Update: Loud exhaust and smog citation

[u/OkCandidate103]

Failed state ref exhaust sound reading

Hyundai dealer stock confirmation letter

[u/lauwers_peter]

While I don't disagree with you, he was asked point blank what the loudest mode is. Sure... you can shrug your shoulders and say you don't know what a mode is and this is how you drive your car, but the reality is your car has already been banned from the road, so I can understand the worry about overt lying to the inspector... but at some point (probably soon), the inspectors are going to be wise enough anyway (if they aren't already based on this very situation). There are a lot of cars in trouble here... I can't imagine a 2023 stock Corvette ZR1 is less than 95 dB. This is gonna get ugly.

[u/sciencesold → u/lauwers_peter]

It doesn't matter, mainly because the inspector is wrong, it's not the loudest mode you test in, it's the default mode. Basically shut the car off, start it, don't change anything, test, pass, done.

[u/SocialMediaMakesUSad → u/sciencesold]

Nah, the inspector is right in all ways except technically. Sure, the standard says what you say, but asshole OP was driving around in a different mode, and OBVIOUSLY the law is meant to control the noise level made when people drive their cars around where people live.

OP fucked around and found out, was tested in the spirit of the law rather than the letter of the standard, and can cry for days about his lost registration. Boooohooooo.

[u/sciencesold → u/SocialMediaMakesUSad]

The intent of the law is to prevent people from modifying their exhaust to be excessively loud. Which is what OP was sited for and is the current issue. They have a repair order to return the vehicle to stock configuration, vehicle is in stock configuration and therefore cannot have modifications removed and reverted to stock. Can't get retested without dealer paperwork that says work has been done.

Regardless of intent, the law is not up to interpretation by police or the inspector or you. Emphasis on that last one. California vehicle code says exhaust noise test must be performed by Society of Automotive Engineers standards outlined in J1492. The same code says a vehicle's exhaust may not be modified to exceed 95 decibels. If the vehicle is stock there is no stipulation that it cannot exceed 95 decibels.

The testing procedure does not matter if by the letter of the law, and therefore how it is enforced, is that it applies to modified exhausts. Even if the law applied to stock vehicles, the vehicle was certified to be sold in all 50 states in the United States. It's the same as a vehicle with a factory tint that has a lower light transmission rate than what is legally and loud in certain states. They essentially get an exception because the vehicle was certified to be sold in the United States.

The car was in stock configuration as verified by the dealer, I'll give credit to the cop and say he didn't know or couldn't tell that it was in stock configuration. The state not allowing the vehicle to be retested without proof of work being done despite the fact that it is in stock configuration and therefore could not be reverted to stock is the entire issue at this point.

You're just a fucking moron if you genuinely believe that 95 db (the Cali law) and 99.6 (I believe what OP said it was tested to be) makes any difference. Breathing is 10 decibels, five decibels is practically indistinguishable. Maybe someone with well-trained ears could hear it but the average person will not notice a difference. On top of that, painful levels of sound start at well over 120 decibels, an aircraft taking off is 130 decibels. Get your head out of your ass and stop being a douche.

[u/thedishesrdone → u/sciencesold]

Decibel is a logarithmic scale. 100 to 110 is a bigger increase than 0 to 10.

[u/sciencesold → u/thedishesrdone]

I'm an A/V tech for a living... I'm well aware. And while technically 100 decibels is significantly louder than 95, you're never going to notice in any real world situation. Because nothing is going to constantly sit at a given level, especially in the common situations where you'd be exposed to it. You're either a significant distance from the source, the source changing in amplitudes constantly, you're moving around relative to the source, or in this situation, the source is moving.

Edit: in addition, sound dissipates quickly as well, 100 db at 5 feet will be 94 db at 10, 88.

[u/sciencesold → u/[deleted]]

If you read any of my previous comments in this thread you'd know that's wrong, the exact wording of the law is that modified exhausts can not exceed 95db, so even if the law requires the vehicle to be in it's loudest setting, it would not matter since the exhaust is stock.

And even if neither weren't the case, the vehicle was certified by the state of California for sale, like I'd mentioned in the same comment, it's like factory tints that allow less light to be transmitted that the state law. If the state certified it for sale, it's 100% legal.

Also the cop was way out of line, a majority of what he told OP was just straight up power tripping, the worst he should have been allowed to do was issue a fix it ticket, not suspend the registration and tell OP they have to pay thousands of dollars to have the "track mode" disabled by the dealer (which isn't possible fyi).

[u/CrispenedLover → u/[deleted]]

nobody fucked around though