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Pedestrian Alert System - Anyone else annoyed by it?

Norris McCarty

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I don't let the sound bother me at all. Wouldn't help a thing if I were bothered by it.
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Pedaldude

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The awful white noise speakers are super annoying, my neighbor has one that I can hear them backing out in their Toyota hybrid from inside my house. It sounds like my ears are ringing.

For the F-150, what would be wrong with the traditional reverse beep tone? Then for low forward speeds, it could play ice-cream truck music!
 

MikeG

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The awful white noise speakers are super annoying, my neighbor has one that I can hear them backing out in their Toyota hybrid from inside my house. It sounds like my ears are ringing.

For the F-150, what would be wrong with the traditional reverse beep tone? Then for low forward speeds, it could play ice-cream truck music!
It's meant to be an annoying sound so that a pedestrian will notice it and look up.

Lot's of truck owners live in suburbs or rural areas so I think we all believe it's unneeded and I get it. But if you've lived in a big city at any point in your life you'd realize just how clueless most pedestrians are while you are driving around. I'd take the annoying sound over a law suit, just my 2 cents.
 

Jus Cruisin

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To be honest the GT500 I just traded on the Explorer was wwaayyyy more annoying to the neighbors when I started it cold and it went into high idle.
Truck windows up and radio volume at 7 and I can't hear it inside the truck. With nothing making noise in my house, it is barely audible in my living room and you can't hear it in the bedrooms when pulling out of the garage.
Now in my sub, most walkers/joggers have earbuds jammed in their ears and I doubt they would hear a prostock drag car idling next to them. ?
 

Tosh

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Yesterday I had an experience that supports the need for this noise-making device.

I was in my neighborhood, moving under electric power @ 20 MPH. As I approached an intersection, I saw a person standing near his car look up at me to see what the odd noise was. I saw him look at me, and thought I was clear to enter the intersection. What I did not see was the woman behind the car, about to step out right in front of me, not aware that a 2.5 ton truck was coming up the road. fortunately, her friend grabbed her by the forearm, and prevented her from moving into my path. I saw the look on her face when she realized what had almost happened - surprise might be an understatement!

I've decided that although the leaf-blower noise is a little bit irritating, it's also very important. It would be cool if it would shut off when the engine is running, but - whatever.

I used to hate wearing seatbelts (weren't required when I started driving) but now I can't be comfortable without them. I suspect in the future the ped alert things will become the norm, and only "antique" cars will be without them.
 

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Pedaldude

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It's meant to be an annoying sound...if you've lived in a big city at any point in your life you'd realize just how clueless most pedestrians are...
I've driven commercial plated trucks and vans in NYC and Chicago, in addition to riding on two wheels on motorcycles and bicycles in those same cities. Clueless may characterize some of them, however the majority that are causing problems are just careless and know exactly what they're doing. Still, whenever I see or experience a motor vehicle and pedestrian conflict, it's almost always the motor vehicle operator that is not paying attention, speeding, or ignoring right of way rules.

Not only is the white noise sound annoying, it's hard to tell the direction of where it's coming from, almost like trying to find a cricket. Once several cars are playing the same white noise, it's even more ineffective. The best way to help people use their ears to alert them is a steady tone, pulses or even clicks. A bunch of EVs spewing white noise is just going to sound like a bunch of cicadas and blend in while being impossible to differentiate.

Once, I nearly got wiped out in a bank parking lot by some dipshit in a landscape truck reversing at 20+ MPH, the only thing that warned me was the whine of the rear differential and the higher than normal pitch alerting me to the unreasonably high speed. Some white noise generator isn't going to be the most effective solution in the real world. Whenever I see them tested, it's in some empty lot filled with cones. It might be effective now, since it's novel, but once every car has them, it will be like they don't even exist.

Making noise is definitely a good thing though and I can attest to that with my own anecdotal experience of switching from a Honda ST1100 motorcycle, which sounds like a sewing machine, to a Harley Davidson Sportster with a not terribly effective Supertrapp exhaust which needs no description. Riding the Honda, I pretty much had to anticipate that everyone was going to drive in to me and never ride alongside other cars and always have a plan for being cut off. On the Sportster, I would have cars several lengths ahead turn off their blinkers and not change lanes until I passed them.
 

AutonomousHybridF150

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Just performed the Padestrian alert delete! Love It!!!

