New Yorkers with aftermarket exhaust systems may want to be extra careful because a law, signed by Governor Kathy Hochul to increase fines on sound violations, now has a new enforcement tool designed to spot noisemakers.
Approved in autumn of 2021, the SLEEP (Stop Loud and Excessive Exhaust Pollution) Act raised the fine on vehicles producing excess sound in NY from $150 to a whopping $1,000. But drivers are now learning that getting busted won’t necessarily require whizzing past a squad car while their Borla snap-crackle-and-pops surrounding eardrums. NYC residents have begun receiving notices in the mail after being caught by the auditory equivalent of speed cameras.
A notice from the city’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) was shared on the Lowered Congress car-culture Facebook group on February 13th before being picked up by Road & Track. In the notice, the DEP explains to the owner of a BMW M3 that their exhaust was found to be too loud and that the car would need to be brought in for analysis in order to avoid additional fines.
“I am writing to you because your vehicle has been identified as having a muffler that is not in compliance with Section 386 of the Vehicle and Traffic Law, which prohibits excessive noise from motor vehicles. Your vehicle was recorded by a camera that takes a pictures [sic] of the vehicle and the license plate. In addition, a sound meter records the decibel level as the vehicle approaches and passes the camera,” read the order.
The order goes on to tell the owner to bring their car to a location specified by the DEP — a sewage treatment plant, to be precise—for inspection. Show up, and you’ll have the opportunity to get the car fixed to avoid a fine — much like California’s “fix-it” ticket system. The document also informs the owner that if they fail to show up, they could face a maximum fine of $875, plus additional fines for continuing to ignore the summons.
A New York City DEP spokesman confirmed to Road & Track via email the system is part of a small pilot program that’s been running since September 2021. From the description [in the letter], it sounds like it works much like a speed camera that automatically records a violation and sends it to you in the mail by reading your license plate. Instead of a speed gun, this new system uses a strategically placed sound meter to record decibel levels on the road, matching it to a license plate using a camera.
Governor Hochul previously said that making New York’s automotive noise fines the highest in the nation was designed to discourage drag racing after The New York Times speculated that street meets had increased during the pandemic. While your author cannot verify an uptick in frequency, I can attest that late-night meetups persisted through lockdowns in parts of Queens and Brooklyn. There was also renewed interest in breaking the record for completing a full lap of Manhattan after everyone realized there were far fewer people on the street. But nobody ever managed to beat Afroduck — or failed to share a successful run after realizing they’d probably be arrested.
Assertions were made that upping the penalties for noise violations would mean less rambunctious behavior in parking lots and on public roads, resulting in better sleep for those tucked into bed. Though anybody who has lived in the city probably knows that there’s a 100-percent chance that they’ll be subjected to a garbage truck, fire engine, and at least one couple arguing directly outside their window before the night is over.
Whoever moderates Lowered Congress clearly isn’t a fan of the new measures.
“A meter that checks the sound of your car when you pass by, takes a picture of your car and plate and sends the ticket to you, NYC is on a different level of crazy right now,” read the caption for the shared image of the DEP notice.
I have some concerns as well.
An amendment to the SLEEP Act cut any official definition of what constitutes excessive noise in New York State, meaning there’s no formal limit on decibels. Authorities just need to deem it “excessive or unusual,” which causes problems when it’s an automated system that’s issuing those judgments. So you basically have to guess whether or not your vehicle is trigging the camera when it cruises by and cannot get any feedback from the government until it’s too late.
The Department of Environmental Protection said the program will be reevaluated on June 30th. If the government decides it was worthwhile, the plan is to expand its use in New York City before establishing a statewide network of microphone-equipped cameras.
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Oh boy the Harley, Import Fart Can and BroDozer Crowd are going to yell Freedom about this! As a libertarian, CaddyDaddy abhors .gov intervention. However, your freedom ends at my doorstep or window during my nighttime sleep. A chemical factory can’t pollute a river or stream with its waste to poison the water for downstream users. Noise pollution falls into the same logic.
It’s easy, immature and inconsiderate to make unnecessary noise, quiet is bliss.
I’m with you CaddyDaddy. One flaw I see is having owners bring cars for evaluation. Hire a few more meter maids to visit residences with db meter. Band clamps make for easy swaps.
