# Nissan Introduces 'Approaching Vehicle Sound for Pedestrians' System for New Leaf EV



## Administrator (Jun 27, 2006)

Ahead of any possible legislation requiring electric cars and hybrids to come equipped with noise-makers, Nissan is announcing the introduction of what it calls the 'Approaching Vehicle Sound for Pedestrians' system for its new Leaf electric vehicle. The system finds a balance between driver comfort and alerting pedestrians of an approaching vehicle. The "sine-way sound system" emits a changing tone from 2.5kHz at the high end to a low of 600Hz and changes based on vehicle speed and whether the car is speeding up or slowing down. There's an intermittent back-up sound and even a start up sound designed to let those standing near the car know it is preparing to move. (Having tested a few electric cars ourselves, drivers are sure to appreciate the start-up sound that lets them know their car is ready to go).

The sound for this new system comes from a speaker in the engine compartment and can be turned off temporarily by the driver. It does, however, revert to being on every time the vehicle is started up. Nissan has designed it to shut off automatically at speeds beyond 30 km/h (18.6 mph) and come back on at speeds of 25 km/h (15.5 mph)

Nissan is currently showing the system (and the new Leaf EV) to journalists at its Oppama test track in Japan.

Along with the Leaf, Nissan plans to offer the Approaching Sound for Pedestrians system in the upcoming Infiniti M35 Hybrid.

More: *Nissan Introduces 'Approaching Vehicle Sound for Pedestrians' System for New Leaf EV* on AutoGuide.com


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