Ticket for Loud Exhaust $250

[tomo1985]

I had a little run in with the police today on my way to Dunedin to see a mate. My car AE111 b/t 4age has a barrel muffler but other then that standard exhaust. This cop said it was too loud. I have never had trouble with warrents so how am i suppost to know if it was too loud until i was giving a ticket? I have never been given a warning.


But i guess cops just see a low car with big wheels. F@#king country hick cops.

So now that im $250.00 soon to be out of pocket is there any way i can protest how stupid this law is.

If I were to get a TRD bolt on exhaust does this count as a factory system or could i just get a TRD muffler? Will these since they are manufactured by toyota be exceptable.

[Adydas]

i think this has been coverd 400 times before but in short your out of luck, its really up to the disgretion ( tp ) of the office at the time. As i still belive there are no offical numbers to judge / guage any such mesurements.

Its abit like back in the day for speeding before the lazers etc, a cop could follow you for few meters and say " he was speeding "... and a cops word was and still is considerd gospel.

[tomo1985]

What i really wanna know is if the exhaust is a factory item obviously that could not be issued a ticket. If it were a TRD item would this be the same as factory?

[ollieboy]

If you genuinely believe and have Warrant sheets etc to back up your claim that your exhaust is not too loud you can object. You have to write a letter with the attached warrant sheets to the guy in wellington whos address is on the ticket, I forget his proper title.

It might not work but its worth a shot, it got me out of trouble when I used to own a Cordia, had a loud exhaust that was on there when I bought it and I passed a Wof with it then got ticketed but managed to have it revoked after a long process.

There are factors that will go against you tho. Young, Male, Own Car of 'boyracer type'.

But good luck with it.

[DB4G63]

Apparently some new "Boyracer Law" came in not so long ago ( uh maybe 1st of February, it was in the paper) that actually allow police officers to issue tickets to SO called loud exhasts... using there judgement.

So no equipment, WOF check nothing.
Part of the battle to stop boyracers/public nuisance etc.

I dont think its got to do with how factory or standard your exhast is....just how loud to a coppers ear. There are some seriously loud piece of c**p cars doing laps in Dunners, so i do see what they are getting at.

hey did you also get the 10 demerits?

Personally my car is staying with the stock exhast, I heard it fairly high flow neway, Dunedin is thick with cops, so the not worth the risk.

[Jazza]

The noise level rating isnt their judgement as such. Its any car that is "louder than manufacturers intended"

[86_rolla]

yeh, i just failed my warrant on exhaust (civic). the inspector said it was too loud and when i asked him too loud compared to what? he just said it was too loud. He handed me a pamphlet that said blah blah exhaust failed because it is louder than factory please make it as quiet as factory intended. haha and down the bottom it says note: it is illegal to drive without a warrant

[Ae92typeX]

What i really wanna know is if the exhaust is a factory item obviously that could not be issued a ticket. If it were a TRD item would this be the same as factory?

If it were loud, it would probably still get a ticket

[TRD Man]

No, the TRD muffler is not considered factory standard equipment for this purpose.

How long have you had the car? Did you buy it from a dealer? How long ago was the latest WOF issued?

We've had a number of guys who'd been ticketed for noisy exhausts in cars that we'd sold and which were unchanged since purchase.
We were able to get the testing station that does our compliance work to verify the acceptability of the noise level and we've spoken to the ticketing officers ourselves and had the tickets rescinded.

If I were you I'd be going back to the WOF issuer for a retest and then approaching the police with their findings, if they're in your favour.
If you're polite & sensible about it you may get off.

[evil_si]

no offence, but 20v's with a stainless muffler are all loud.
especially those with 2.5" overkill exhausts,
do you have a baffle plate in your muffler?

i personally hate the noise or rasp of 20v's and vtec's, but hey some hate the pulse of a rotary so eash to their own.

it is up to the cops disgretion which is wrong, there should be a db rating and means of testing it.

as for getting off the fine, good luck, and as suggested by trdman go to the garage you got a wof from, be polite and just talk to them, if they agree with you either get a new wof or a letter from them and go back to the cops, cops dont like being shown up or being wrong so be very tactful

[FXGTV]

The way i see it, if your blatting down a residential street in 2nd gear at night past, say 9pm then your asking for trouble. But if its during the day, with trucks etc all around you which are ten times louder then a cop giving you a ticket/demerit points is doing nothing but creating a barrier between cops and so called boy racers/car enthuisiasts. Leaving it up to discretion of cops is like giving them power of judge jury and excecutioner so to speak. But in saying that, it is the law that is flawed, and cops should not get all the blame...

[DB4G63]

I knew I wasnt dreaming...

heres an article:

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO0601/S00032.htm


It appears this noice off lobby group is the people behind the change.

[Punter]

This was the case in New Zealand from 1976 to 2005 when any modification that increased the noise level was illegal.

But since 2005 the Government has considered the "rights" of the car enthusiasts and boy racers to fit trombones to the back of their vehicles, as paramount to the rights of the rest of the community.

Huh??

[bluemaumau]

i once got a bullshit fine which i took too the top cop in wellington.

he told me the officer told him she saw with her own eyes that she saw me doin something when i never even did it!

he told me too basically stop wasting his time as cops are always right

baskically ur F.U.C.K.D

[jasestu]

Hmmm...

"Published comments are a representative selection of the feedback we are sent, not all feedback is published."
- http://www.noiseoff.co.nz/news/comments.htm

Representitive? There's not a single comment mentioning the other side of the arguement.

To me the key issue is the definition of 'noisy'.

[gurutasker]

a.. No louder than 90 decibels (stationary tail pipe test measured at 4000 rpm); the level that has applied in Australia since 1983.

Holden and Ford V8's fit within that criteria? I thought they were quite a way over 90db..

[HaWk]

What about road hog type harleys and those kinda bikes? surely some of them would be well over 90db??

[bluemaumau]

bikes kane down my road ( a 400m country straight, doin 200+) and trust me there wouldnt be a street legal car any louder! how the $&#$% do they get warrents

not impressed with this

[86_rolla]

they way they get around it is "louder than the manufacturer intended" thast the wording on the leflet i got given. So it might aswell read "everyone that has an a/m exhaust...... your screwed"

[Ae92typeX]

Ive had plenty of exhausts over the years (and recent years) and never had a problem with wof's or police. I like a aftermarket exhaust as much as the next person, but in all honesty the real loud ones are annoying. Its not like you are getting any more power just because the car is louder...something so people appear to believe that Ive come accross over the years. I'd cry them a river, but that would suggest I care.
At the end of the day, you can get a quiet high flow system, even one with a moderate tone/volume increase wont get you in trouble. All a LOUD exhaust is for is attracting attention imo.