My neighbors' cats like to sleep under my car and quite often when I start my engine, a cat bolts out from under the car. Where I work in Carlsbad, CA, the squirrels beg for food and hide under people's parked cars along the ocean every day at lunch hour. People park, and the squirrels come and beg for food and take shelter under the parked cars. But when it's time to go back to work and someone starts their car, the squirrels hear the sound and know to take refuge under a different car. So I was thinking about electric cars. Maybe those noisemakers aren't such a bad idea. They could save the life of a child also.
Nothing is foolproof. When I was a kid, one day my dad took the pickup into town. Made a stop at the bank or something, thought he heard a cat meowing. Went to a different store briefly, thought he heard a cat again as he got into the pickup. Drove home (4 miles), stopped the pickup, heard the cat again, so this time he opened the hood, and there was our cat standing on an engine mount, looking terrified but unharmed. Not sure the moral of this, just was reminded of the story. I'm not averse to having an engine sound at low speed, particularly if you can turn it off manually if you want. Then it could become an aftermarket accessory, as people want to sound like a Porsche or something. Being quiet is nice, but I know I scared a lady last month in a parking lot. We got young kids in our neighborhood and I back into the garage. I'm always worried that one day we may not see each other. (It'd be the same as if I backed out of the garage too).
Well, noisemakers are a bad idea. My friend Joe ran over his cat with his Buick. I remember one day as a child standing at the school bus stop when the neighbor started up his car, started backing down the driveway & ran over a cat. Cars, electric or otherwise are either a Darwinian control or God's will for population control.
