SCOTT SIMON, HOST: New rules made final this month will require electric and hybrid cars to be noisier. Many people just can't hear them coming. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says the new standards could prevent 2,400 injuries a year. NPR listeners were once invited to tell us what they'd like to hear coming out of electric cars. The clear winner...</s>SCOTT SIMON, HOST: ...The hover car from the Jetsons. So can we have that?</s>ROBERT STRASSBURGER: Unfortunately, under the rule, no.</s>SCOTT SIMON, HOST: Robert Strassburger, vice president for vehicle safety at the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers.</s>ROBERT STRASSBURGER: The sound to be emitted really has to be instantly recognizable as a motor vehicle in operation.</s>SCOTT SIMON, HOST: Mr. Strassburger worked with the National Federation of the Blind to develop the rules. At first, he says, he told them, but we've worked for 30 years to make cars quiet.</s>ROBERT STRASSBURGER: One of the gentlemen from the NFB with whom we worked actually was hit by a hybrid vehicle. He did not hear it. And so it's, I think, critically important that the sound emitted does sound like a car. It benefits all of us - but, most particularly, the blind.</s>SCOTT SIMON, HOST: Auto manufacturers need to make their new cars noisier by September 2019. What about a little theme music?
The problem with those quiet electric cars and hybrids? They're too quiet. This month rules were finalized requiring automakers to install speakers in cars to emit sounds when rolling at low speeds.