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Hello and welcome to No Effort November,

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aseries of videos for the month of November in which no effort is made.

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Ignore all this, doesn’t matter.

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Have you ever wondered what makes big trucks
and vans go *beep beep beep* when they’re backing up?

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Well, it’s one of these!

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This is a reverse alarm, also known as a back-up alarm

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(but not backup as in “reserve” ...

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but “reverse”).

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And the way it works is really clever:

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Inside this enclosure is a small studio apartment
in which lives a tiny little man named Glorbus.

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His next-door neighbor curses like a sailorwhenever a vehicle’s backing up,

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and Glorbus is tasked with hitting a bleep button so innocent ears around aren’t offended.

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It’s a pretty simple concept!

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Much like a sliding door, that intro was unhinged.

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This is, though, a pretty simple device - it’s just a weather-resistant loudspeaker

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hooked up to some sort of circuit that will make it go “beep beep”
when you run DC power through it.

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Why don’t I run some DC power through thisso we can observe what it does?

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For this next trick, I shall need to don hearing protection.

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Oh well.

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Are you ready?

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Here we go.

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BEEP BEEP BEEP

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[beeping stops]

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I mean the point is to get your attention,

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but I think we can all agree these things are kind of obnoxious.

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But they are undeniably a pretty solid idea with good intentions,

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and wouldn’t ya know it, these are changing -

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they’re getting better, much less obnoxious, and are starting to end up in all sorts of places you might not expect.

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But before we get to the newfangled future,

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let’s talk a little bit more about the oldfangled kind.

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These aren’t exclusively used in automotive applications -

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plenty of heavy equipment is fitted with one of these bleepers to warn those around it that it’s in motion.

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In that case it might be called a vehicle motion alarm,

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but for the purposes of this video,
I’m gonna stick to trucks and vans and other such road vehicles

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because unless you hang around construction sites like some
sort of practical engineer that’s where you’re more likely to hear them.

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I think anyway.

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In those cases, these come on when the vehicle they’re attached to is in reverse -

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the driver of a large vehicle doesn’t have great visibility when backing up,

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so these things became mandated by…

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hold on a minute.

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It’s an OSHA thing‽

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And here I thought it was a NHTSA thing.

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Learn something new every day.

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Apparently it’s the Occupational Safety and Health Administration that mandates these things

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on any motor vehicle equipment in use by an employer with an obstructed view to the rear.

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That suggests (here in the US anyway) the only reason these exist is to protect workers on a jobsite

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and the general public is just kinda-sorta getting some free help from them

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because company vehicles technically encounter
job sites back at the warehouse or whatever.

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Huh.

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By the way, I can’t believe we let NHTSA get away with making that a spoken acronym.

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It sounds like a sneeze.

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Anyway, installing one of these on a road vehicle is pretty easy
because a road vehicle has reverse lights.

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Just tap into the power for one of those,
give the alarm a good ground, and you’re done!

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The alarm will automatically start beeping
when you shift that vehicle into reverse.

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Wondering what I mean by a good ground?

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Well, in case you didn’t know, wiring things in vehicles is very weird!

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You usually only need one wire

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because the entire metal body of the car 
is connected to one side of the battery

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(almost always the negative terminal… but not always always 
because we didn’t used to know any better).

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Anyway, why don’t I show you?

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This here is an automotive test light.

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It’s a light bulb inside of a stick

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with one of its power leads running to this clippy thing

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and the other attached to the poky bit at the end.

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If I hook each end of this thing up to an appropriate power supply,

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you’ll see that the lamp lights.

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In a car, if I clip this thing to the positive terminal of the battery,

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it will light up whenever I poke any metal part of the car with the pokey bit.

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That happens because the whole vehicle is
a wire back to the other side of the battery.

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In the case of the backup alarm,

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this metal piece on its attachment bracket is bonded to its negative power terminal.

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That way, so long as you’re bolting it to a metal part of the car,

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that bolt will provide a ground connection and a single wire from the reverse light to its positive terminal will make it work.

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But how exactly does it work?

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It’s gotta have some sort of circuitry in
there to make the loudspeaker vibrate and make sound.

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It could be just like a 555 timer chip acting as an oscillator

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and with some capacitors and maybe a transistor and junk

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you could probably just chop the 12V DC up and drive the loudspeaker quasi-directly.

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do that through a thermal switch like a turn signal flasher to make it beep intermittently and there you go!

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Or maybe add another 555 timer chip if you’re being fancy.

