Q. My new Toyota C-HR bings and bongs at the slightest thing, as required by EU safety regulations. Why can’t this instrusive software be turned off at source for the UK market? After all, Britain has left the EU. ND, Clacton

A. The EU regulations in question are the General Safety Regulation 2 rules for motor manufacturers. The GSR2 requires cars sold in the EU to be equipped with a package of safety systems including advanced emergency braking (AEB), emergency lane-keeping system (ELKS) and intelligent speed assistance (ISA). Most of these systems use a combination of audio and visual warnings as well as, potentially, some automated intervention, including pre-emptive braking.

GSR2 is intended to make new vehicles safer, with the focus largely on the protection of other road users, including cyclists and pedestrians. Before new cars can be approved for sale in the EU and the UK they must meet the safety and quality standards for the market in which they are to be sold — a series of checks and tests known as type approval. In the UK the Vehicle Certification Agency operates the scheme, which is known as “GB type approval”. Before Brexit, we followed EU type approval, and while both schemes are still largely aligned, not every EU regulation is adopted into GB type approval. I hope that makes sense. The UK hasn’t yet adopted GSR2 but it is being considered, and transport safety campaigners are lobbying for it.

Manufacturers that sell into many different territories tend to produce cars equipped for the most stringent regulatory market, and that means they may be overspecified in some other markets, that is to say, equipped with systems that are not mandatory.

All that said, on most GSR2-compliant cars the audible warnings can be switched off by going into the vehicle settings menu on the display. You usually have to do this each time you switch off the engine and switch it back on again. The process is simpler in some cars than others, but manufacturers have got the message that not all drivers like bongs and beeps and some are building in short cuts to make it simpler.
Greg Carter, technical specialist, the AA

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