I like a car to sound good. Others just like it loud. I’m sick of loud.
Driving is a privilege. Follow the rules, or move to Wyoming.
there have been decibel limits on road vehicles for decades. hopefully this will make the hardly bros put their stock pipes back on.
having sound cameras in places where street racing takes place seems like it would work out fine
Given the difficulty of accurately measuring sound levels in an environment like this, it begs for litigation. Let the class action begin! At a thousand bucks per, it won’t take that many in the class to make it financially worthwhile.
As long as the same rule applies to motorcycles, I’m all for it. And if it doesn’t, then I’m still all for it, but it should be expanded to cover motorcycles, too.
If it upsets the coffee-can-muffler crowd, so much the better.
This isn’t on topic, but does relate to your comment about the law needing to apply to motorcycles too.
Where I live we have mandatory vehicle inspections that are required every couple of years. I support that. In fact, up until a couple of years ago it was an annual inspection and I didn’t support extending the frequency. Also, any trailer needs to be inspected. Motorcycles, not so much.
This creates the strange situation where my 6′ utility trailer with a GVW of less than 1500 lbs needs to be inspected, yet if I had a 1500cc Harley it is exempt. The Harley could be 30 years old and disaster waiting to happen, but no one would know. On the other hand, my aluminum frame, plywood box trailer that is so light that it doesn’t even have brakes was checked annually to make sure it was road-worthy.
Good to see Queen Kathy has her priorities straight.
The penalty is mild compared to what most New Yorkers want to do to these a**holes. I live a half-mile from the Belt Parkway and I hear them going by all night.
Brava, Gov. Hochul! This can’t come soon enough.
…. Do CaddayDaddy and Margaret’s Dad agree on an issue? Well as the saying goes, “A broken clock….”
I think what you said about your freedom ending at my doorstep matches my philosophy perfectly. Honestly, you can call yourself a libertarian but you don’t sound like much of one to me. You sound much more sensible.
…. Do CaddayDaddy and Margaret’s Dad agree on an issue? Well as the saying goes, “A broken clock….”
Are you sure you’re not Karen’s dad?
I’ve always liked and wanted to have a louder car, but everyone that isn’t me hates them (see comments above) and I’m still part of society so I just keep things factory.
We likely live far apart but thanks ajla.
To be fair, I’m not wholly convinced most of the people that comment on this website actually like cars or driving.
But you’re correct in your assumption that people will hate you for driving something that makes any sound. My advice is to publicly acknowledge how joyless and bitter they are while doing exactly what you want with your vehicle. If the problem persists, you can always change it back.
Some of us like to sleep at night. Noise pollution is a very real health issue, which makes it a matter of public concern. Matt, I know it’s asking a lot for you to act with the smallest amount of consideration toward your fellow citizens. Since you can’t, thank you for leaving New York. We’re better off without you.
Please explain what having a 150-db fart-can muffler that pukes out gunshot noises has to do with the enjoyment of driving.
So we need to turn all the lights off in the city. Lights are bad for the birds.
I also like to use my telescope, and it’s quite difficult with all the light pollution.
The best advice if you want to continue “liking cars and driving” is not to unnecessarily p!ss off the bulk of the population.
Among normies where I live, the most common reaction to a car or bike that’s louder than about “loud stock” level (say, a stock C63 AMG) is “That can’t be legal, right? Why is that legal?” People are inherently very sensitive to noise—we evolved with noise as our most important way of sensing danger in the environment—and in general they really hate loud noises that are not specifically meaningful to them.
“louder than about “loud stock” level (say, a stock C63 AMG)”
One reason why I think this sort of law should be decibel-based instead of just having a “nonfactory” provision is because there are aftermarket systems that don’t get louder than a factory M156 C63 (Corsa and some Borlas come to mind and I’m sure there are some others).
I agree, ajla. My complaint is not about someone with a Borla or Corsa street system. It’s about straight pipes or sh!tty homebrew exhausts that make ear-splitting noise.