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But these days, I mean there could be a whole microcontroller in there.

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Those things are just too cheap.

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Unfortunately these devices have their circuitry potted in a deep sea of resin

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because the intent is for this thing to just get bolted
to the back of a truck and it’s gonna see all manner of weather

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(and who knows might literally end up underwater at some point).

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But!

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Through the magic of buying two of them,

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and some patience with a Dremel tool,

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I was able to de-pot this one behind the scenes.

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And then I cut it open.

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Surprisingly, this thing was filled with sand!

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And least I sure hope that’s sand.

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And unfortunately, its circuit board is trapped in that epoxy resin 
so there’s no way we’re gonna get a good look at it.

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But that’s ok,

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I have a backup alarm!

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Just because it’s November doesn’t mean I’m not prepared.

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And this’s one’s circuit board was just chilling in the sand so we can look at it.

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And, yeah. It’s a mysterious six pin chip that drives this little MOSFET

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and that MOSFET simply shunts the loudspeaker across the DC pins.

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Do that fast enough and you’ll make an audible tone.

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Then do that intermittently and you’ll get a series of beeps.

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So, indeed, it’s not very complicated.

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Now, here’s an idea, one very silly thing you can do
is put one of these on a car that absolutely does not need it.

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[reverse alarm sounding]
Weird small cars like a Nissan Figaro can be made even weirder

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with the simple addition of one of these.

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A Smart car or mini cooper are also excellent choices.

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Your neighbors will love it!

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Oh! That reminds me.

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Did you know this silly little car came with a back-up beeper from the factory?

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It’s a Japanese domestic market car, so it beeps when you put it in reverse!

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But, the beeps are coming from inside the car!

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This has baffled many automotive reviewer journalist personality-tuber guys
who have found this behavior in cars to be completely silly.

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It has leaked through some US-market cars, notably the Prius,

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and some people just can’t contain their befuddlement at the idea
when they first encounter it, but I…

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see I have a different take.

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I’ve been so fortunate to be stuck behind someone in a drive thru
or at a red light several times in my life now

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who previously made an adjustment maneuver for some 
unknown reason which involved shifting the car into reverse.

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And when they had finished with their adjustment maneuver…

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they left their car in reverse!

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So, they’re just sitting there in front of me with their foot on the brake…

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and in reverse.

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So I, for one, would actually appreciate every car
(with an automatic transmission at least) having a beeper for its driver

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to make it bloody obvious the car is gonna go backwards when you let off the brake.

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That’s an abnormal condition for any car to be in and it’s important to know!

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So I think having a beeper for the driver is actually a pretty good idea,

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and while you might find it kind of over the top,

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let me remind you that a full half of all drivers out on the road 
are worse than the average driver.

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And that’s a fact!

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But let’s get back to the reverse alarm.

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But first, let’s get back to reverse lights.

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Because a funny thing happened with reverse lights.

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We stopped using them for the thing they’re there for.

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Or, I guess, we mostly forgot why they’re there and now a side-effect of their existence is the more obvious reason in our collective consciousness

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to the point that now they suck at their actual job.

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Allow me to explain:

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Y’know how your car has those bright white lights on the front of it
so you can see where you’re going at night?

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Wouldn't it be handy if you had some on the back of your car
so you could see where you’re going at night…

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in reverse?

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Because that’s what reverse lights are actually for - they’re an extra set of headlights on the back of your car so you can see behind you at night!

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The fact that they let other people know you’re in reverse is largely incidental.

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Now, obviously, it is useful to know that a car around you is in reverse.

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I literally just gave you an example where
I knew the car in front of me was in reverse,

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and it was a good thing I knew because I could try to avoid an incident by honking at that person in front to try and let them know they were in reverse,

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but see that never works.

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They’re just confused why I’m honking, and I’m not gonna, like, get out of my car and scare them by walking up to their window,

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so without a PA system to yell at them and say “hey man, you’re in reverse!”

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best I can do is hope they realize it quickly when the light turns green and,

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just in case they don't, pucker up and prepare to get front-ended.

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If only there were a solution to reduce the potential for this confusion.

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[car beeping since it’s in reverse]

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Anyway, since they’re effectively useless if you’re stuck behind someone
 who doesn’t know they’re in reverse,

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parking lots are perhaps where reverse lights as an indicator to others are most useful,
both to other drivers and those just walking around.

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If you’re walking you know to stay away from that car,

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and if you’re looking for a spot you’ll know that person’s leaving.

