[Gospelman]

Hi Everyone!
I bought my LEAF Acenta last September and from day one it has been silent - no pedestrian warning or reversing alerts. I tried enabling / disabling with LeafSpyPro with no results. Whilst I don't particularly want these warnings, it would be interesting to determine why they're not working. For starters, can anyone tell me please where the squawk box that generates these noises is physically located on the car - I might as well check that it's there and connected.
Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[dk6780]

Which age of car? They moved from the original to the second model.

 

[Gospelman]

It's a 14 plate first registered in June 2014.

 

[MetalHead]

UK models never had reversing alerts enabled so that's normal.
The pedestrian warning is very quiet when still.
Easiest to check driving slowly with your in window down.
Kind of a high pitched whine which will stop when going about 20mph.

 

[DBMandrake]

UK models never had reversing alerts enabled so that's normal.

Can it be enabled with Leafspy ? Is it legal in the UK for it to have a reversing sound ?

I assume the sound would still only come from the front though ?

The pedestrian warning is very quiet when still.

It's more than just quiet when still - it stops completely when stationary.

Easiest to check driving slowly with your in window down.
Kind of a high pitched whine which will stop when going about 20mph.

The thing that can be a bit confusing is the drivetrain itself makes a high pitched tone of its own which varies with speed. So when the pedestrian sound is active there are actually two different pitch varying tones audible.

The easiest way to hear if it's working would be to drive at 10mph alongside a wall with the passenger window open then toggle the disable button on and off while driving. Then it should be obvious whether it's working or not.

With windows up and no nearby surface to reflect the sound from the alert sound is barely audible to the driver and/or easily confused with the whine from the drivetrain itself.

 

[dk6780]

The enable/disable function for VSP and Reversing sounds on LEAFSpy don't work on Sunderland built LEAFs. IIRC it would be illegal to enable the reversing sounds on a UK car.

 

[DBMandrake]

The enable/disable function for VSP and Reversing sounds on LEAFSpy don't work on Sunderland built LEAFs. IIRC it would be illegal to enable the reversing sounds on a UK car.

Fair enough. It seems strange though that EV's are required to have forwards moving noise makers but not allowed to have reversing ones. Reversing silently into someone seems like a higher risk (especially in supermarket car parks) than driving forwards into them. At car park reversing speeds EV's are genuinely completely silent especially if FWD where any engine and inverter whine is coming from up front.

 

[MetalHead]

The enable/disable function for VSP and Reversing sounds on LEAFSpy don't work on Sunderland built LEAFs. IIRC it would be illegal to enable the reversing sounds on a UK car.

Fair enough. It seems strange though that EV's are required to have forwards moving noise makers but not allowed to have reversing ones. Reversing silently into someone seems like a higher risk (especially in supermarket car parks) than driving forwards into them. At car park reversing speeds EV's are genuinely completely silent especially if FWD where any engine and inverter whine is coming from up front.

It was illegal however I think the rules have changed relatively recently (last year or two).
My e-Niro has reversing bongs which was a bit of a surprise.

 

[dk6780]

It was illegal however I think the rules have changed relatively recently (last year or two).
My e-Niro has reversing bongs which was a bit of a surprise.

Interesting. I didn't know that had changed. I might try harder to get the reversing noise to work.

 

[MetalHead]

Interesting. I didn't know that had changed. I might try harder to get the reversing noise to work.

1st July 2019 it seems: New rule means electric cars must make noise

 

[Gospelman]

Thanks for all your replies. I did as DBMandrake suggested and drove at walking pace in a local car park with the passenger window open and toggling the VSP mute switch, and yes, I could just about hear the warning noise - it sounded like white noise. Could be there's a fault in my squawk box, as I went onto YouTube, where there are several videos of LEAF noise, and found that it should be a whining noise, a bit like something from the BBC's "Journey Into Space" radio drama (remember that?). I have to say that I do have minor difficulties in supermarket carparks etc. with pedestrians simply not noticing that my car is moving, and more generally out on public roads, where pedestrians are prone to launch themselves into the road from the pavement in front of the moving car. I guess people tend to rely as much as hearing an approaching vehicle as seeing it. I don't think the LEAF's genteel whining alert will make much difference, though.

 

[DBMandrake]

My VSP noise (2016 30kWh model) just sounds like a tone which varies from approx 2Khz to 4Khz depending on your road speed. It definitely doesn't sound like white noise, so perhaps there is a fault with yours. The speaker for it is under the bonnet somewhere although I don't know exactly where as the noise stops when you are stationary.