That’s where I’m all for what Ford and a few others have with their exhaust systems with the “quiet” settings or removable baffles. There’s a big difference driving your Mustang in the middle of the day through a canyon road compared to starting that drive at 5AM on a Saturday morning when everyone’s asleep. It’s personal responsibility to be a good neighbor.
Which reminds me, I guess I need to remind one of my neighbors that an exhaust leak is NOT a performance exhaust add on. That SUV could wake the dead…
“I’m still part of society so I just keep things factory”
I’m always taken aback by those in our society that feel they can do whatever they want in the name of freedom. We are social creatures and as such, we have a moral responsibility to take into consideration the rights of others.
One’s freedom to swing their fists ends at the tip of my nose. One’s right to a loud car ends at my eardrums.
@Lou–Agree but many in our society feel their rights are the only ones that matter and if it infringes on others too bad. The coal rollers who blow sooty smoke on others especially those driving Prius or any smaller cars. These coal rollers who are young and are not real truckers give a black eye to those who own and drive diesel trucks for their jobs and who would never roll coal. What happens is people then demand that the officials regulate or eliminate diesel trucks because of bad behavior from a few. This is true with those who modify their vehicles to make them loud when they don’t add to the performance of the vehicle. I go onto other websites like Recollection Road and other sites where they show pictures or videos of life in the 40s, 50s,60s, and even the early 70s and in the comment section the usual comment is how much nicer people dressed and how much more respect people had for each other and some comment on how they wish they could go back in time. I am not saying I want to go back in time but those remarks are telling. We as a society are becoming less respectful and more selfish.
“where they show pictures or videos of life in the 40s, 50s,60s, and even the early 70s”
Loudly modified vehicles and street racing has existed since the 1920s. Hot rod culture of the 40s and 50s is still a fairly well known trope today. The NHRA was created in part due to the amount of illegal racing taking place in the 50s and a no-exhaust flathead or SBC isn’t exactly quiet.
@ajla – I agree that “street racing” culture isn’t a new thing. I find at least anecdotally, the loudest bikes/trucks/cars tend to be driven in such a way that screams douche bag.
@ajla–You completely missed my point. I said nothing about street racing and I never said that loud vehicles didn’t exist in the past. My point was people in the past were more respectful of others as a whole. By that I didn’t mean everyone in the past was respectful and there weren’t any jackasses but that it wasn’t as acceptable in the past. Since you mentioned the NHRA that was a way of dealing with the illegal racing and gave those who were interested in hopping their vehicles up and modifying their vehicles an outlet. Lou is correct that many of the loudest vehicles on the road tend to be driven by douchebags and yes there have always been douchebags but now being a douchebag means you are exercising your constitutional rights even though there are others who by your actions are having their own rights violated. Who cares about others. That is the difference between now and the past.
“My point was people in the past were more respectful of others as a whole.”
And I’m not sure what you are basing that conclusion on. Maybe(?) the motivation is different today but I don’t see how that changes the result. Claiming that the past is better or friendlier than the present goes back to antiquity.
@alja-“Claiming that the past is better or friendlier than the present goes back to antiquity.”
If I have to explain it any further then you are either too young to know what I am talking about or you never learned. The point was not that the past was better but most people from an early age were taught to be respectful of others. They were also taught proper grammar, cursive writing not keying, and manners.
I cannot believe the number of people I’m seeing praise a program which:
1. Lacks transparency 2. Appears largely automated 3. Lacks formal guidelines 4. Comes immediately after the state more than SEXTUPLED the fines for noise violations.
“ I cannot believe the number of people I’m seeing praise a program which:
1. Lacks transparency 2. Appears largely automated 3. Lacks formal guidelines 4. Comes immediately after the state more than SEXTUPLED the fines for noise violations.”
It’s the same characters that just thrive on government overreach and oppression. If the government is is somehow meddling in peoples lives and exercising overt control, they will be all for it regardless of what you listed above (or inspire of facts, science, reason, etc).
“I cannot believe the number of people I’m seeing praise a program which”
For someone who claims to be journalist, you’d think comprehension would be a key attribute.
I don’t see anyone praising this program specifically. They are all against being bombarded with noise pollution.
That reminds me…I haven’t seen anything on the guy in Texas “rolling coal” who rolled over six bicyclists since November. Does anyone here know if anything has happened in that case?
