When one goes searching for studies on the issue, it’s kind of shocking how little research there actually is. Especially for an issue people seem so smugly confident about.https://isoes.info/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/isoes.2021_015.pdf
This study admits that there is insufficient data to come to a clear conclusion, but suggests that backup alarms aren't effective at preventing such incidents. It specifically calls out backup cameras and other safety measures, but doesn't actually cite any data to back that claim either. I think it's also worth noting that the safety fact sheet doesn't call out audible alarms at all either.
This study does mention "habituation" to backup alarm sounds possibly contributing to their ineffectiveness, which makes me thing that the weird sounds described in this thread are specifically chosen to address that. So it's definitely possible that louder-than-expected UFO backup alarms are much more effective than traditional ones, or even other backing safety measures.
I think it would be cool if it put on the flashers for you or some other light signal when you go are moving backwards (not just in reverse). In a lot of vehicles you can't really trust the white lights on the rear to be an indicator that someone is actually reversing. I swear some people just sit there in reverse it seems like
ETA: The real solution that nobody is talking about is putting a card in the spokes.
This is 100% correct. The “if it saves one life” argument is tremendously stupid. We saw it trotted out again and again in the Covid era. All public safety decisions involve a balancing of risk versus cost/inconvenience. One could make the same argument about reducing the highway speed limit to 40mph - it would save some lives - but nobody would put up with that.
While we’re in agreement, literally millions of people died from COVID, so it’s probably not the best example. Turning your phone in airplane mode is something I think we can all get behind. AFAIK there have been no real cases of cell phones causing actual danger to a flight.
There is a subset of people who don’t believe Covid killed millions of people and therefore doing anything was the wrong answer.
Even if it is almost negligible, I would say the juice is worth the squeeze.
How about the “6 feet of separation” that turned out to have zero scientific basis. It just kinda sounded good. Or how about wearing a mask while walking to your table at a restaurant, but then you could take it off when seated? We did a LOT of really dumb, really scientifically dubious things during that era.
Many died after they were vaccinated.
I’m guessing a study could be devised. And it’s more than a minor annoyance. It’s also noise pollution which, ironically, many of the same advocacy groups complain about because it clutters their sensory perception.
How can you measure something that didn’t happen?
There is actually no requirement that says it needs to sound the way it does. Just that it needs to be audible.
The regulations prohibit automakers from giving consumers a choice on sounds: one sound only. This was for convenience in certifying that the sounds met the standards.
I didn’t say there was. I was answering the question of why Ford doesn’t give the option of turning it off.
There has been a study on this, initiated in either 2011 or 2013. To study whether or not battery electric vehicles and hybrids were too quiet and a safety risk in low speed areas. Terrible study, actually. Initial findings were reported to congress in 2016, IIRC and follow up in 2019 or 2020. The recommendation was that vehicles operating "silently" on electric power should emit a tone or some audible noise at low speed to increase awareness. The two separate reports read as if someone just phoned it in without actually studying anything. There was no significant data study or comparisons of background noise in various environments. In many urban environments, newer ICE vehicles are effectively silent too. Many are truly silent unless you're in direct shot from the tailpipe.