I just crawled under mine today and unplugged the speaker. It is so peaceful to drive at 20MPH with no whirrrrrrrrr going. Also, now everyone doesn’t look at me when I back up. That’s annoying too.

I will deal with this message every time, just to NOT have the stupid backup noise. I have always driven defensively and have avoided many impacts with cars, bikes, or people walking because I was watching them long before they were watching me. And I know if they haven’t made eye contact with me, then they don’t see me.

Making noise is annoying though. Especially when I want a quiet vehicle. I drive slow and careful around kids/people (that haven’t made eye contact with me yet) because I have driven a town car a little, and people would just walk right out In front of you because Ford had it pretty darn quiet on the outside too.

I knew someone that died because they were listening to their new iPod and skate boarded out in front of a car. This was long before electric and quiet vehicles were on the scene. I’m sure if you looked at how many car to human related deaths have air pods in there somewhere, you would probably find it would be a high number and contributing factor. I can’t even go to the drive through without everyone working with them in their ears, so they definitely would be walking down the road with them in more often than not.

Maybe we should go back and re-teach people how to drive around pedestrians and in neighborhood areas with children playing.

But if you’re going to argue that they are needed and should be required, well then I argue that I should be able to make it sound like a cammed out coyote motor running on racefuel :) or maybe just sound like something different. Like an engine maybe, not some whirring pump noise.

Ford F-150 Pedestrian Alert System - Anyone else annoyed by it? 06545025-1F55-4990-AD37-8D50D9675DF4
 

Infotroll

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Having worked in a city (10 year) which had a high percentage of pedestrian vs auto. This what I can tell you 90% of the time it was the pedestrian not paying attention . That was long ago way before ear pod etc etc . I been in that business for over thirty years. The percentage holds true today anecdotal ok look it up . Here is some light reading 1 #2. 2018 heavy stats
 

Heavishot

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I’m not sure how you guys are unplugging it! I couldn’t get enough grip and leverage to make it budge. I’m thinking if you wired in an old burned out speaker or a resistor it should stop the warning light.

edit: Prying harder with a plastics trim removal tool did the trick.
 
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AutonomousHybridF150

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I’m not sure how you guys are unplugging it! I couldn’t get enough grip and leverage to make it budge. I’m thinking if you wired in an old burned out speaker or a resistor it should stop the warning light.

edit: Prying harder with a plastics trim removal tool did the trick.
It’s quiet right???
 

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Heavishot

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It’s quiet right???
Reverse sound is gone. Haven’t tested the forward buzzing sound but there’s still some kind of whirring sound even before putting it in gear.

When I first got the truck one of my workers said “ Your truck sounds like a mosquito!” Lol. This should squash the mosquito.
 

AutonomousHybridF150

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Reverse sound is gone. Haven’t tested the forward buzzing sound but there’s still some kind of whirring sound even before putting it in gear.

When I first got the truck one of my workers said “ Your truck sounds like a mosquito!” Lol. This should squash the mosquito.
Not hearing the extra whirring while driving through the grove thru is wonderful. If you have the AC on, that is probably a 4-5 ton unit so you have those mechanical/electric sounds going too, and I think that is what you are referring to. There are water circulating pumps, fans, and other making noise on that truck, so I really don’t need an additional noise.

Finally today I got an odd stare as I was driving by because the truck is truly silent now. Even when the engine is on, it is so much quieter than a normal f-150 (pre-2021).
 

christophers

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Given OP stated that it was looking for a resistance, I'm curious if we can just short the two wires together with a resistor or some type of rudimental assembly to get the cluster error to not appear.
 

Galavanta

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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.
Personally I found it VERY annoying, both the embarrassing backup bong and the slow speed tone that's so loud pedestrians look around to see what’s making that strange sound!!, so I 3D printed a “dish” 83mm across and 5 mm deep, I then filled the entire thing with silicone and pushed it on the speaker, I have had it there for about 2000 kilometres of nice quiet driving, no error codes and no problems.
 

catfishkid1986

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Personally I found it VERY annoying, both the embarrassing backup bong and the slow speed tone that's so loud pedestrians look around to see what’s making that strange sound!!, so I 3D printed a “dish” 83mm across and 5 mm deep, I then filled the entire thing with silicone and pushed it on the speaker, I have had it there for about 2000 kilometres of nice quiet driving, no error codes and no problems.
So a custom lid, so to say?
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