I haven’t heard of that case? Can you post a link? I’m sure there are existing laws that could be invoked in the case, not to mention the cyclists could try filing lawsuits.
He’s up on felony charges. Let’s hope he does a nice, long stretch in the booty house.
https://www.ksat.com/news/texas/2021/11/09/charges-filed-for-teen-driver-who-rolled-coal-on-cyclists-then-ran-them-over-on-texas-highway-waller-co-da-says/
This is the system working: the politicians imposing this are responding to their constituents. Nobody, and I mean nobody, who isn’t part of The Car Scene likes loud cars. And it’s especially bad at night. In the front bedrooms of our house, even in the winter with the windows closed, a passing car or bike with a loud exhaust can wake me out of a deep sleep.
…and the politicians want the cops going after the people who truly endanger public safety. I’d rather pay a police officer deal with drunks, red light runners, and the major miscreants, versus the fart-can and coal-roller dweebs, as much as they annoy me.
@FreedMike–I have seen a county deputy pull someone over for having too loud a vehicle but I agree with you.
Must have been a slow day.
If Montana can’t have a speed limit that isn’t numerically specified, I don’t see how this statute can stand a court challenge.
I get wanting noise limits, but if you impose them, impose them on everyone with a specific value. And I do mean everyone.
Agreed. The limit being “eh, whatever we feel like” is genuinely troubling.
The law specifically proscribes modifications to the original exhaust/muffler equipment. So it’s not “whatever we feel like.” You keep it stock, you’re fine. It’s no different than prohibiting modifications to any other equipment like lighting.
And what about in the event of damage when OEM parts are not available?
Also, when is the line crossed between “like for like” and truly modifying? If someone puts an exhaust on that has the same dB level, but changes the timbre of the exhaust, what harm has been created?
This won’t hold up at all. Inconsistent enforcement and no idea what vehicle passing by is emitting the sound. Someone could honk their horn and trigger it.
This is a laughably bad idea but hey, it’s not like there is mass violence against a particular ethnic group that should be address before catering to some snowflakes who choose to live in a populated area but don’t like noise.
It’s amazing how people with no idea how things work have strong opinions about those things. Then again we have a large number of people here that are too stupid to understand how income taxes work but yet they’re self-anointed experts in clinical trials and epidemiology….
“It’s amazing how people with no idea how things work have strong opinions about those things.”
It’s also amazing how often the real ‘experts’ have no idea or the wrong ideas about how things actually work or could work.
[cf. law enforcement, military, macroeconomics, medical errors, California politics, and the manufacturers of those flimsy little plastic forks which always break when a real man uses them to eat real food]
“ This won’t hold up at all. Inconsistent enforcement and no idea what vehicle passing by is emitting the sound. Someone could honk their horn and trigger it”
Yeah. A person on a car site just said that a car exhaust has the same frequency distribution as a car horn but the experts are the problem. Go back to Facebook and look up how a real-time FFT works.
“Yeah. A person on a car site just said that a car exhaust has the same frequency distribution as a car horn but the experts are the problem.”
Are you talking? Because all I am reading is drivel.
But I see you are one of those that blindly trusts the government. Please continue to tell us how some loud decibels are different than other loud decibels.
And please continue to ignore that the stated purpose of this is to curb street racing (isn’t that already addressed by current laws?)
How hard is it to install one of those train horns?
In Tour mode my C7 quiets right down… but in Track mode its a different story. Since I removed my rear cats it is maybe 15% louder then stock, is that enough to get a ticket? I don’t drive in NY so not worries for me, but this sounds (sorry bad pun) like a good idea to keep those stupid loud exhausts in check. However there has to be dB number associated with this.
Don’t know about the noise, but I’m pretty sure removing your rear cats would be frowned upon.
I assume the big aftermarket exhaust makers (Borla, Magnaflow, etc) comply with federal law with respect to stuff marketed for on road use. These aren’t really the problem anyway.
Definitely two sides to this debate.
Part of me thinks that these automated enforcement systems are a revenue enhancement scheme, plain and simple, and that the cops should be enforcing the law.
