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The rise of fake engine noise

washingtonpost.com

211–220 of 303 posts

Re: The rise of fake engine noise

#211
post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For a pedestrian hit by a car, legal liability is often not the main concern.

Though in some countries, hitting a pedestrian gets the driver an automatic jail term. Collisions with pedestrians don't happen all that often in such countries.

I agree and I find that a far more civilized legal approach to cars, but I don't ever count on that happening in America.

Re: The rise of fake engine noise

#212
post #208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With a sane legal framework surrounding driving, the driver would need to be sure they were not going to hit you, rather than you needing to be sure you wouldn't be hit.

[deleted]

Legendary radio exchange:

"I am the captain of battleship USS Awesomename! I demand you change your course!"

"I am the keeper of a lighthouse. Your call."

Re: The rise of fake engine noise

#213
post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As long as there is an option to turn all of it off, I don't have a single problem with it. It actually sounds quite cool.

My first thought to this article was where's the speaker so i can desolder it. I don't mind the gimmicks and trickery some people like the deception however I want to be able to get rid of it. However if it plays in the regular speaker system and there's no off button it will get annoying very quickly.

Or physical tubes which pump sound back from the engine well to the driver.

Craziness.

Re: The rise of fake engine noise

#214

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They contribute to being heard by walkers and cyclist relying on their ears to know whether a car is coming, which is the legal point of adding these things (and why they can be disabled at high speed)

I am a former Los Angeles bike commuter, and a current walking-commuter (can't think of an elegant word for that). I very much appreciate knowing when a car is coming, but the constant roar on the every street means that conversations have to stop when a truck drives by, you can't hear people talking even when they're only 6 or 7 feet from you, and any sound quieter than an internal combustion engine is diminished. I…

Vehicular homicide is already a thing bro.

Re: The rise of fake engine noise

#215
Confession: I am a Luxury Ricer.

When I bought my now 11-year-old Lexus, I was amazed by two aspects: how sporty and well controlled it was [for a luxury car], and how silent it was. It was literally more quiet than a Prius and it had an inline six.

And I hated it.

After a few months of hitting the gas and hearing nothing, I opened up the hood and ripped the tiny ram-air front inlet off the air intake. I also took apart the air box and gutted the parts that didn't affect the air filter. The result was a tiny but definitely noticeable engine roar when high-revving. It finally sounded about as mean as a Toyota Corolla.

They can pry my engine noise from my cold, dead, ricer hands.

Re: The rise of fake engine noise

#216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They contribute to being heard by walkers and cyclist relying on their ears to know whether a car is coming, which is the legal point of adding these things (and why they can be disabled at high speed)

I am a former Los Angeles bike commuter, and a current walking-commuter (can't think of an elegant word for that). I very much appreciate knowing when a car is coming, but the constant roar on the every street means that conversations have to stop when a truck drives by, you can't hear people talking even when they're only 6 or 7 feet from you, and any sound quieter than an internal combustion engine is diminished. I…

>but maybe I should just try not to hit them instead

There's one situation where drivers don't face penalties if they hit and injure/kill a pedestrian: if that pedestrian caused the accident and the driver had no way of preventing it.

For example, if a pedestrian assumes there is no traffic and steps into the road without looking, just feet from an oncoming-but-silent car.

Re: The rise of fake engine noise

#217
post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Jings. In what world does anything being fun become 'literally pornography'...

It's becoming annoyingly common ("earth porn" for pictures of nature, etc). Your use of "Jings" however has brightened up my day. Crivvens!

Indeed, but that is (still) surely 'figuratively porn'. Call me a traditionalist, but 'literally porn' is for getting people turned on sexually.

Re: The rise of fake engine noise

#218
post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

F1 cars... are loud as fuck. Formula one's new V6 engines are so quiet that they caused a lot of controversy when first introduced: http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2014/06/17/f1-spectators-say-new-...

Oh really? That's hilarious. The only race I've been to was in the early 2000's so it was a different engine back then.

3 Litre V10 or 12 oh yes quite different. Long gone are those sounds. Down to 1.6L v6 now is something like what 20% of that displacement? Still nearly as powerful.

Re: The rise of fake engine noise

#219

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am a former Los Angeles bike commuter, and a current walking-commuter (can't think of an elegant word for that). I very much appreciate knowing when a car is coming, but the constant roar on the every street means that conversations have to stop when a truck drives by, you can't hear people talking even when they're only 6 or 7 feet from you, and any sound quieter than an internal combustion engine is diminished. I…

Vehicular homicide is already a thing bro.

not to turn this into a debate about street safety, but it's rarely prosecuted unless there's another crime attached (being drunk/leaving the scene/etc) or some motive beyond "i wasn't paying attention".

Re: The rise of fake engine noise

#220
post #130

My initial thought was: I wouldn't want any 'fake' noise, potentially hiding information in the (softer) real noise. But what if the noise is dynamically synthesized based on lots of info from the vehicle – perhaps not just its real noise/RPMs, but other qualities usually not usually sensed. Temperature and vibrations across multiple sampling-locations? Computed fuel-economy? Others? Maybe it's a good aural channel f…

Great point
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