Can you hear a prius approaching?

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Main Forum' started by jonb505, Aug 23, 2013.

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  1. jonb505

    jonb505 Member

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    Silly topic perhaps but I've noticed lately I can distinctly sense when a prius is nearby without even looking. Walking down the sidewalk or through a parking lot I can hear one coming from a ways away. I don't think the "noisemaker" gives it away either. It's the various electric motor whines/whistles from the HSD as I can even sense/hear older gen 2 prius as well as other toyota hybrids(highlander, camry). Anyone else notice this? It's been 1 year for me now owning a prius so perhaps I'm becoming highly attuned to its unique sounds.
    It's kind of the same sensation of knowing a tv is on in a room even if the volume is muted and I'm not sitting in front of it.
     
    #1 jonb505, Aug 23, 2013
  2. Fluxuated

    Fluxuated Member

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    There's a guy in town here that uses a Gen III as a Taxi. I was leaving a store yesterday, and he was in EV coming up to a light, and I hear the familiar whir it gives out. Knew right away it was a Prius.
     
    #2 Fluxuated, Aug 23, 2013
  3. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    agreed. 7-8 times out of 10, when my wife and i are out walking, i can tell if a prius is coming up behind us. have yet to hear a noisemaker, except my own. even my wife's '13 hycam doesn't have one.
     
    #3 bisco, Aug 23, 2013
  4. xpcman

    xpcman Senior Member

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    I used to jump when the neighbor's Prius would sneak up on me when i was out in the street and I often see people startle when they suddenly realize that my car if right behind them.
     
    #4 xpcman, Aug 23, 2013
  5. The Electric Me

    The Electric Me Go Speed Go!

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    Yep, I wondered if it was just me.
    Now there are 3 or more Prius in my neighborhood alone, but I never really noticed them too much or could hear them. Now that I own a Prius, when I'm outside and any one of them is coming down the side street I immediately recognize it as auditory brethren.
     
    #5 The Electric Me, Aug 23, 2013
  6. jonb505

    jonb505 Member

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    Cool. I guess thats why i notice it here too, 90% of Vancouver taxis are Prius in one form or another, some hycams too.
    I used to do night work cleaning starbucks, all over vancouver and the lower mainland. It was funny, when i was finishing up the night, packing the car to head home, usually at around 3am all you could hear is the whirring of Prius taxis on the city streets. :)
     
    #6 jonb505, Aug 23, 2013
  7. fuzzy1

    fuzzy1 Senior Member

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    While walking or bicycling, I've encountered many other hybrids (not just Prii) discovered by sound, not sight. Yes, the electric whine is distinctive.

    But hearing ability is a strong function of age and noise abuse, and the high pitched notes of the electrics are in the hearing range that is first to be lost. Youngsters can hear to somewhere around 20 kHz. I can no longer hear anything above 13 kHz. Dad can't even hear 2 kHz anymore, with his hearing aids turned up.
     
    #7 fuzzy1, Aug 23, 2013
  8. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    what?:p
     
    #8 bisco, Aug 23, 2013
  9. rfruth

    rfruth Member

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    Do you (anyone) suppose a artificial noise maker will be on the 2014s ? (I hope not)
     
    #9 rfruth, Aug 23, 2013
  10. retired4999

    retired4999 Prius driver since 2005

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    Hello !
     
    #10 retired4999, Aug 23, 2013
  11. retired4999

    retired4999 Prius driver since 2005

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    I would say yes!
     
    #11 retired4999, Aug 23, 2013
  12. WE0H

    WE0H Senior Member

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    Just unplug it ;-)

    Mike

    Mobile on my SGH-i717
     
    #12 WE0H, Aug 23, 2013
  13. El Dobro

    El Dobro A Member

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    Is it just me, or is the Gen III louder than the earlier Gens.
     
    #13 El Dobro, Aug 23, 2013
  14. fuzzy1

    fuzzy1 Senior Member

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    Considering that the 2012-13s already have noisemakers, it seems unlikely that Toyota will remove them for 2014.
     
    #14 fuzzy1, Aug 23, 2013
  15. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    the earlier gen's didn't have a noisemaker.
     
    #15 bisco, Aug 23, 2013
  16. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    you sound like my kids.:cool:
     
    #16 bisco, Aug 23, 2013
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  17. El Dobro

    El Dobro A Member

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    No, not the noisemaker, the noise from the motors.
     
    #17 El Dobro, Aug 23, 2013
  18. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    ah, sorry. inside, i would say about the same. not sure outside.
     
    #18 bisco, Aug 23, 2013
  19. El Dobro

    El Dobro A Member

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    In the next town over, the taxi company has Gen II and early Gen III cabs and it seems when they drive by, I can hear the IIIs more than I can hear the II. I think the II motors don't rev as high as the IIIs, so maybe that's what I'm hearing?
     
    #19 El Dobro, Aug 23, 2013
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  20. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    could be, now i'm going to have to start paying attention.:)
     
    #20 bisco, Aug 23, 2013
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