Are Electric Vehicles More Dangerous?

With several fully electric models coming out, there is an increasing interest in the safety of these vehicles. So far beyond problems with Prius accelerators, the main concern for electric vehicles has been their quiet motors. Pre-owned Prius models can be purchased at a Kansas City Used Car dealer. Some electric car models travel so silently that they are hardly heard unless one is directly next to them. The quietest vehicles are the ones that run in electric only mode. Models like the Lincoln MKZ hybrid which can be bought at a Manchester Lincoln Dealer are also possibly more prone to accidents with pedestrians.

There is a concern that the blind and elderly with poor sight are in the greatest danger of being struck by electric cars that are too quiet to hear. The Nissan Leaf was even reported last year taht it would be given "whirring" noise to decrease the likelihood of an accident because of the inability to hear the car.

Even among those who can hear, many rely upon the sound of automobiles to alert them of their presence, and the fact that many are accustomed to this warning noise means that it will be a potentially dangerous shift unless some type of engine noise development is added to electric vehicles.

With the likelihood of greater accidents among electric vehicles due to their quietness, there is a good chance that automakers will be required to add some type of noise to their electric models. Although a certain number of pedestrian and other accidents will happen no matter what, it would be a negative impact on the electric vehicle industry if a series of accidents were to occur due to their lack of warning noise. At the moment, there is no such law in effect.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration did conduct a report in September of 2009 that found that hybrid models were more likely to be involved in bicycle and hybrid accidents. The report found that 0.9% of hybrid cars were involved in pedestrian accidents while 0.6% of regular cars were involved in pedestrian accidents.