US auto agency decided not to allow EV owners to choose their alert sounds

US auto safety regulators 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.
NHTSA in 2019 proposed allowing automakers to install a number of driver-selectable pedestrian alert sounds in “quiet cars.”
The agency said that the proposal “is not being adopted because of a lack of supporting data. … Removing this restriction would allow manufacturers to make more obscure sounds that only appeal to a small minority of (hybrid electric) owners.”