U.S. auto agency will not allow EV owners to pick alert sounds

FILE PHOTO: Electric cars sit charging in a parking garage at the University of California, Irvine January 26, 2015. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. auto safety regulators on Tuesday scrapped a 2019 proposal that would have allowed automakers to offer a variety of sound choices for electric vehicles and other "quiet cars."

Electric vehicles are often harder to hear at lower speeds than gasoline-powered engines. Under rules mandated by Congress and finalized by NHTSA, automakers must add sounds to hybrid and electric vehicles when traveling at speeds of up to 18.6 miles per hour (30 km per hour) to help prevent injuries among pedestrians, cyclists and the blind.