The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has once again postponed a ruling that would require battery electric vehicles to emit warning sounds so pedestrians and cyclists can hear them coming, The Detroit Bureau reports.
This new law, which was supposed to be finalized in November, will specify a common standard for EVs and hybrids operating at low speeds in electric mode. The NHTSA has now pushed the deadline back to March, claiming that “additional coordination is necessary.”
As TDB points out, the U.S. Congress originally authorized the NHTSA to act in 2010, and the agency first planned to have the rules in place by 2014. If it finally completes the process next spring it would require manufacturers to start adding the speaker system to their vehicles 18 months later, at the traditional start of the 2018 model year.