I also leave early and get home after 8pm. I reverse onto the drive so I can just drive out in the morning. Haven't discovered how to turn it down.

 

The 2020 edition has a VESS button down by the lane keeping assist buttons etc. pressing that turns off the vehicle driving noise and the reversing bongs. Is it still there for the 2021 edition onwards?

 

The facelift model doesn't have the VESS button. You can unplug the VESS speaker, it's what I did with mine.

 

Had the same issue, not sure of any legal ramifications applicable to your locale, but the speaker can be disconnected as follows

 

I'd have thought disconnecting the speaker could have insurance implications if you had a low-speed accident with a pedestrian. Also probably an MOT failure but the odds against them actually checking that could be astronomical.

 

This is the video I used to disconnect mine 👍🏻

 

Unfortunately I have to drive into the garage to be able to get out easier and for the charger.

 

1. It’s not that loud.
2. It was requested by groups representing the visually impaired.
3. I felt MUCH more self-conscious when my SLK 55 started up and it did it’s ‘Power Roar’.

 

it is that loud….. my neighbour has one and it actually wakes our whole house up. I said they were a great car and we should get one and that was literally shouted down by the rest of the house

 

A British university ran tests and found new ICE cars were just as quiet as EV's at low speeds.

 

So? Then they’ll doubtless need reversing warnings as well soon.

There is another thread where someone quoted an American study that PHEVs were 35% more likely to be involved in a low speed pedestrian collision than ICE cars.

Clearly you’ve justified your decision to switch yours off to yourself and I’m sure you’ll feel no guilt if you run someone over that could in any tiny way have been prevented by the VESS noise.

 

I would.definately think that disabling a "safety" system would have serious implications if anything went wrong. If you hit a pedestrian or reversed into a blind person you could be personally liable as insurance may refuse to pay?? I wouldn't turn it off if I was you.

 

And yet my 2020 model Kona has exactly that facility built into the design?

 

I have these things in my head called eyes and the back up of mirrors, AEB, parking sensors and a reversing camera. I've managed to not murder anyone with a vehicle since passing my test at 17 so I'll take the risk.

 

So are you also turning off all the other safety features? ABS? Driving without a seatbelt? Or do you only disable safety features for people outside your car?

Abd as great a driver as I’m sure you are, the whole point of VESS is it warns others. It’s not about you, it’s about pedestrians who are potentially not a visually able as you.

Just think about it. It’s fundamentally you that has to live with your choice.

 

I have a partially sighted person living on my street and I am more than happy that some kind of warning is made when I am reversing a near silent vehicle. And yes, I do look out for obstructions when reversing! Short of scattering pea gravel on the drive and pavement there is little sign that an EV is moving in either direction. As for VESS, I would like it louder and working at a minimum of 35 mph owing to the total tit of a youth who chose to step off a narrow pavement so he could be beside his girlfriend and hold hands. I decided that picking a fight with the HGV approaching in the opposite narrow lane was a non starter and he only woke up when I "politely" hit the horn. As for waking people up with the noise, my neighbours diesel does that for me at 0630hrs every weekday when he goes to work. Can someone explain the obsession some have with making EVs into stealth vehicles?

 

... Can someone explain the obsession some have with making EVs into stealth vehicles?

I think I'd turn that around. After a century of trying to make vehicles quieter, can someone explain to me the obsession with turning EVs into noise polluters?

At low speeds (and it's only low speeds we're talking about), many ICE vehicles are effectively silent too, so why only EVs? My Kona has several collision prevention devices, including mirrors, a reversing camera, and systems that actively prevent collisions by sensing the presence of hazards and applying the brakes. There is also, of course, the mark I eyeball! With all these systems, why is it felt necessary to actually create artificial noise too? Why are bicycles - which are much smaller and harder to see, and often move much quicker around pedestrians than EVs - not also required to create noise whilst moving? Why does the damn thing need to make noise all the time , rather than when actually needed. Modern technology - and the EV is all about modern technology, right? - is perfectly able to detect the presence of pedestrians, and to sound the warning only when there is actually some danger of collision?

VESS is a complete antisocial nonsense! Whatever is the agenda of the proponents of VESS, I am absolutely certain it is nothing whatsoever to do with road safety!

