electronic engine sound (e-sound)

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kjhansen

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Joined
May 23, 2019
Messages
21
Location
Sacramento, CA
On page 170 of my 2019 e-Golf manual it talks about an "electronic engine sound" which the car is supposed to make at speeds up to 18MPH. My car makes no such sound. Three times I have had people walk right into the path of my car in a parking lot because they don't hear any sound from the car and also they are idiots for not looking, but that is another matter altogether.

Does anyone's 2019 make such a sound? I've had the car at the dealer for 4 days and counting to fix this issue and several others I'm having with the car.

Does anyone know it CA has a law requiring EV's to make a sound at low speeds to alert pedestrians?
 
When my 2015 speaker didn't work, the dashboard showed a warning about e-sound failure and there was an audible chime inside the car accompanying the e-sound failure warning. Have you tried driving with the windows open to hear the sound? I believe the speaker is inside the passenger side front wheel well. I would imagine the 2019s have this feature as it will be required by US Federal law soon and I believe it is required by law in Germany.

I think this is a good law, and any car, be it gas or electric, that doesn't make enough noise, should have the warning sound. There are plenty of pedestrians that are killed by cars and the numbers are rising over time, partly due to people (both drivers and pedestrians) being distracted. I have experienced silent Teslas sneaking up on me many times while walking on the sidewalk and hope Elon has a software update to add the sound to the Tesla fleet made prior to the law's enactment.
 
The sound is a sample of an internal combustion engine at rpm related to speed. Since modern engines are quiet, the sample is quiet and hard to hear, especially from inside the car.
This sound has an enable button switch on at least European versions next to the shift lever just under the "Eco" button. Not available on US versions. Two points on this 1) there is a youtube video where the owner has a friend outside the car while sound is switched on and off and they can't tell when its on or off. 2) for the sound to be full time enabled for the US version: a hardware solution requires the switch pins in the harness to be jumpered and maybe the jumper fell out? If its a software solution the dealer should be able to find a handle to that and turn it on.
Again, it may be on but not discernible.
 
I took my 2019 e-Golf SE with DAP to the dealer to get them to fix the inaudible Pedestrian Warning sound. Well, it turns out it is actually working, but it is so quiet that you have to be outside of the car and close to it to hear it! It is a strange "whirring" sort of like a "UFO landing" sound. The sound stops at about 18 MPH like the manual says it should. My PHEV Ford Fusion makes the exact same sound at low speeds only a bit louder. This isn't loud enough to alert pedestrians! What were they thinking??

Can someone tell me exactly where the speaker is that makes the sound? I would like to take the signal from that connection and amplify it so it can actually be heard by a pedestrian. Even more fun would be to take the signal enabling the sound and make some other sound with it; like a roaring, snorting V8 for example.
 
The speaker is in the front right wheel well. If you turn your wheel to the left (or remove it) you can see a small panel in the front of the wheel well.
 
I can hear the very loud humming noise inside my 2019 e-golf at low speed, e.g. pull into garage. not sure if it is e-sound or malfunction.
 
Blackgolf said:
I can hear the very loud humming noise inside my 2019 e-golf at low speed, e.g. pull into garage. not sure if it is e-sound or malfunction.
Click to expand...
Does it do it when completely stopped? If so it's likely the coolant pump for either your heater (if you're running it) or the inverter/motor.
 
no noise when stopped. it happens at low speed, like 5mph. when i pull into garage, the noise is kind of loud. I assume this is e-sound.

eGolfJoe said:
Blackgolf said:
I can hear the very loud humming noise inside my 2019 e-golf at low speed, e.g. pull into garage. not sure if it is e-sound or malfunction.
Click to expand...
Does it do it when completely stopped? If so it's likely the coolant pump for either your heater (if you're running it) or the inverter/motor.
Click to expand...
 
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