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Virginia Lawmakers Reject Exhaust Noise Bill

At SEMA’s urging, the Transportation Committee of the Virginia House of Delegates has abandoned a bill to ban the sale of “any aftermarket exhaust system component” that would cause the vehicle to produce “excessive or unusual noise.” The action effectively kills the bill for 2010. SEMA asked lawmakers to reject the bill and recommended that Virginia adopt reasonable noise decibel limits for modified exhaust systems, which can be verified through an easy-to-administer test standard.

In California, for example, a SEMA-supported provision is made for the testing of vehicle exhaust noise to a standard adopted by the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) to an established noise limit of 95 decibels (SAE J1169). To date, this procedure has been enacted in California, Washington, Maine and Montana.

For details, contact Steve McDonald.