Toyota Prius Gets Creepy Approaching Sounds

In response to the increasing demand to fir hybrid and electric vehicles with sound generating technologies which would warn pedestrians of their approach, the Japanese from Toyota are getting ready to release an aftermarket Approaching Vehicle Audible System.

The system, which consists of a speaker to be mounted underneath the front bumper, will be sold for around $150 and, like it or not, will probably soon become mandatory for all such vehicles. The system meets “new Japanese Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism guidelines for hybrid and other near-silent vehicles."

Now, the initiative is good and we reckon there was really no way around it. What is a bit disturbing is however the sound generated by the damn thing.

We can't quite put or finger on it, but it sounds to us like Toyota mixed the sounds of a screaming robot with those of a kitchen blender and adorned the result with a touch of a dentist's diamond tipped tooth drill. Creepy...

Now, Nissan's Leaf sound is not what one would call earthly either. But, for now, we'll have to make do with these sounds. In the near future, however, we envision a world when any EV owner can choose what sound his vehicle generates while on the move.

Such a world have been already previewed by the Halosonic system created by Harman International for the same Toyota Prius. In this case, the sounds generated by the system are no longer a blend of the aforementioned instruments, but the sounds of a V8 or V12.