Pedestrian Alert System tied to High Beam Flasher

[drdoom1951]

I took possession of my Spark EV on a 3 year lease and found something interesting. I picked up a friend in the evening, around 9PM, and we drove down his street. I flashed my high beams to get a better look at a street sign and I was met with flashing headlights AND a trill of my car's horn. I suspected that something was wrong with the wiring in the left-hand High Beam stalk. When i pulled it towards me to flash my high beams, the horn would come. Well, I didn't know what was going on.
This happened also as I was going 65mph and flashed the guy in front of me in the middle lane on my commute to work to "move over". Sure enough, the high beams flashed, but the horn also sounded. I took the car into the dealership for what I thought was a problem. They kep it over the Labor Day weekend and then came back to tell me it was functioning as designed. Well, I poured through the owners Manual and did find, in Section 5.3, what they call the Pedestrian Friendly Alert. It's activated automatically when the car is stopped, as in a parking lot, and you engage the transmission either in FWD or REV to drive off, OR, manually activated by the driver by operating the High Beam Flasher stalk.
Except the Owner's Manual states that this manual operation can be activate "while driving at low speeds, such as in a parking lot". I complained to my Chevy Service Advisor that the last think I need to worry about while driving 65mph on the highway and flashing my high beams so that a slower-moving car gets out of my way is "pedestrians".
He tested ALL of the other Spark EVs in his inventory (about 5 cars) and they ALL performed exactly as mine.
Has anybody out there had similar experiences, and if so, have you had it somehow altered to work as intended, or are you just living with the problem?

 

[GeorgeChevy]

I'm not sure why you're posting the same question again on a different forum section when it's been answered already, but yes that is working as designed. If you just want the high beam, push the stalk away from you instead of pulling it towards you.

 

[drdoom1951]

You obviously didn't read my posting well enough. I know perfectly well if you want to turn on your high beams so that they STAY ON, you push the stalk away from you! My issue is why GM has designed the High Beam flasher function, which is momentarily PULLING the stalk towards you, to also activate the horn when your going 65mph. Since when do I have to worry about alerting pedestrians when driving on a highway! That is my question!

 

[xylhim]

I don't think the horn that chirps when you pull the headlight stalk is the pedestrian alert sound. The pedestrian alert sound is a low frequency hum that is barely even noticeable and you cannot even control it.

I'm not sure what the intended purpose of this chirp is, maybe they designed it to accompany high beams to signal people to get out of the way and that there's a screaming electric vehicle on your tail!

 

[SteveC5088]

I don't think the horn that chirps when you pull the headlight stalk is the pedestrian alert sound. The pedestrian alert sound is a low frequency hum that is barely even noticeable and you cannot even control it.

I'm not sure what the intended purpose of this chirp is, maybe they designed it to accompany high beams to signal people to get out of the way and that there's a screaming electric vehicle on your tail!

From the 2014 Spark EV Owner Manual, p 5-3:

Pedestrian Friendly Alert
Your vehicle is equipped with an automatic sound generation and a manual alert. The automatic sound is generated to indicate the vehicle presence to pedestrians. The sound changes if the vehicle is speeding up or slowing down. It is activated when the vehicle is shifted into a forward gear or R (Reverse), and up to 30 km/h (19 mph). An alert can also be sounded manually while driving at low speeds, such as in parking lots. Use this feature to alert people who may not hear your vehicle approaching. To manually sound the Pedestrian Friendly Alert:

1. Pull the turn signal lever all the way toward you momentarily. See Exterior Lamp Controls on page 6-1 and Headlamp High/ Low-Beam Changer on page 6-1. The high-beam headlamps and indicator light will turn on, and a soft-note alert will momentarily sound. When the turn signal lever is released, the high-beam headlamps and indicator light will turn off.

2. Repeat for additional activations of the pedestrian friendly alert.

 

[nj1266]

I think this is one of the dumbest features on the car. I hate it. I like flashing my lights to warn other cars when they are about to make a left turn and I am driving through an intersection. I like flashing lights if I want a slow car to move from the fast lane on the freeway. BUT, I do NOT want the horn to chirp. This is such a silly feature and cannot be deactivated.