Just curious if anyone is getting pulled over for a $1,000 fine and visit to the State Referee for the new CA exhaust noise laws. I was just driving my Panteras around and was thinking about it now that the local gumshoes will be more alert to exhaust noise more so now than before. Our cars are normally pretty loud even in stock form.
https://leginfo.legislature.ca...l_id=201720180AB1824
Replies sorted oldest to newest
Face it, the old car hobby dosen't stand a chance of surviving in California. Nor do many other things for that matter. SAD!
This was a very wide reaching bill that covered many different areas. The area pertaining to vehicle equipment violations is also very general and it makes no specific mention of exhaust noise. This bill appears to change the enforcement approach to such violations but nothing in it indicates, at least to me, any increased attention towards exhaust noise.
Larry
The piece of it that I see related to noise is that it says that the muffler must prevent any “excessive or unusual noise”. Our cars are pretty excessive when I hear them in comparison to other cars around (yeah, we all boast of it too, such as waking our neighbors, setting off car alarms, etc.). So it seems we are pretty excessive in the noise department, well maybe not if we keep RPMs under 2,000. Tesla Pantera next?
Wonder if they'll ever crack down on motorcycle exhaust noise. Here in NC it seems that the noise from straight pipes (illegal modification) is ignored.
Here we have always had noise restrictions but the way it is enforced to be anything but a nuisance to a court would require the accuser to produce scientific data showing that the noise producer exceed the legal level.
The noise measuring equipment is in very limited supply. Usually one device for each law enforcement jurisdiction is what is observed. That doesn't even consider that it is 10 years old, has never been calibrated and no one knows exactly where it is at any given moment.
Since noise enforcement is also involved in house parties with live bands, illegal use of fire works, landscape equipment like hurricane leaf blowers and commercial lawn mowers, there is a lack of will by the law enforcement authorities to enforce.
We also have low flying commercial jet aircraft illegally below the minimum altitudes as well as trains in the distance.
The motorcycles late at night running flat out up to 14 or 15,000 rpm in top gear with open exhausts are also in the mix.
Enforcement locally would just be involved with what the pet peeve of the day would be and you'd just have to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and just be poking the lion with a stick at the zoo? The odds of that are very low but hey, someone always wins the Power Ball regardless of the odds?
I've seen Police show up at local "bike club" meets and tell the owners "its sounds a little loud" with just warnings, etc, but they seem to be more concerned in looking for "outstanding warrants". So here at least, nothing is likely to change anytime soon. Don't go driving around with a "motorcycle club", don't go racing them flat out late at night, don't go reving the engine to 7,000 rpm in a "Hospital zone" and you are most likely going to be ok?
I read on another forum this is a big concern, validated by the cop in the video saying they had a grant and are hitting it hard, so not a rational means to stop the odd offender, but an all effort to control and rake in dollars. It seems just and arbitrary rule, with no basis of test for dB at a certain distance etc. I guess my annual pilgrimage to Monterey may be coming to an end....
Yes, it seems it’s based on the officers opinion of excessive or unusual noise level. Just like when an officer gives you a ticket for running a light or doing a rolling right turn stop, etc. It’s their opinion you did so, they don’t need to show proof.
Here is what SEMA had to say about it:
California Exhaust Noise Bill Goes into Effect |
California Assembly Bill (A.B.) 1824, which was signed into law by then-Governor Jerry Brown in June of 2018 went into effect on January 1, 2019. The bill has generated significant concern amongst the online enthusiast community. Despite what is being circulated, enactment of A.B. 1824 does not change existing laws pertaining to exhaust noise or sale and installation of aftermarket exhaust systems.
John |
Yeah now it’s cha-ching cha-ching!! I expect to get pulled over through Newport/Laguna/Huntington, not sure about anyone else. Maybe Home Depot has decibel meters to see what happens under load. I can hear most Panteras about half mile away.
Is this a valid summary?
1) Law allows a citation based upon the LE opinion
2) Have to pay $1000 fine.
3) the cited car CAN be taken to an approved independant shop that can measure the noise levels and provide a certificate. No mention for this fee
4) you have to got court, pay court cost and no mention if you get your $1000 back
5) the sponsor of the law owns this testing shops
does200 posted:Yeah now it’s cha-ching cha-ching!! I expect to get pulled over through Newport/Laguna/Huntington, not sure about anyone else. Maybe Home Depot has decibel meters to see what happens under load. I can hear most Panteras about half mile away.
Laguna get's pretty serious with enforcement, especially in the summer time. I have seen them drive along side bikes stuck in traffic, stick the dB meter out the window of the cruiser and check the levels right there, without executing a stop. Also there are local ordinances for hefty fines.
As far as I know, in most european countries a car is legal if it has the exhaust system with which it received its original type approval. If the rules become more stringent over the years they do not apply to older cars. Grandfather rights come into effect. If you modify your exhaust you are fair game. I find this a fair rule.
My newly revitalized Pantera is very loud, but nothing illegal in the State of California was added to it. So, if the state is allowing the sale of the exhausts, the headers, the engine, etc. and reaping sales tax rewards from those sales, then they had better start banning lots of products. Jaguar F-types, Lambos of all persuasions, and many other "factory" built cars will exceed those decibel limits on a regular basis. Thank goodness, Moonbeam Jerry Brown is termed out. He won't be able to do any more harm.
The Captain of the Love Boat (Gavin Newsome) isn’t going to be any better than Jerry Brown, but maybe he will have a different set of priorities.
Arizona looks better and better...
Newsome will be worse, but he'll get caught in another scandal as he did in his previous elections and it will render him useless (his natural state).
I have acquaintances who are members of LAPD, LA Sheriffs, Ventura Sheriffs, and Ventura PD. They have other things to do rather than enforce the vehicle code. That's normally the bailiwick of the CHP.
You guys complaining of enforcement in the Newport/Laguna/Huntington area, I'm curious is that CHP, Orange County Sheriffs, or local police?
Yeah you’re right about Lambos & others with louder than “the norm” aka “unusual” exhaust noise. When taking my LP640 through Newport I usually get an escort tagging along a quarter mile back. I try and shift at 1,200 RPM which seems to help a little. Sixth gear at 40 MPH is a little challenging and not that much fun. Panteras are no doubt louder than my Lambo. I think I’ll just go back to hiding in my garage with car polish. It’s just not that pleasurable driving anymore.
