US government bans electric cars from making loud fart noises on city streets

Posted on : July 15, 2022

Elon Musk's dreams of a world filled with farting cars have been dashed, thanks to a new ruling by a US road safety watchdog.

In 2019, the US road authority NHTSA passed a ruling forcing carmakers to fit electric and hybrid vehicles with loud noises to prevent accidents and injuries.

This is because electric vehicles are often so quiet that they are difficult to hear on approach.

However, the NHTSA has now overturned the ruling, saying that tire noise and wind resistance make the cars loud enough for people to hear.

READ NEXT: Everything we know so far about the Super Mario movie starring Chris Pratt

According to Reuters, the agency said this week that it would lead car manufacturers to "make more obscure sounds that only appeal to a small minority of (hybrid electric) owners."

This could be devastating for Elon Musk, who pioneered putting custom sounds into electric vehicles.

A 2020 'Holiday Update' gave Tesla cars a new 'Boombox' mode, which let drivers play custom audio through their vehicle's external speakers.

Instead of a car horn, drivers could blare out fart sounds and goat noises while they drove around.

  • Elon Musk's tweets to be used against him in Twitter lawsuit -including poo emoji

This meant that for some time, Teslas were driving around farting or making the same noises as ice cream vans.

Users could even upload five tracks of their own, with Elon Musk telling Tesla owners they could drive their car while it played Ludacris' classic, 'Move Bitch Get Out Da Way'.

In February, Tesla recalled more than 570,000 vehicles in the US because of concerns that pedestrians would not be able to hear the sounds of approaching cars over the Boombox audio.

READ MORE:

  • iPhone makers 'ate rotten food in rat-filled rooms' and worked overtime for £4 a day
  • Twitter staff say firm is a 'sh*t show' after Musk 'trashes company and walks away'
  • iPhone users can now fully customise lock screens as iOS 16 beta goes live
  • Giant 165-inch 'folding TV' designed by Porsche costs more than a two-bed house
  • You can now react to WhatsApp texts with a pregnant man or a taco thanks to emoji update

Source: Read Full Article