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."
Hmmmm, thanks! I'll have to look into these for my 69 Convertible Firebird.
My current vehicle is a supercharged 4WD Toyota Tacoma. It's way faster than it's "supposed" to be and really frustrates the racer wannabes when they can't make my 4WD pick up truck get smaller in their rearview mirrors. Lots of fun!
All I know is, my bike ain't loud ENOUGH... Wait til I get my Harley... You'll be able to hear me comin' three counties over...
Sure it's kinda annoying when some worthless punk blares thug music or some b!tch's car alarm triggers outside my window at two in the a.m., but I figure it'll be payback time one a these days...
Future plans include hauling it down here to Texas from where she is stored at in Minnesota. Whipple supercharger. TrickFlow heads. Rebuild the TH-400 (got a TCI 3800 stall convertor for it) and upgrade her plumbing to 5/8 fuel and braided everything else. Comp Engineering for a dual purpose suspension (street and straight set-up).
Compensating for something? No. Hobby and adrenaline. Nothing more to it. I've never had a speeding ticket nor caused an accident. Nor am I the type to go blasting through a suburban neighborhood at full throttle at 2 AM.
Namby-pamby Mrs. Grundy types can just get over the fact that there are rude people floating around out there doing things they don't approve of.
Second, the rice burners with the coffee can size exhaust tips don't have a "deep, throaty sound". They're more like the buzzing of a pissed-off fly. Usually the rest of the exhaust system is about the size of a garden hose, with the boom can on the end purely for macho flash purposes.
"Noise Free America" could further their own purposes by first doing a little research and thinking. If that doesn't work, shutting up would. There's little positive about the noise made by stupid whiners.
Flowmaster's primary market is high performance American cars. And the exact purpose of their product is "to prevent excessive or unusual noise". Open headers, anybody?
It's not really a situation where one is so dissatisfied with a car that they rebuild it from scratch. It's more a list of quirks that you notice as you drive the car for a while. Nobody can really get a feel for a car during a brief test drive, so many if not most choices are made based on price and styling. Down the road a bit (no pun intended), you may wish that you could correct a few things - and you *can* make those corrections, and it's not really all that expensive when you consider the price of cutting-edge high performance vehicles as offered by the manufacturers (which already have a lot of the top-shelf goodies). As for effort, well, people who tinker with cars generally think of it as a hobby, not an unpleasant chore.
Some people also like to build their own computer systems, because they can select precisely which components to use. It's the same general idea.
If that's so, then every other hobby, from knitting to volleyball must be the same.
Modifying vehicles for better performance is a time honored and productive American pastime.
In fact, it's what got me interested in engineering - building bigger and better hot rods. I can hardly wait for the warranty to be up on my Lincoln Town Car so I can replace the 4.6L 220 horse motor with a 5.4L 380 horsepower supercharged SVT Lightning truck engine - with a few tweaks, of course.
But don't worry about the noise. The engineering challenge here will be to make it free flowing yet as close to stock sounding as possible. After all, it is a Town Car and some appearances must be maintained.
And the fun part will be eating Mercedes and Beemers for breakfast with Grandma's ride !
Goose step on down to the nearest chapter of this anti-noise club and ask this pansy for a membership card. I doubt there's less than 50 members nationwide and at least we would know where you all are
BTW, I appreciate the insults on my family's mental health and my virility. So 'conservative' of you < /sarcasm>
Supercharging is a hoot! You can (almost) never have too much power. Besides, I really love that s/c sound. