Proposed Rule Would Require Electric Vehicles to Make Noise

Electric vehicles, which have soundless engines, would need to make noises to let pedestrians know they are near, under a rule proposed by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Bloomberg News reported.

Sounds would need to be detectable when vehicles are traveling slower than 18 mph so electric and hybrid-electric cars can be heard by bicyclists and pedestrians — particularly the visually impaired — under the proposed rule.

The rule would save 35 lives over each model year of hybrid vehicles and prevent 2,800 injuries, NHTSA said in a statement.

Adding external speakers to quiet vehicles would cost about $25 million a year, or about $35 per light vehicle, the agency said.

About $1.48 million of the annual costs would be to equip large trucks and buses and motorcycles with sound, said NHTSA, which is part of the Department of Transportation.