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But not if it’s a GM car,

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because General Motors cars like to turn on their reverse lights 
and leave ‘em on for a while as you leave the car

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and they’ll even come back on when you unlock the car!

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This behavior annoys lots of folks, including me, I must say,

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but perhaps we’ve got this all wrong.

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Consider this: maybe the driver of that car lives out in the country somewhere

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and there’s no lighting at all where they park their car.

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Having the reverse lights stay on for a bit when they get out

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might be really handy for that driver because those reverse lights will illuminate the area around the backside of the car

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and let that person see in the dark a little better
which is literally the reason they were invented!

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And how do I know that?

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I asked a search engine!

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The concept of reversing lights was invented
in 1920 by an ex-Ford engineer named Childe Wills.

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Story goes he had a bad habit of backing into fire hydrants at night.

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He realized this was because he couldn’t see them at night,

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but if there was a source of illumination on the back of the car he could!

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And he made that light come on automatically
when the vehicle was shifted into reverse.

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This proved to be really forward thinking

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reverse lights wouldn’t become common until the 1960’s,

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and they weren’t mandated until 1968.

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But even then, their purpose was to let the driver see better behind them,
not to tell others around the car that it might back up.

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But I also recognize their potential as an indicator to others.

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So why am I saying that’s not what they’re supposed to be used for?

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Just because it was envisioned as illumination
first and not as a warning

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doesn’t mean it isn’t useful as a warning.

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To which I say, fair point!

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That’s even codified in law, at least in the UN.

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But, see, if they truly are supposed to be a warning to others that the car is in reverse,

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they’re a pretty crappy warning!

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They don’t flash to get your attention,
so if you don’t notice them coming on you could very well miss them.

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Lots of cars put them in really weird places that you’re not likely to see.

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And when I say them, I might mean it.

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Just look at the back of the ol’ Scion xB.

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It turns out that cars are only required to have a single reverse lamp,

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and the designers thought they’d stick it off to the side
to cash in on that asymmetry trend the Nissan Cube started or something like that.

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If you’re approaching this car model from the wrong side,

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you cannot see its reverse light and therefore
you’ll have no warning that it’s in reverse.

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The Scion xB is by no means alone here - 
many European car models, where a rear fog light is mandatory,

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place a single fog light on one side and a single reverse light on the other.

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So if the reverse light is principally there  to warn others as people seem to think it is,

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that implementation probably shouldn’t be legal.

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Yet it is.

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So that reinforces the idea that its main purpose is illumination.

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But none of us remember that, so it’s not deemed important anymore,

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and the great tragedy of this collective confusion of what reverse lights are actually for has led to many new cars

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(including mine and my old Chevy Volt!)

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having absolutely pathetic reverse lights that hardly help to see at all,

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but they satisfy the regulatory requirements of 1) being there

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and so everyone thinks it’s just fine.

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But I don’t.

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Remember remember that it is November.

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I’m not normally like this, folks.
[off-screen: yeah, he’s usually worse]

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I heard that!

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Where is my limo?

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That reference was a stretch.

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Eh, more like a super stretch.

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Anyway, getting back to reverse alarms at last,

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reverse lights present a convenient circuit to tap into to make a reverse alarm 
like this alarm when you’re in reverse.

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So, attaching one to a car or truck or van is as easy as bolting it to a bumper,

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splicing a wire into the positive lead of the reverse lights,

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and running it to this point.

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Then you’re done.

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You got an automatic back-up beeper.

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But there are two major problems with thiskind of reverse alarm.

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First, they’re obnoxious and loud enough to cause hearing damage.

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And, fun and definitely not ironic fact, we can thank OSHA for that one!

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The way the regulation is written, reverse alarms must be 5 decibels louder than ambient noise levels.

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Makes sense, you need to be able to hear them.

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But since construction sites tend to be quite
loud what with all that heavy equipment rolling around,

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the easiest way to make sure you can attain that standard at all times in all situations is to make the alarm…

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stupidly loud!

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This one produces 97 decibels of sound pressure at…

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an unknown distance.

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Tried to find out where it’s measured from
but this datasheet didn’t say so I gave up.

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But way back in the start I was saying these are getting better.

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With those stupidly cheap microcontrollers,

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someone could conceivably design one of these which takes an ambient noise reading from an onboard microphone

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and uses that to determine how loud it needs to beep in order to meet the OSHA standard of 5 dB above ambient.

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And wouldn’t ya know it, the folks at Ecco

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(the manufacturer of this more legit one that I only bought one of and am not willing to tear into)

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have done just that.