I'm not convinced that the VSP noise on the Leaf is that useful - it's not the kind of noise that would make a pedestrian who isn't paying attention think "look out! car!". They're more likely to look up at the sky.

I drove a Peugeot Ion which has no VSP noise for 3 years and apart from supermarket car parks didn't really find an issue with not having a warning noise. And the issue was mainly waiting for loitering pedestrians who wouldn't move because they couldn't hear an engine idling. Since the VSP systems don't make a noise when stationary they won't help this particular issue.

I think the "need" for VSP sounds is overrated but the powers that be have decided to enforce them on us...

 

[DBMandrake]

1st July 2019 it seems: New rule means electric cars must make noise

Oh dear... some choice quotes from that article:

All new types of four-wheel electric vehicle must be fitted with the device, which sounds like a traditional engine.

For the love of god, no fake engine revving noises from VSP systems, please. Why get rid of noisy internal combustion engines only to replace it with fake engine noise for people who are too stupid to look before they step in front of oncoming traffic ? I think we're better off going back to the system of someone walking in front of the car with a (silent) waving flag...

A car's acoustic vehicle alert system (Avas) must sound when reversing or travelling below 12mph (19km/h).

The VSP in most EV's shuts off above 19mph - have they got this figure wrong (confusing km/mph) or are the new regulations reducing the cut off speed ?

The charity Guide Dogs - which had complained it was difficult to hear low-emission cars approaching - welcomed the change, but said electric vehicles should make a sound at all speeds.

Err, they do know that tyres on a car make a lot of noise about 20mph don't they ? Tyre noise is already louder than the VSP system at 20mph, there is no need for the occupants of the car to be subject to a continuous tone for their entire journey...

From 2021 all new electric cars must have an Avas, not just new models.

Which is claptrap, because there is no legal basis to force retrofitting of VSP systems onto old EV's that were built without them, prior to the new regulations. Totally unenforceable and without precident.

Yikes, some pretty poor reporting in that article.

 

[Gospelman]

Having now located the VSP speaker (hung on a bracket at the front of the inner L/H wing) I was able to remove it from the top of the car rather than from beneath (which involves removing front wheel & wheel arch liner). Bit of a fiddle, but not too bad, worst part is persuading the male electrical plug to release from its socket. Took it to pieces on the bench and found a 3" (76mm) 4 ohm 2,5 watt loudspeaker inside. I confirmed continuity with a multimeter on the plug pins, so reassembled and replaced. Still doesn't work, so either there's a break in the wires upstream of the speaker or the module generating the noise has failed. Might even have been disabled at the dealers, IDK. Anyway, I've decided that I can do without it, so I quit. HTH.

 

[motco]

Beware of wandering pedestrians staring at their 'phones...

 

[infoxicated]

I believe I can hear mine when I'm going with the windows down but it might well just be the drivetrain. When I was in a caravan park a couple of weeks ago I found that most people milling about did not hear me coming whilst I was driving through the park. Using the horn would have made them jump as much as they did when they suddenly noticed I was behind them so it was a bit of a catch-22 situation.

Yesterday, I noticed in the menus there was a choice of sounds but I've yet to test the difference between them. Perhaps the other options are more noticeable?

 

[DBMandrake]

The choice of sounds in the menu is for the startup chimes in the cabin not the VSP system. I turn that annoying startup chime off...

I have to say there is a certain perverse satisfaction sneaking up "quietly" on a pedestrian who is casually strolling down the middle of the road etc despite the VSP system being active - when you get close enough they do hear it and the look on their face is priceless...

I try to educate rather than get annoyed with people. The best way to learn not to do something is to get a (safe) scare like a car creeping up on you so you realise that strolling on the road without looking is actually kinda dangerous.

 

[infoxicated]

The startup chime doesn't bother me - I like it but then I've only had it 2.5 weeks so I guess the novelty will wear off at some point.

It does kind of make more sense to be able to change that than being able to switch the warning sound. I was hoping there was a "KITT from Knight Rider" option to choose from but I guess I'm stuck with what I've got!

I have to confess to finding it fun being able to sneak up on folk - teenage girls wandering across roads whilst preoccupied with their phones seem to be the main culprits. Most pedestrians could hear my CR-V coming a mile off regardless of whether they had earphones in but the Leaf is pretty stealthy.