Do hybrid cars kill you with silence?

(Credit: Audi Screenshot Chris Matyszczyk/CNET)

The first time you get into a hybrid car, it can be quite eerie.

Not merely because of the peculiar sanctimoniousness of its owner, but because when it comes to a halt, there seems to be no engine sound. At first, you think it's stalled. Then you realize that cannot be. So your innards have to train themselves for this odd sensation.

However, it seems conclusive now that this little lamb's silence is proving to be somewhat injurious.

As a very fine analysis in Slate tells me, at speeds under 35 mph, hybrids and electric cars are 37 percent more likely to hit pedestrians and 66 percent more likely to hit cyclists than normal gas-guzzling machines.

However, the hybrids' silent factor has become so difficult that the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration is being forced, by this summer, to begin creating rules that will stipulate the minimum noise enjoyed by any car on the road.

Yes, oh newly-minted Facebook millionaire, your new Tesla may have to be a little noisier.

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