October 14, 2009 | 50 Enjoy (or fear) the silence while it
lasts. Battery-driven vehicles are touted for their potential to
cut down on harmful emissions spewed for decades by gasoline-
powered cars, but electric and hybrid vehicles may be too quiet
to be heard by pedestrians, posing a particular danger to people
without sight. Although the relatively low number of electric
and hybrid vehicles on the road as well as the lack of data to
link pedestrian injuries to quiet cars make it difficult to
validate these concerns, one option being floated is that of
"car tones" to make up for the missing engine noise, reports The
New York Times. The Times cites Nissan, Toyota, BMW and plug-in
hybrid maker Fisker Automotive as companies all considering the
addition of sounds that would more prominently announce the
presence of their cars on the road. (Stories of Fisker’s plans
to use speakers to pump out sounds "like something between a
Formula One car and a jet plane" surfaced in March 2008.) "One
possibility is choosing