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The Solution

Congress gave states and their subdivisions broad powers to control motorcycles and motorcycle exhaust systems^[1] with respect to vehicle owners who deliberately make their motorcycles loud. The federal government’s job is to control the manufacturers of motorcycles and motorcycle exhaust systems. States and subdivisions are not required by Congress and the EPA to adopt these federal laws and regulations; they are only encouraged^[2].

Therefore, the only way to keep loud aftermarket competition-use exhaust systems off street-use motorcycles is for states or political subdivisions to make it illegal to install them. This is easily achieved by adopting the Noise Control Act (NCA) and federal motorcycle noise emissions regulations into state laws and/or cities’ local noise ordinances. It is far easier for states and subdivisions to use their rights under section 4905(e)(2)^[3] of the NCA to license and/or regulate what type (only EPA-approved) of exhaust systems are installed on federally regulated motorcycles than to test all exhaust systems with ineffective, stationary-type noise level testing procedures.

This can be achieved by including the following in statutes to vehicle noise codes:

Motorcycles: all highway-use motorcycles manufactured after December 31, 1982, shall be equipped as required by federal EPA noise emissions regulations, 40 CFR 205 parts D & E, pursuant to the NCA of 1972, to include: (a) labeled exhaust systems, free of defects or modifications, that state they meet federal noise emissions standards, in accordance with the maximum dB(a) levels for the model years listed below; and (b) all other related equipment, to include chassis-mounted labels (as a means to facilitate vehicle and exhaust system applicability) and other integral exhaust system components^[4]. Nothing in this section shall prevent the installation of U.S. EPA-approved low-noise emission mufflers^[5] onto these motorcycles^[6].

Maximum U.S. EPA noise emission muffler ratings for highway-use motorcycles manufactured:

After 1982 and before 1986: 83 dB(a)

After 1985 to present: 80 dB(a)

Doing this will enforce the highest standard of motorcycle mufflers and only allow quiet, tested, and appropriately labeled EPA-approved mufflers that meet federal noise emissions standards (and prohibit all other types of mufflers) to be used on street-use motorcycles, as is the way they all come from the factory since 1983. No sound level meters or special skills are required.

The NCA additionally gives states and political subdivisions wide-ranging authority, such as the right to restrict the operation and movement of federally regulated motorcycles within neighborhoods, at times of day or night, or the number of federally regulated motorcycles operating together.

The NCA also gives every citizen of the U.S. (regardless of whether their state adopts and enforces the NCA) the option of commencing a “citizen suit^[7]” against motorcyclists, motorcycle manufacturers, and their agents (dealerships), as well as aftermarket motorcycle exhaust system manufacturers that violate the NCA^[8].

This option was clarified to Congress by the EPA at a Senate hearing in 1982 (with the closing of the Office of Noise Abatement and Control (ONAC)) as a replacement legal option available to states, cities, and citizens in the absence of ONAC, as this had been one of its duties:

“…under the citizen suit provisions of the act [NCA], any person, including any state or local government, may bring a civil suit against a manufacturer or other person who is allegedly in violation of an existing regulation^[9].”

1. These powers or rights of states and political subdivisions are listed in section 4905(e)(2) of the NCA.
2. Regulatory Analysis, supra, Appendix O. See also 45 Fed. Reg. 86694, at 1, 13, and 27.
3. 42 U.S.C. § 4905(e)(2). This provision provides that, “subject to §§ 4916 (railroad) and 4917 (motor carrier), nothing in this section precludes or denies the right of any state or political subdivision thereof to establish and enforce controls on environmental noise (or one or more sources thereof) through the licensing, regulation, or restricting the use, operation, or movement of any product or combination of products.”
4. It is very important to use the phrase “shall be equipped with labeled exhaust systems,” because this shows the intent to regulate motorcycle exhaust systems by their labels. This statute also reflects the “prohibited acts,” as referenced in section 4909(a) of the NCA, which prevents any person from using these motorcycles with any “element of design” removed or disabled (i.e., mufflers, muffler pre-chambers, and the required chassis-mounted label). It also provides an adequate description of required equipment to head off judicial conclusions that a prohibitory statute is unconstitutionally vague—that is, it gives vehicle owners a clear definition of what is required to be compliant with the law.
5. This needs to be stated because there are EPA provisions (40 C.F.R. pt. 203) to build low-noise-emissions products. These would have a lower dBA muffler rating.
6. This statute was drafted based in part on California Vehicle Code § 27200(e), as an example. It is the only state law in the nation to make reference to the NCA. Unfortunately, this California provision only applies to the selling of a new federally regulated motorcycle to the first owner and does not apply to subsequent owners.
7. 42 U.S.C. § 4911.
8. This includes motorcycle dealerships who replace EPA-approved exhaust systems with loud competition types while on the showroom floor before the motorcycle is sold to the first owner (in violation of § 4909(a)(2)(a)); and aftermarket exhaust system manufacturers who build exhaust systems without any label, as required by federal regulations (40 C.F.R. § 205.169), in violation of 42 U.S.C. § 4909(a)(1).
9. Statement of Mr. Charles L. Elkins, Deputy Assistant Administrator for Noise Control Programs, U.S. EPA, at the Hearing before the “Committee on Environment and Public Works,” Senate Serial No. 97H10.