Hybrids are Great -- Ow!

A new section is currently being written in the Law of Unintended Consequences. Automobiles using a so-called “hybrid” powertrain, which combine a conventional internal combustion engine with a battery-powered electric motor, are all the rage these days. There are a select few systems on the market, principally offered by Honda and Toyota (which licenses its technology to Ford and Nissan). The Toyota system’s unique feature is that, unlike the Honda, under the proper conditions it can run on the electric motor alone.

Toyota’s unique engine/motor management system is good for fuel conservation, at least around town, but not so good for pedestrian safety. Have you ever been near a Prius as it was driven into or out of a parking space? Absolutely dead silent. That’s quite an achievement, until you realize that one of the senses we use when walking about in the presence of cars is the sense of hearing. Without thinking about it, we are attuned to be wary of what we hear in parking lots, knowing instinctively that cars can approach without us seeing them.

The Prius and its kin render this sense of self-preservation useless. I was recently startled by a Prius backing up in the small parking lot of Michael’s preschool. It had pulled almost completely out of its parking space as I walked nearby before I noticed it, because it made no sound. I hate to sound like a nanny-state advocate (whose adherents have succeeded in adding weight, complexity and ugliness to cars the world over – another post), but these things really should have some sort of warning beeper when they are operating in reverse, at which time the driver’s outward vision is more limited. After all, even golf carts, which are louder but much lighter than a Prius, typically emit a raucus beep or buzz whenever reverse is engaged.

I have a tangential connection to a major development in this area. Surely you have been awakened by the obnoxious bleating of a garbage truck or other heavy vehicle as it reversed. That noise is prescribed by law in California in no small part due to a tragedy that befell a schoolmate of mine. When I was in junior high, the older brother of one of my classmates was killed by a garbage truck that was driving in reverse, without audible backup warnings, on the wrong side of the road. I recall an assembly at which his death was announced and explained to the students; a scholarship was created shortly thereafter, of which someone in my class was the first recipient. More importantly, my classmate’s mother lobbied the California state legislature until the vehicle code was amended to require garbage trucks to be equipped with audible backup warnings. Vehicle Code section 27000(b) exists because of her efforts.

While a Prius does not have the mass of a garbage truck, a small child is in just as much danger, and would be difficult for a driver to see. I don’t ordinarily push for government-mandated devices on cars, but unless Toyota and other hybrid or electric car makers voluntarily install audible warning systems, a tragedy that would have been simple to prevent is going to result in just such legislation.