hybrid cars too quiet for their own good?
Jana Littrell certainly thinks so. Littrell, who is blind, was walking through a bank parking lot in the East Bay town of Albany a year ago when her foot was run over by a Toyota Prius backing out of a parking space. She wasn't injured and the driver apologized effusively, she recalled. But the experience shook her up.
"It has definitely put me more on my guard," said Littrell, who teaches Braille to newly blind adults. "But I don't know how much good that's going to do me if I can't hear the car coming."
Concerns are growing that quiet-running hybrids such as the Prius pose a hazard to pedestrians, especially the 1.3 million Americans who are legally blind. The problem occurs when the cars are running at very low speeds on electric power, making about as much noise as a golf cart.
"There's this silent-but-deadly zone where we cannot hear these cars," said Bryan Bashin, a Sacramento management consultant. "We're not just worried about blind people. It's a hazard to pets, joggers, young children, cyclists, people who have their back turned. . . ."
Federal traffic safety regulators report that no deaths or serious injuries have been attributed to quiet-running hybrids. But an ongoing study at UC Riverside has produced some of the first scientific evidence that hybrids may pose a hazard to pedestrians, according to preliminary results to be released today.
Meanwhile, the issue is drawing attention from the auto industry, state lawmakers and federal regulators. It even spawned at least one Silicon Valley start-up that's trying to develop an audible pedestrian warning system for hybrids.
Bashin, who is sightless, is working with the National Federation of the Blind to push legislation that could eventually require installation of "noise emitting" devices on hybrids and other vehicles that run at least part of the time on electric power.
That prospect doesn't sit well with some car owners. The message board at greenhybrid.com, a website for hybrid enthusiasts, has seen lively debates over the issue. In one recent post, a Toyota Camry hybrid owner wrote that "the world around us is getting louder and along come hybrids and WHAM! They get blasted by a group claiming they are too quiet."
The debate comes as hybrids are becoming increasingly common. More than 350,000 were sold in the U.S. last year, according to marketing information firm J.D. Power and Associates.
