It used to be a joke when there was some software design flaws caught at the test phase. It is amazing to see that the joke presents a truth by reading this new from MSNBC http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21112810/
If you put the hybrid car as an architect, one of the most important questions you should have asked yourself as an architect is 'how it will interact with the environment it resides?'
You thought the noise of the gasoline car is something unwanted? Think again. It is really depends on which stakeholder you are talking about. Blind people are in deed participating in the traffic - the architectural environment your system interacts with. To them, the noise indeed is a feature!
Now ask yourself, do you think vibration is a feature of the car or rather a technical constraint?