Toyota Prius Adds Underhood Speakers

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I wish I’d had this idea the last time my car almost got hit by a deer crossing the road…but anyway, the folks out at Toyota are taking a page from the Nissan Leaf’s playbook and adding a speaker to the front of their Prius electric vehicle to give pedestrians a little extra warning that the car is approaching.

See, one of the great things about an electric car is also one of its downsides–the car is about as quiet as a moving vehicle can possibly be. This is great, unless you happen to be a pedestrian about to cross into traffic that didn’t see the car approach. Now you just can’t hear that car coming, and you didn’t see it either, so…well…you get the idea.

Thus, for an extra $148, you can have a speaker mounted on the underside of the hood that generates a whirring sound approximately the same noise level as a gas-powered car. Why they wouldn’t include that instead of expecting customers to pick up the tab for a safety feature is beyond me, but still. I’d buy one, especially if I could get one that sounds like a coyote or something to keep the deer out of my way at night.