What I would like really to see on EVs by way of low-speed audible warning is a device sounding like the bell or gong used in many cities around the world on trams, and sounding only when required - perhaps even by the driver pressing a button to activate it, like the horn? A bell or gong is a far friendlier sound, and far less likely to startle those in the vicinity, than a horn, and is far more likely to endear EVs to pedestrians than continuous synthetic noise.

 

The sad part for me is that I believe some of the people switching off the VESS are driving Motability vehicles so they, or someone they care for, is in some way differently abled and as such they ought to understand that some people need more aids to be safe.

 

there is no need for the car to be as load as it is, my neighbour had no idea from inside the car how load it is. It almost as load as the horn and I am not allowed to use that after 11 and before 7 (from memory) so why not make it a normal volume and not like a council truck

 

ps: And flashing beacons to help those with hearing impediments?

 

I’m afraid it is. I’ve measured it with a calibrated class II sound power meter and it’s a very consistent 74dB(A) at 1m from the front of the car. It’s not legally allowed to be any louder. It’s the same as a car exhaust. As the car is 4.2m long it will be substantially quieter than that at the back because sound power decreases with distance.

There are two parts to any noise - the sound power and the tone. That’s why the forward noise doesn’t sound so loud as the reversing noise, even though it is. There’s an ISO standard for assessing it; BS ISO 9295:2015.

 

Which part of the tone making the sound penetration my house that his previous diesel didn't, dont you get? The clip clearly says he has exactly the same issue at 3am when his wife comes in off of a night shift. I don't care if the noise is quieter if the resultant noise wakes me and my household up.... You are completely missing the point, its noice pollution and shouldn't be allowed.....

 

A while ago someone posted a neat mod, putting a reed switch where the now-missing VESS on/off switch was on th ebutton panel, so it could be turned on & off using a small magnet, but bo outward signs of having been modified.

 

Are your walls made of paper? I live in what I consider to be a normal house, I own a Hyundai EV, and there’s a Hyundai hybrid at the house opposite me (owned by a nurse who is in an out at different hours of day or night) with the same noises.

Im autistic and very sensitive to noises, and also a very light sleeper. Not once have I ever been disturbed by the noise of the VESS nor reversing sounds whether that’s me inside my own car, or outside while someone else is driving one.

I honestly don’t understand why so many people complain about the sound it makes. It’s not loud. It’s not intrusive. It’s a sound that lasts just a few seconds whilst the driver manoeuvres their car, and is very helpful for the safety of the visually impaired and/or distracted… And to me personally, the sound of certain other peoples ICE vehicles on my street are far closer to noise pollution in my opinion.

 

Nope my house is massively over insulated…. It funny the EV man says the same thing, in fact everyone around us takes the p because it sounds like the council dustbin lorry.

 

I live off a main road, there's certain noises you get accustomed to, such as car engines and traffic, which become almost like white noise.

However, when I got my Kona I can can confirm that the VESS reversing was extremely annoying and loud and that the speaker was disconnected for the very reasons highlighted on this forum, whilst it may not be particularly 'loud' it is intrusive, especially at 6am in the morning or late at night, especially something associated with trucks and large vehicles!

 

I found that when my other half came home and she started reversing I could always hear the Kona bongs from quite a distance, they just seem to have a sound that carries very well.

Didn't find it annoying, just very noticeable. Can understand that some people would get annoyed with them and maybe should have the option to be turned off if the headlights were on, so they wouldn't be heard at night.

 

I totally agree... in over 12 years since I owned my first Nissan Leaf I have never heard of this being an issue. The various associations have lobbied for this without there being any evidence that it is even needed or whether it will make any difference. It is a classic case of people making up their minds about EVs without actually having any experience.

I am appalled that EVs now require a sound generator. It has spoiled the experience to some extent and just because it was thought to be a good idea.

ICEs that are just as quiet at car park speeds do not require the sound generator. I could kinda accept it if it was also required for quiet ICEs but as it stands it is just another example of prejudice against electric cars.

 

Good old UK laws, clear as mud!

This is The Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations 1986 which makes everything so clear

 

Newer regulations supercede older ones even if they don't explicitly say the older one is revoked so the AVAS regulations that came into force in 2019 take precedence here.

 

Yeah I meant to disable the bong noise and use the AVAS spaceship or whatever noise instead, not to get rid of it completely just change it to a nicer/quieter sound.

