That's right - something evil about Hybrids. They sneak up on you. Not a problem if you're inside a car, but if you're blind or being trailed as a pedestrian, you could be up for an injury. Read about it at the New York Times. Laws are being passed, and we could have noisemakers in hybrids within 4 years.
I wonder what it'll sound like. There was a brief mention of how annoying those beeping things are on utility vehicles. I couldn't imagine it'll be loud enough to hear from the inside of the car - that'd be really annoying. I guess the noisemaker isn't needed when the engine's running, which normally happens at higher speeds. I could only imagine that these noisemakers will be hacked to play popular music.