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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION National Highway Traffic Safety Administration 49 CFR Part 571 Docket No. NHTSA-2011-0148 RIN 2127-AK93 Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards Minimum Sound Requirements for Hybrid and Electric Vehicles AGENCY: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), Department of Transportation (DOT). ACTION: Notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM). SUMMARY: As required by the Pedestrian Safety Enhancement Act (PSEA) of 2010 this rule proposes to establish a Federal motor vehicle safety standard (FMVSS) setting minimum sound requirements for hybrid and electric vehicles. This new standard would require hybrid and electric passenger cars, light trucks and vans (LTVs), medium and heavy duty, trucks, and buses, low speed vehicles (LSVs), and motorcycles to produce sounds meeting the requirements of this standard. This proposed standard applies to electric vehicles (EVs) and to those hybrid vehicles (HVs) that are capable of propulsion in any forward or reverse gear without the vehicle’s internal combustion engine (ICE) operating. This standard would ensure that blind, visually-impaired, and other pedestrians are able to detect and recognize nearby hybrid and electric vehicles, as required by the PSEA, by requiring that hybrid and electric vehicles emit sound that pedestrians would be able to hear in a range of ambient environments and contain acoustic signal content that pedestrians will recognize as being emitted from a vehicle. 1 The benefit of reducing the pedestrian injury rate per registered vehicle of HVs to ICE vehicles when 4.1% of the fleet is HV and EV would be 2790 fewer pedestrian and pedalcyclist injuries. We also estimate that this proposal will result in 10 fewer pedestrian and pedalcyclist injuries caused by LSVs. Thus, 2800 total injured pedestrians are expected to be avoided due to this proposal representing 35 equivalent lives saved. We do not estimate any quantifiable benefits for EVs because it is our view that EV manufacturers would have installed alert sounds in their cars without passage of the PSEA and this proposed rule. Comparison of costs and benefits expected due to this rule provides a cost of $0.83 to $0.99 million per equivalent life saved across the 3 and 7 percent discount levels for the light EV and HV and LSV fleet. According to our present model, a countermeasure that allows a vehicle to meet the proposed minimum sound requirements would be cost effective compared to our comprehensive cost estimate of the value of a statistical life of $6.3 million. DATES: Comments must be received on or before [INSERT DATE 60 DAYS AFTER DATE OF PUBLICATION IN THE FEDERAL REGISTER]. ADDRESSES: You may submit comments to the docket number identified in the heading of this document by any of the following methods: • Federal eRulemaking Portal: go to http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the online instructions for submitting comments. • Mail: Docket Management Facility, M-30, U.S. Department of Transportation, West Building, Ground Floor, Rm. W12-140, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, S.E., Washington, D.C. 20590. 2 • Hand Delivery or Courier: West Building Ground Floor, Room W12-140, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, S.E., between 9 am and 5 pm Eastern Time, Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays. • Fax: (202) 493-2251. Regardless of how you submit your comments, you should mention the docket number of this document. You may call the Docket at 202-366-9324. Instructions: For detailed instructions on submitting comments and additional information on the rulemaking process, see the Public Participation heading of the Supplementary Information section of this document. Note that all comments received will be posted without change to http://www.regulations.gov, including any personal information provided. Privacy Act: Please see the Privacy Act heading under Rulemaking Analyses and Notices. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For non-legal issues, Ms. Gayle Dalrymple, Office of Crash Avoidance Standards (telephone: 202-366- 5559) (fax: 202-493-2990). Ms. Dalrymple's mailing address is National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, NVS-112, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, S.E., Washington, DC 20590. For legal issues, Mr. Thomas Healy, Office of the Chief Counsel (telephone: 202-366-2992) (fax: 202-366-3820). Mr. Healy’s mailing address is National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, NCC-112, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, S.E., Washington, DC 20590. 