Hybrid Car Pose Potential Threat to Hearing Impaired

The ministry for transport in Japan has brought together a panel to assess whether manufactures of hybrid cars will have to install noise making devices.
The hybrid cars make almost no noise when they change from fuel to battery and this poses a potential threat to people with visual impairments. Due to this the panel is considering forcing manufactures to install noise making devices.
In an interview with the BBC, a transport ministry official said, “Blind people depend on sounds when they walk, but there are no engine sounds from hybrid vehicles when running at low speed.”
The world’s most popular hybrid car is the Toyota Prius. A spokesman for Toyota Motor in Tokyo, told the BBC that although Toyota has no immediate plans to add noise-making devices to the hybrid vehicles if it becomes a social concern, it is something that Toyota will have to address.