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Pedestrian Alert System - Anyone else annoyed by it?

unixadm

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Pedestrian Alert System - Overview

Overview

Due to the quiet nature of vehicles operating in electric mode, pedestrians may not be aware of the presence and operation of the vehicle, thus risking potential injury to pedestrains. The pedestrian alert system provides an audible sound from a front mounted speaker to indicate to pedestrians that the vehicle is approaching in forward or reverse ranges at vehicle speeds between 0-30 km/h (0-18 mph).


I wasn't exactly sure where to post this, but the PowerBoost and I'm sure the full EV F150 have a Pedestrian Alert System. It plays the reverse chime from what I can tell and generates a fake engine noise at lower speeds (0-18 mph). At first, I thought I was being followed by a rice rocket until I realized the noise was coming from my truck. Even with the windows up, you can hear this annoying noise in the cabin.

The speaker assembly is located in front of the truck, in front of the far lower left side of the radiator (driver's side). It's a fairly sizable assembly which has a two wire connector and a down facing speaker. Unfortunately, the control module monitors for an open (resistance measurement), so simply unplugging it presented a warning in the cluster about the speaker. I ran through the diagnosis procedure to look at the symptom chart, but decided to try disconnecting it anyhow, which presented the warning. For now, I've taken some dense foam to attenuate the volume, but man I'd like for it to go away. Sounds really goofy IMO. It's on even when the gas engine is on. I may get my probes out and measure the resistance and see about installing a resistor to see if that would bypass it without getting a warning. The speaker is in a difficult to access position, so just getting the connector off without disassembling the front of the truck is a challenge. Maybe if you have tiny hands it wouldn't be so bad. It just takes a little creativity with tools to get the connector to release is all. I did it in about a minute.

At least the foam cut the volume down by probably a third, but my friend asked me yesterday if I had a muffled Miata under the hood. I own a Miata so he was making fun of both the truck and the Miata. LOL

It's not the end of the world but I figured I'd start the conversation.
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Orlando150

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Please do not disable this safety system. A silent electric car is 19% more likely to be involved in a pedestrian accident than a gas vehicle. It is 38% more likely to be in a bicycle collision. The NHTSA estimates that the warning noises would prevent 2,800 pedestrian and cyclist injuries during the life of each model year electric and hybrid vehicle.

It's also the law to have these systems now. Your insurance may not cover you if you injure or kill someone after disabling it.
 

pushrods

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Pedestrian Alert System - Overview

Overview

Due to the quiet nature of vehicles operating in electric mode, pedestrians may not be aware of the presence and operation of the vehicle, thus risking potential injury to pedestrains. The pedestrian alert system provides an audible sound from a front mounted speaker to indicate to pedestrians that the vehicle is approaching in forward or reverse ranges at vehicle speeds between 0-30 km/h (0-18 mph).


I wasn't exactly sure where to post this, but the PowerBoost and I'm sure the full EV F150 have a Pedestrian Alert System. It plays the reverse chime from what I can tell and generates a fake engine noise at lower speeds (0-18 mph). At first, I thought I was being followed by a rice rocket until I realized the noise was coming from my truck. Even with the windows up, you can hear this annoying noise in the cabin.

The speaker assembly is located in front of the truck, in front of the far lower left side of the radiator (driver's side). It's a fairly sizable assembly which has a two wire connector and a down facing speaker. Unfortunately, the control module monitors for an open (resistance measurement), so simply unplugging it presented a warning in the cluster about the speaker. I ran through the diagnosis procedure to look at the symptom chart, but decided to try disconnecting it anyhow, which presented the warning. For now, I've taken some dense foam to attenuate the volume, but man I'd like for it to go away. Sounds really goofy IMO. It's on even when the gas engine is on. I may get my probes out and measure the resistance and see about installing a resistor to see if that would bypass it without getting a warning. The speaker is in a difficult to access position, so just getting the connector off without disassembling the front of the truck is a challenge. Maybe if you have tiny hands it wouldn't be so bad. It just takes a little creativity with tools to get the connector to release is all. I did it in about a minute.

At least the foam cut the volume down by probably a third, but my friend asked me yesterday if I had a muffled Miata under the hood. I own a Miata so he was making fun of both the truck and the Miata. LOL

It's not the end of the world but I figured I'd start the conversation.
Yes the noise is very annoying and loud. I test drove a couple of powerboost models prior to my order and I did not notice the noise too much. Now that I have my own I don't recall hearing it much until about 2 days and about 100 miles on truck. Its very loud and sounds like a large fan or propeller and seems to gain volume from 5-20 mph then goes away. Noise doesn't go away if running on engine either. Its way wonky and needs to be refined somehow or I'm sure folks will be pulling the plug on it and finding a way to keep warning light out. I wonder if recent software downloads have increased the volume of this noise maker?
 

jfdube999

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If you're a truck guy and you also own a Miata, then you deserve to be made fun of....Lol!