3 SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Table of Contents I. Executive Summary II. Background III. Pedestrian Safety Enhancement Act of 2010 IV. Consultation with External Organizations V. Safety Problem A. Comparing the Vehicle to Pedestrian Crash Experience of Internal Combustion Engine Vehicles to Hybrid and Electric Vehicles B. Need for Independent Mobility of People Who are Visually Impaired and Blind VI. NHTSA Research and Industry Practices A. NHTSA Phase 1 Research B. NHTSA Phase 2 Research C. NHTSA Phase 3 Research D. International Approach to Pedestrian Alert Sounds E. SAE Sound Measurement Procedure F. Alert Sounds Currently Provided by Manufacturers G. The Notice of Intent to Prepare an Environmental Assessment VII. NHTSA’s Proposal A. Acoustic Specifications Developed to Enhance Detection and Recognition B. Critical Operating Scenarios 1. Stationary but Activated 2. Reverse 3. Acceleration and Deceleration 4. Constant Speed C. Application 1. The Definition of Hybrid Vehicle 2. Vehicles with a GVWR over 10,000 lbs 3. Electric Motorcycles 4. Low Speed Vehicles 5. Quiet Internal Combustion Engine Vehicles D. Requirements 1. Acoustic Parameters Designed According to a Detectability Model 2. Recognizability Requirements 3. Prohibition Against Modifying a Vehicle Sound 4. Phase-in Schedule E. Compliance Test Procedure 1. Test Condition 2. Vehicle Condition 3. Test Procedure a. Start-up b. Stationary but Activated and Directivity c. Reverse d. Constant Speed 4 e. Pitch Shifting f. Recognizability g. Vehicles of the Same Make and Model Emitting the Same Sound VIII. Alternatives Considered but not Proposed A. Requiring Vehicle Sound to be Playback of an Internal Combustion Engine Recording B. Requiring that the Alert Sound Adapt to the Ambient C. Acoustic Profile Designed Around Sounds Produces by Internal Combustion Engine Vehicles D. Acoustic Profiles Suggested by Manufacturers E. International Guidelines for Vehicle Alert Sounds F. Suggestions in Comments to the Notice of Intent that did not Satisfy the Statement of Purpose and Need for the Rulemaking G. Possible Jury Testing for Recognition of a Synthetic Sound IX. NHTSA’s Role in the Development of a Global Technical Regulation X. Analysis of Costs, Benefits and Environmental Effects A. Benefits B. Costs C. Comparison of Costs and Benefit D. Environmental Effects XI. Regulatory Notices and Analyses XII. Proposed Regulatory Text I. Executive Summary As required by the PSEA,1 this rule proposes to establish FMVSS No.141, Minimum Sound Requirements for Hybrid and Electric Vehicles, which would require hybrid and electric passenger cars, LTVs, medium and heavy duty trucks and buses, LSVs, and motorcycles to produce sounds meeting the requirements of this standard. This proposed standard applies to EVs and to those HVs that are capable of propulsion in any forward or reverse gear without the vehicle’s ICE operating. The PSEA requires NHTSA to establish performance requirements for an alert sound that is recognizable as motor vehicle in operation that allows blind and other pedestrians to reasonably detect a nearby EV or HV operating below the crossover speed. The crossover speed is the speed at which tire noise, wind noise, and other factors eliminate the need 1 Public Law 111-373, 124 Stat. 4086 (January 4, 2011). 5 for a separate alert sound. The PSEA defines “alert sound” as “a vehicle-emitted sound to enable pedestrians to discern vehicle presence, direction, location and operation.”2 The legal authority for this rulemaking comes from the PSEA and 49 U.S.C. § 30111. This standard will ensure that blind, visually-impaired, and other pedestrians are able to detect and recognize nearby hybrid and electric vehicles by requiring that hybrid and electric vehicles emit sound that pedestrians will be able to hear in a range of ambient environments and contain acoustic signal content that pedestrians will recognize as being emitted from a vehicle. The proposed standard establishes minimum sound requirements for hybrid and electric vehicles when operating under 30 kilometers per hour (km/h) (18 mph), when the vehicle’s starting system is activated but the vehicle is stationary, and when the vehicle is operating in reverse. The requirements of this proposal apply only to those HVs that are capable of propulsion in any forward or reverse gear without the vehicle’s ICE operating because these were the vehicles that the agency believes fall under the definition of “hybrid vehicle” contained in the PSEA. The agency chose a crossover speed of 30 km/h because this was the speed at which the sound levels of the hybrid and electric vehicles measured by the agency approximated the sound levels produced by similar ICE vehicles. This proposal contains minimum sound requirements for the activated but stationary operating condition because the definition of alert sound in the PSEA, as explained in Section III of this NPRM, requires the agency to issue minimum sound requirements to allow pedestrians to detect hybrid and electric vehicles. We have tentatively determined that this requirement can be best met by requiring vehicles to emit sound in this operating condition. 2 Id. at Section 2(2). 6 At lower speeds, hybrid and electric vehicles produce less sound than vehicles propelled by an ICE. At higher speeds, tire and wind noise are the main contributors to vehicles noise output so at higher speeds the sounds produced by hybrid and electric vehicles and ICE vehicles are similar. Because hybrid and electric vehicles do not produce as much sound as ICE vehicles when operating at lower speeds, pedestrians and other road users may not be aware of the presence of a nearby hybrid or electric vehicle.