Posted on 11/05/2002 7:34:37 AM PST by H8DEMS
(CNSNews.com) - A national organization devoted to fighting noise pollution has taken its battle to the streets, to combat loud exhaust systems installed in cars after they are sold.
Noise Free America spokesman Mark Huber says the manufacturers of hot rod mufflers are selling a product that is "lawlessly terrorizing" neighborhoods across America.
The Richmond, Va.-based group insists that noise pollution is a serious health hazard. It mentions hearing damage, sleep deprivation, aggression, chronic fatigue and high blood pressure as specific maladies stemming from our noisy world.
Noise Free America recently awarded Flowmaster, Inc., a manufacturer of high- performance, after-market mufflers and exhaust systems, with its Noisy Dozen award, an "honor" given to the nation's worst noise polluters.
According to Huber, Flowmaster was singled out for aggressively marketing products that bother people and are even illegal in some states. He said Flowmaster and other companies that distribute the noisy mufflers systems specifically boast about the "deep aggressive tone" or "deep throaty rumble" that their products produce.
A diverse cross-section of teens and twenty-somethings are installing the equipment that sells for thousands of dollars.
An article in Flowmaster's customer magazine, Power Press, acknowledges that there's a strong demand for loud exhaust systems: "Market surveys continually show...that many buyers purchase a Flowmaster system because of its unique and distinctive sound."
But Huber said he sees nothing desirable in Flowmaster's product line.
"For some reason, both fans of after-market exhausts and 'boom cars' seem to be obsessed with the lower frequency noises, which can disturb more people at a greater distance in all directions from their vehicle," he said. "Sounds of a lower pitch or frequency travel further and penetrate solids, such as windows and exterior walls of homes more easily than sounds of a higher pitch."
Illegal equipment
According to Huber, it is completely legal for manufacturers such as Flowmaster to market and sell their exhaust systems. However, he said, as soon as the car owner installs the equipment and hits the road, that car owner could be breaking the law.
Huber said approximately 40 states prohibit the modification of exhaust systems contrary to factory specifications. Virginia is one such state, he said.
Virginia's State Code (Sec. 46.2-1049) specifically states, "No person shall drive and no owner of a motor vehicle shall permit or allow the operation of any vehicle on a highway unless it is equipped with an exhaust system of a type installed as standard factory equipment, or comparable to that designed for use on the particular vehicle as standard factory equipment, in good working order and in constant operation to prevent excessive or unusual noise."
But he said local and state police are lax in their enforcement of the state code in cases where vehicles equipped with noisy after-market exhaust systems are clearly in violation of the law.
Contrary to Huber's observation, Virginia State Police spokesman Sergeant Morris said the law enforcement officers statewide are cracking down on illegally installed exhaust systems; it's just that some counties don't enforce the law as strictly as others, he said.
"Different people have different things that they go after, fortunately or unfortunately," Morris said. "They have some police officers in Chesterfield County who are sticklers for those mufflers."
He said Chesterfield County's local police force writes a lot of tickets for vehicles with noisy mufflers because the devices are not standard factory equipment, nor are they compatible with standard factory equipment, as state code mandates.
However, Morris said judges in Virginia's county court system often rule against officers who issued tickets for noise violations. "Some will convict, some won't," he said.
Assault on freedom
Huber believes that people who purchase noisy mufflers see them as "some sort of extension of their personality that they want to share with the whole world."
"That's where the line is crossed," he said. "That's where they take away my freedom and they rob quiet off of my property and out of my personal space."
Aside from being a threat to public safety and an assault on the quality of life, Huber believes the tailpipe rumblings also affect the property values of homes within earshot of the hot rods.
He pointed to studies showing that homes located near airports lose almost two percent of their property value per decibel level emitted by jumbo jets. Similarly, he said, owners of vehicles that produce "aggressive, muscle car sound" may decrease the value of homes.
Noise Free America takes a grassroots approach to noise pollution. It lobbies politicians, even supplying model legislation, to address what it perceives as a health problem.
Flowmaster defends its products
"We have been in the business for over 20 years - and not by advocating that people break the law," said a Flowmaster spokesman who refused to identify himself to CNSNews.com . "That's why we make off-road products and products for street and emission vehicles as well."
According to the Flowmaster spokesman, the company designs exhaust systems for "race cars" based on the good-faith assumption that they will be installed on track-based race cars - not open-road passenger vehicles.
However, he said, "People, when they buy their cars and trucks, are free to do whatever they want, to a point. They go beyond that, oftentimes, and get in trouble."
Heck YEAH!
BIKER BUMP
If you are using your car for something other than this, then yes, my answer is that someone is trying to compensate for something.
Okay, so you view an automobile as a road-going major appliance. Lots of people share that view. A significant portion of drivers, however, actually want to *enjoy* the trip between points A and B, and if their car or truck is not performing in a satisfactory manner, they may choose to improve it.
When I install larger brakes, I am compensating for the manufacturer's cheaping-out on critical hardware. When I install aftermarket springs that lower the ride height by an inch or so, I am compensating for some ludicrous design compromise that makes the car heel over in turns like a tuna boat in heavy seas. When I install headlamps with European-specification (E-code) reflectors, I am compensating for 1930s technology that the U.S. DOT still foists on the buying public.
In short, I am improving the car in any number of ways. As I posted way up above, my car currently has a quieter exhaust system than it was equipped with at the factory. I must be "de-compensating", by your logic.
However, if you're making your car so loud that everyone in town can hear you start it, you obviously have some need to get attention. If you're souping up your car to leave everyone else in the dust, you've got issues.
There's a difference betwen improving your car's ride, and revamping your car to be some kind of a "mean machine".
I'm sorry if you misunderstood me, but I don't think I'm that far off base.
Honestly, I'm not sure there's a car made that can make me enjoy 2 hours a day of putting up with the lunacy that happens on the roads here... unless we're talking about something that would fly over it all. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, maybe.
Again, there is a difference between "improving" a car, and turning a car into a "noise machine".
Jeez... I must have struck a nerve.
And should you end up killing someone with that attitude on the street someday, what will your response be then? Sayanora Sucker?
I find it both irresponsible and juvenile to brag about reckless show off driving on the street.
90 miles? Ouch! How expensive is the housing, that it is cheaper to commute that far?
And good drivers generally don't feel the need to.
Out of curiosity ... Why would you buy a car you wre that dissatisfied with in the first place? seems to me like you're spending a lot more in terms of money and effort than you would by just buying something you liked in the first place.
Which end up killing and injuring people on a regular basis. Those people on the side streets wanting to cross or turn out are counting on you going the speed limit to make their decisions. Why do you think that there are contest of speed laws and speed limits? Hopefully the cops will take your license before you take someones life.
BTW, I'm not sore. I don't make a statement if I can't handle the response.
When I was 16. Till I saw a classmate mangle himself that way by loosing controll and taking out a telephone pole on the way to school. If you are still 16 and inexperienced, maybe I can cut you a bit of slack. But if you are an adult acting like a child, that's another story.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.