Seriously though, I just bought mine as the regular EB (non PB) model, because I'm not (yet) mentally prepared to deal with all the weirdness and quirks of semi electric vehicles.
 

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pushrods

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Pedestrian Alert System - Overview

Overview

Due to the quiet nature of vehicles operating in electric mode, pedestrians may not be aware of the presence and operation of the vehicle, thus risking potential injury to pedestrains. The pedestrian alert system provides an audible sound from a front mounted speaker to indicate to pedestrians that the vehicle is approaching in forward or reverse ranges at vehicle speeds between 0-30 km/h (0-18 mph).


I wasn't exactly sure where to post this, but the PowerBoost and I'm sure the full EV F150 have a Pedestrian Alert System. It plays the reverse chime from what I can tell and generates a fake engine noise at lower speeds (0-18 mph). At first, I thought I was being followed by a rice rocket until I realized the noise was coming from my truck. Even with the windows up, you can hear this annoying noise in the cabin.

The speaker assembly is located in front of the truck, in front of the far lower left side of the radiator (driver's side). It's a fairly sizable assembly which has a two wire connector and a down facing speaker. Unfortunately, the control module monitors for an open (resistance measurement), so simply unplugging it presented a warning in the cluster about the speaker. I ran through the diagnosis procedure to look at the symptom chart, but decided to try disconnecting it anyhow, which presented the warning. For now, I've taken some dense foam to attenuate the volume, but man I'd like for it to go away. Sounds really goofy IMO. It's on even when the gas engine is on. I may get my probes out and measure the resistance and see about installing a resistor to see if that would bypass it without getting a warning. The speaker is in a difficult to access position, so just getting the connector off without disassembling the front of the truck is a challenge. Maybe if you have tiny hands it wouldn't be so bad. It just takes a little creativity with tools to get the connector to release is all. I did it in about a minute.

At least the foam cut the volume down by probably a third, but my friend asked me yesterday if I had a muffled Miata under the hood. I own a Miata so he was making fun of both the truck and the Miata. LOL

It's not the end of the world but I figured I'd start the conversation.
I can understand the reason that Ford is required to have pedestrian alerts for sounding at low speeds per the federal requirement for electric vehicles. But why are these things making noise when in the regular engine mode?
 

Jus Cruisin

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I can understand the reason that Ford is required to have pedestrian alerts for sounding at low speeds per the federal requirement for electric vehicles. But why are these things making noise when in the regular engine mode?
It's just tied to reverse not to electric /ice. Except for the first time I back up in the morning, it's in electric anyway. We don't need any more computer functions on this thing than there are.... At least in my opinion.
 

Jus Cruisin

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Simple unplug and good to go!!! I think I few have already done this
No go on unplugging it. Creates a fault on the dash. It's only 74 db anyway.
 

pushrods

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It's just tied to reverse not to electric /ice. Except for the first time I back up in the morning, it's in electric anyway. We don't need any more computer functions on this thing than there are.... At least in my opinion.
Mine makes an airplane type noise when going forward from about 5 mph up to 20. Very annoying. It makes the noise if electric mode or engine on. Of course it also makes the gong sound in reverse and that's not too bad as its only in reverse.
 

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Dan

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Turn up the volume of the radio. Noice resolved. Like why get the hybrid if you don't like the pedestrian noice it makes. You must be one those people that really don't care about the people or vehicles around you. Road rage anyone.
 

jcaspar

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Please do not disable this safety system. A silent electric car is 19% more likely to be involved in a pedestrian accident than a gas vehicle. It is 38% more likely to be in a bicycle collision. The NHTSA estimates that the warning noises would prevent 2,800 pedestrian and cyclist injuries during the life of each model year electric and hybrid vehicle.

It's also the law to have these systems now. Your insurance may not cover you if you injure or kill someone after disabling it.
Does this mean that if your car has a say 1 in 10,000 chance of hitting a pedestrian in its life span, being a silent electric increase that to 1.19 in 10,000? Are there any statistics on how many people have died from Leafs and Tesla’s due to this. Curious as I am an original owner of a 2013 Model S
 

pushrods

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Turn up the volume of the radio. Noice resolved. Like why get the hybrid if you don't like the pedestrian noice it makes. You must be one those people that really don't care about the people or vehicles around you. Road rage anyone.
I drove two powerboosts prior to my order. I did not notice that they made any noise while moving forward. Only the chime in reverse. Does yours make a fake noise while traveling at slow speeds maybe some are quieter than others.
 

Jus Cruisin

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I drove two powerboosts prior to my order. I did not notice that they made any noise while moving forward. Only the chime in reverse. Does yours make a fake noise while traveling at slow speeds maybe some are quieter than others.
Your windows were up on your test drives, I'm sure. If you have the radio on above 5, windows up or down, you won't hear the "whoosh".
It sure doesn't take much to annoy people any more...
 
 




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