The other part knows that cops don’t enforce “nuisance” stuff like this (which includes the brain-dead coal-rollers) because none of it really poses a genuine threat to public safety. Put differently: would you rather see a cop spending his or her time dealing with Fart Can Freddie in his Civic, or pulling over some drunk before he kamikazes a van full of senior citizens on their way to a bingo game?
I say keep the automated enforcement, and lower the fines. Make repeated violations a threat to the violators’ driving privileges.
I hate the cameras but something has to be done. It’s gotten to the point where I live that conversations are constantly interrupted and sleep interrupted all hours of the day. For what? It’s not safety. Not even close.
Noisy vehicles, blacked out windows and blacked out plates (illegal where I am) are becoming more the norm and nothing is done about it. People want to flip out about freedumb and rights? Let me blast an airhorn in your face and see how that works out going the other way. If there is no real enforcement, this immature and very annoying behavior will continue.
“That government is best which governs thoroughly” [or something]
Two big thumbs up from Big Brother.
“The cat joined the Re-education Committee and was very active in it for some days. She was seen one day sitting on a roof and talking to some sparrows who were just out of her reach. She was telling them that all animals were now comrades and that any sparrow who chose could come and perch on her paw; but the sparrows kept their distance.” – Animal Farm
Glad to see NY has solved all their other problems that they can tackle pointless things like loud exhaust.
This is what happens when you have an activist governor and not one that actually cares about the important issues.
Yeah, once they get this problem under control, then they can move on to more trivial matters, like the murder rate, Asians being violently assaulted on the street (or stabbed to death in their apartments), group shoplifting, etc.
Right. After this they can move on to the little things
Uh-huh. The Manhattan DA will not prosecute burglaries, low-level store robberies, resisting arrest, fare evasion, prostitution, and assault. NYS no longer suspends licenses for unpaid traffic tickets. But I’m sure that they’ll roll out the SWAT team when someone says “Eff you and your ticket”.
“Manhattan DA will not prosecute burglaries, low-level store robberies, resisting arrest, fare evasion, prostitution, and assault. NYS no longer suspends licenses for unpaid traffic tickets.”
Do Canadians have the same problems? Or criminals in Canada are prosecuted and laws are enforced? I am asking that because Canadians are no different human beings than US Americans but USA starts looking as a third world country more and more. Even in the eyes of Russians.
“Uh-huh. The Manhattan DA will not prosecute burglaries, low-level store robberies, resisting arrest, fare evasion, prostitution, and assault. NYS no longer suspends licenses for unpaid traffic tickets. But I’m sure that they’ll roll out the SWAT team when someone says “Eff you and your ticket”.”
I hate it when people just turn into FOX news parrots.
“I hate it when people just turn into FOX news parrots.”
Nice to see the troll finally admit to that.
“Nice to see the troll finally admit to that.”
I see basic reading comprehension is something you lack along with an understand of how quotation marks work.
I go to NHRA national events for the sound of the nitromethane fueled cars more than anything else. Went to LeMans to hear the Corvette C7.Rs on pit road and on the straights. Beautiful. I love a good sounding street car as well. The way Ducatis purr along makes me smile.
That said, even though New York is a Democrat’s wet dream, meaning it’s a nightmare for anybody with a brain in their head, I don’t mind this one bit. Straight pipe Harleys suck. Shrill, screeching fart cans are irritating. And there are some big pickup trucks here in the Atlanta area that are so damn loud the drivers need to be dragged out and beaten for being such morons. As long as factory exhaust configurations are allowed by this — I’m cool with it.
However, there’s one thing this system misses — and it’s those noisy ass propeller airplanes. I don’t know how in the hell those guys get away with it. You’re trying to sleep next to the pool or whatever and some schmo in his Piper Cub flies over blaring out BBBBBrrrrrAAAAArrrrrAAAAArrrrrAAAAA over a wide area.
Kinda makes you wish ground to air missiles were legal for private ownership.
The sound of a C-65 turning a wooden prop pulling a lovely yellow cub overhead is a blessing
And your surface to air missal will miss that lovely cub and circle back and destroy a row of rusty CUV’s. s/ :)
I personally am not a fan of loud exhausts. It makes the car sound like it has to work hard to get up to 30mph. My car is silent but deadly and I like it that way.