 

I think the thread has wandered a bit

From my point, I dont want to turn the VESS off
I get all the reasons for having it,

I want to turn the ridiculous REVERSING BONGS off but only for reversing on/off my drive during “unsocial” hours

 

I think the thread has wandered a bit

From my point, I dont want to turn the VESS off
I get all the reasons for having it,

I want to turn the ridiculous REVERSING BONGS off but only for reversing on/off my drive during “unsocial” hours

Oh I agree, I wish I could turn off the reversing warning, but it's the law on any car registered from 1st July 2021, so if you're in that range you can't avoid it.

 

Sorry to be a pedant , but the legislation does not say “ must generate a reversing sound” which would imply a separate sound… it says it must generate A sound when travelling from 0 up to 20km/hour, and when reversing.
So the forward motion VESS sound would suffice( legislation wise) for reversing

No bongs required

 

Sorry to be a pedant , but the legislation does not say “ must generate a reversing sound” which would imply a separate sound… it says it must generate A sound when travelling from 0 up to 20km/hour, and when reversing.
So the forward motion VESS sound would suffice( legislation wise) for reversing

No bongs required

Correct. And certain EVs do this like my old MINI Cooper SE. Though even that, despite using the same VESS Sound in both drive and reverse - It was still noticeably louder in the reverse gear, as well as remaining on whilst in reverse even when stationary.

Hyundai/Kia EVs don't make any VESS Sound in reverse, and the beeping is the only sound that is emitted. Therefore that is in it's place to fulfill the obligation of generating a sound when travelling in reverse.

At the end of the day, this is the sound that Hyundai (and Kia) have been using for their electrified models when reversing since 2016 at least, without any significant change - Maybe a slight increase in volume though? If that's still being implemented around 6 years later I don't think they are going to be in a hurry to change things, nor do I think Hyundai are really getting much pressure to make such changes despite the surpirisng number of people moaning about it here.

 

I have said this before and I will say it again...

As the driver of your car, irrespective of any bongs and beeps your vehicle may or may not make, you are a responsible for not hitting pedestrians. The VESS sound doesn't change anything other than making a really irritating noise, epsecially in reverse.

If you end up in court having hurt a pedestrian, do you really think that the status of the VESS system is going to have any bearing on the outcome? Pedestrians walk about with headphones on looking at their phones anyway so your VESS noises can't be heard and you are the driver of a 1.8t vehicle.

My Kona has the button to turn it off so I am breaking no rules by pressing it.

The system is pointless in my opinion and is just a box ticking exercise in pointless legislation. It is the modern day equivalent of the man walking in front of a car with a red flag. (Yes, I know that is mostly urban myth).

My recommendation is to disconnect it if you are not lucky enough to have the button to turn it off. Just remember to re-connect it for your MOT.

 

I have said this before and I will say it again...

As the driver of your car, irrespective of any bongs and beeps your vehicle may or may not make, you are a responsible for not hitting pedestrians. The VESS sound doesn't change anything other than making a really irritating noise, epsecially in reverse.

Too right... it is down to everyone not to collide with pedestrians - except little old ladies with young kids and then it is double points

If you end up in court having hurt a pedestrian, do you really think that the status of the VESS system is going to have any bearing on the outcome?

It might actually matter hugely in court. If you had modified your car to removed the VESS sound against the requirements of the law (if you have a button you are allowed to press it and turn it off - if you don't have a button it must remain operational at all times) then your insurance company may claim that you had made a modification to the car without informing them and so they may withdraw cover. Now, not only have you run someone over but you no longer have any insurance. Not a situation anyone would want to find themselves in.

My Kona has the button to turn it off so I am breaking no rules by pressing it.

No, you are fine.

The system is pointless in my opinion and is just a box ticking exercise in pointless legislation. It is the modern day equivalent of the man walking in front of a car with a red flag. (Yes, I know that is mostly urban myth).

My recommendation is to disconnect it if you are not lucky enough to have the button to turn it off. Just remember to re-connect it for your MOT.

WHAT! You are recommending to people that they do something that may not only render their car in breach of construction regulations but has the potential to render their insurance void!!!!

NO - People... do not disconnect it and if you have already I recommend that you not only reconnect it before the MOT but you do it NOW if you want to maintain your insurance cover in the event of a pedestrian collision.

 

You could always wire in a variable resistor to change the volume of the sound.

 

Same issue as removing it - it would be a modification notifiable to insurance IMO.