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Great work folks, you’re making the world a slightly better place.

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But speaking of echoes, that’s the other big problem.

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The flat tone that these things produce, while definitely loud enough to hear,
is difficult for our brains to locate in three-dimensional space.

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If you’re near a backing up vehicle with one of these beepers you’ll definitely know something is backing up by the impossible to ignore beeping,

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but the way that sound reflects off the surfaces around you,
combined with its literally monotonous nature,

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confounds our sound localization abilities.

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But those clever scientists realized that white noise (or any sound similar to it)
is a lot easier for our brains to locate in physical space

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due to all those harmonics and wavelengths and junk,

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so what if we made beepers that did this?

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[pulses of imitating crowd noise]

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Oh look, the magic of buying two of them struck again!

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Let’s see what this one sounds like.

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00:17:00,090 --> 00:17:03,110
[a pulsing white noise quite similar to what Alec just did]

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Anyway, these new versions are starting to spread.

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They’re by no means brand spanking new,

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there’s a nearly 10 year old Tom Scott video about this very thing.

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That video’s also much shorter than this one.

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Do I have a problem being ?

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Let’s put a pin in that.

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White noise reverse alarms may have been mandatory in the UK for a decade but they haven’t made it over here (at least my neck of the woods) until quite recently.

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And so far I think I’ve only ever heard only two -
both on Amazon delivery vans and both within the last year.

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Not one of those cool new electric delivery vans, though,

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just like a Ram Promaster or something.

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But speaking of cool new electric things,
watch what my car does!

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[slow beeping with a melodic white noise]

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It’s got a reverse alarm!
But it’s a lot more subtle.

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NHTSA may not be the reason these loud honkers end up on commercial vehicles,

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and they may also be really incredibly terribly behind on lighting regulations,

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but they did manage to come together and create a rule that says hybrid and electric cars need to make some kind of noise

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to let people know they might move.

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Hyundai has gone with what I call “digital angels” for the forward motion,

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and when in reverse it makes the same sound but they
also layered in a good old fashioned back up beeper -

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tweaked to be a little more calming, though.

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[a calming, slow and repetitive tone]

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And ya know what? I love this idea.

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The regulation was conceived because these newfangled cars
can move without making any engine noise,

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and that is a potential problem.
[engine starts]

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Previously, some sort of mechanical clacking and combustion poofing
would provide an audible cue that a vehicle may be in motion near you,

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and particularly for the blind this was a way to stay safe
out in the very dangerous landscapes where cars and people mix.

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Hybrid and electric cars removed this audible cue,
so that means of detection was lost.

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Adding it back in some way is very helpful and potentially life-saving.

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And not just for the blind!

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Pretty much all accessibility features end up benefiting everyone.

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Just the other day I was in a parking lot and heard this very sound.

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[the Hyundai reverse beeper]
At first I got excited thinking I’d spot a car buddy but

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it was just like a Santa Fe hybrid.

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But, I immediately located the source of that sound
(thanks to the background digital angels no doubt)

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and became aware that a car near me was about to reverse.

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That awareness was near-instant and helpful,

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and I think Hyundai did a really good job by emulating a reverse alarm to give a recognizable and specific warning of backing up.

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But Hyundai is Hyundai and others are others.

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Automakers are having a field day with this new regulation,

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and they like to design their own soundscape
as another tool to bolster their brand identities.

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Unfortunately, that means there’s no consistency here at all.

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To be honest, I’m mostly OK with that.

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I like variety as much as the next guy.

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For another example of an automaker’s soundscape,
here’s what a Toyota Sienna hybrid sounds like in drive.

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[a sort of whooshing, hissing sound]

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[engine starts]

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Not a bad sound.

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Let’s try reverse.

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It’s a similar sound, but coming from a sounding module in the rear of the car.

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To be clear, that’s pretty good!

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If you’re standing near the rear of this car, that noise will definitely get your attention.

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But whether it communicates that the car might
be coming toward you since it’s in reverse…

301
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ehh that’s definitely less clear.

302
00:20:57,050 --> 00:21:02,979
This particular new feature in the automotive landscape
is something that needs careful consideration.

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00:21:02,979 --> 00:21:06,887
To many, it’s divisive - cars are loud things.

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00:21:06,887 --> 00:21:10,849
Cities would be a lot quieter without them
(or at least fewer of them)

305
00:21:10,849 --> 00:21:15,264
and adding a noisemaker to the car might make that worse.