I do appreciate a low rumble tho.
I remember when cars were sold not only on their power but how quiet they were and having a smooth comfortable ride. Better to have the power than the noise but a low rumble is good because it lets you know that there is some power under the hood. Hard to beat the sound of a big block V8 when it is idling.
I’m all for quiet nights as much as the next guy, but does this–like the original speed and red-light cameras–look more like a money grab to anyone else here?
Of course it is. New York and New York State are all about grabbing things. Look at Cuomo. He was grabbing every woman in sight.
Ah, so the bad old Dems in New York are the only ones money-grabbing with red light cameras?
https://www.iihs.org/topics/red-light-running/automated-enforcement-laws
(Speaking of governors who skirt-chased their way out of office, google “Eric Greitens.” He’s running for Senate now.)
I don’t see the parallel. The first two are money grabs because 99.9% of speeding and rolling rights don’t harm anyone else. Loud pipes are obnoxiously entering the personal space of everyone else around, every single time they drive.
I’d be happy to remove any pretense of money grab by taking the fines out and making the penalty impounded and crushed instead.
Speeding harms far too many people. If it killed only the speeders then, well, whatever.
I lived in Buffalo for 15 years. GREAT town. Small enough to get anywhere in a 1/2 hour. Big enough for Pro sports and Broadway. Huge lakes on 2 sides. I love snowmobiling- so I m OK with the weather. Canada is right there (wonderful people – yeah they re different from americans.). Toronto is New York Run by the Swiss. Lovely.
My point? > I could not take New York. Cra Cra Dems. Taxes.
So. Bye Bye. I left 35 years ago and decamped to FLA and GA. Best decision I ever made.
Not a fan of NYC nor do I want to live in New York State even though parts of it are nice. I understand why they did this but this might be an overreaction but then I don’t live in New York City. Now enough of this let’s get back to cars.
Your spot on RedApple, I’ve been in Western NY for 13 years. Kids are settled here so here we will be. It’s a beautiful place to live. Shame it’s run by big city libs who hate traditional American values who are supported blindly by voters who think high taxes and overbearing corrupt government is just fine.
When i retire, I ll be up in BFLO 1-2 months per year ( In summer- obviously ). Live there with all the commies? No. I get the Buffalo Evening news. Letters to the editor. Whoa. Nuts. Completely crazy. Its Like the DNC owns the paper.
Yeah, noisy cars need to be taken out. I agree. Everyone agrees.
Problem is, in our haste to welcome this technology we are also subjugating ourselves to the whims of future dictators who will surely find a way to abuse it. All it takes is a little coordinated media propaganda to whip up public hysteria about any sounds which the establishment doesn’t like – from political conversation to the polite bzzzzrp of a muffled fart – and suddenly you find yourself in handcuffs, your bank account frozen, while the lunatic fringe threatens to smash your windows.
If this sounds crazy, come to Ottawa right now and see for yourself how it works. This is your future.
When are they going to add the thumping rap music and n-word detector option?
the deterrent effect alone will be worth it
“When are they going to add the thumping rap music and n-word detector option?”
what’s it like being in your 90s?
What’s the color of the sky on your planet, Skippy? On mine, that didn’t end in the 90’s. I live deep in the heart of pickup truck land, and I can count the number of times I’ve seen some bozo rolling coal on one hand with some fingers left over. On the other hand, pulling up next to a car that has the windows rolled down so you can hear every n-word and ho in the lyrics and the trunk rattling with the beat is common.
This is just another tax on poor people, people with rusted out mufflers and fart-cans far outnumber the number of rich guys street racing their Lamborghinis, and hitting them for a thousand bucks for a noise violation is absurd.
Hmmmm, unless this microphone is some sort of isolated or low occurrence incident it suggests they are going to collect video *and* audio everywhere under the guise of “its for the children”. I think its simply more evidence of the citizen travel grid control system they are putting in place, but sticking more to the automotive topic it suggests they will be able to ***hear*** your automobile after they implement something drastic (i.e. odd/even plate driving days, or perhaps vehicle confiscation) and will punish you accordingly. Such a system could have defensive military purposes as well depending on how sensitive the equipment is intended to be.
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