(Credit: James Martin)
Focus groups get used all the time for product design, but Ford is using more of an unfocused group to pick an artificially generated sound for its upcoming, ahem, Focus electric vehicle. Ford posted four potential sounds on its Facebook page and asked its fans to pick which ones they prefer.
A law enacted last January requires cars that are too quiet, such as hybrids and electric vehicles, to have some sort of artificial noise generator. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is in the process of clarifying the quality of noise the cars should make, and when it should be in operation.
Here are the sounds Ford is proposing (YouTube video links):
Test sound A
Test sound B
Test sound C
Test sound D
Three of the samples use an electronic, spaceship sound, but Test sound B is more like a conventional engine. The sounds may not have to run all the time.
With the Leaf, Nissan created a sound that only broadcasts when the car is running at slow speeds, as the engineers concluded that at higher speeds the car generates enough noise on its own. And at higher speeds, a pedestrian probably wouldn't have time to react even with an artificial noise short of an actual siren.
If you want to put in your 2 cents about how the Focus Electric should sound, visit the Ford Facebook comments page.
Gallant believes that even if the spectrum auctions are attached to the debt ceiling and budget moncler sale legislation, public safety will still get its spectrum. But he thinks public safety agencies will have a better chance of getting funding to build the nationwide first-responder network if the spectrum matter is dealt with in a separate bill.
"Right now, spectrum is being viewed as a source of money," Gallant said. "The public policy considerations are a distant second. And this is a budget driven process. So it's not clear if there is any appetite to spend money on a public safety."
The other issue is that TV broadcasters are generally not in favor of the incentive auctions. But leaders of the industry's lobbying group, the National Broadcast Association, realize that regardless of whether they like it, the auctions will happen. So now the group is lobbying to protect the spectrum that will be left for broadcast TV. They want to make sure there are specific technical conditions written into the legislation that will protect broadcasters from interference.