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But, the standards for this new requirement
do specify a loudness and it’s pretty quiet.

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Above about 15 miles an hour,
tire noise is considerably louder than these alerting devices.

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And in my honest opinion, I don’t think any of the pedestrian sounds I’ve heard from any new car are loud enough to be bothersome,

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even if someone’s coming home late at night when others are sleeping.

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Some are definitely a little more intrusive than others.

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Take a wild guess at which one I find the most obnoxious.

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You’re right, it’s that one.

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But so long as we’re careful and considerate
about the ways we implement this idea,

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I think it’s all good.

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If I’m alright with the variety in this new soundscape for a car’s forward motion,

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I suppose I needn’t care that much about
the sound it makes in reverse.

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But I do think there might be value in standardizing that.

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Weirdly, if I were put in charge of that task,

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I would pretty much pick exactly what Hyundai did.

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Some white noise for making the sound easy to locate,

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and a beeping sound which we’re all primed at this point to interpret as
“attention please, this car is backing up.”

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But, lest you think I’m being overly flattering to Hyundai with that assessment,

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the reverse lights on this car are just pathetic!

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00:22:34,681 --> 00:22:39,460
They don’t illuminate the rear at all, the brake lights are orders of magnitude brighter.

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Heck, the tail lights are about as bright.

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It’s ridiculous.

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You may have fixed the brake light logic Hyundai,

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and good job there!

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00:22:48,804 --> 00:22:54,953
But next time you design a car, 
remember the other thing reverse lights are supposed to do, please.

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It’ll make the back-up camera work a lot better at night, if nothing else.

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OK, is that the end?

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00:23:01,252 --> 00:23:02,840
I think that’s the end!

333
00:23:02,840 --> 00:23:05,650
Thanks for watching this astonishing mess of a video.

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00:23:05,650 --> 00:23:08,420
I hope it was as enjoyable as it was chaotic.

335
00:23:08,420 --> 00:23:10,776
Remember folks, drive safely.

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00:23:10,776 --> 00:23:12,829
That means paying attention.

337
00:23:12,829 --> 00:23:14,439
And using your turn signals.

338
00:23:14,439 --> 00:23:19,825
That one’s important! I will judge you very harshly
if you can’t be bothered to flick the thingy.

339
00:23:19,825 --> 00:23:21,435
As should we all.

340
00:23:21,435 --> 00:23:25,134
The left lane is for passing, don't be hanging
out there now.

341
00:23:25,134 --> 00:23:26,516
And get off your phone!

342
00:23:26,516 --> 00:23:31,700
For the love of god you’re operating a two-ton death machine, 
act like it’s the responsibility it is!

343
00:23:31,700 --> 00:23:32,334
And another thing -

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♫ obnoxiously smooth jazz ♫

345
00:23:35,880 --> 00:23:39,472
For another example of an automaker’s soundscape,
here’s what a tayot…

346
00:23:39,472 --> 00:23:41,970
pfff ugh!

347
00:23:41,970 --> 00:23:42,566
This here-

348
00:23:42,566 --> 00:23:43,423
This thing-

349
00:23:43,423 --> 00:23:44,454
This here-

350
00:23:44,454 --> 00:23:45,624
This thing is an-

351
00:23:45,624 --> 00:23:47,973
This is an automotive test light.

352
00:23:47,973 --> 00:23:51,442
If I hook each end up to a power supply,

353
00:23:53,479 --> 00:23:54,739
this…

354
00:23:57,540 --> 00:23:58,290
hmm.

355
00:23:58,290 --> 00:24:02,596
…power supply, you’ll see that the lamp lights up.

356
00:24:03,844 --> 00:24:05,395
[deflates]

357
00:24:05,395 --> 00:24:09,021
Best thing I can hope is realize AHHHHH

358
00:24:09,021 --> 00:24:12,795
Mmmm more like a super stretch, anyway getting back to reverse li -

359
00:24:12,795 --> 00:24:14,155
I did it again!

360
00:24:14,155 --> 00:24:17,642
Because the intent is for this thing to just get bolted onto the back of a truck,

361
00:24:17,642 --> 00:24:19,065
and it’s gonna see all the sor…

362
00:24:19,065 --> 00:24:19,666
*sigh*

363
00:24:23,817 --> 00:24:26,555
Put effort into the end-screen captions?

364
00:24:26,555 --> 00:24:29,139
Pfft, not this time, bucko.

365
00:24:29,139 --> 00:24:36,960
It's November.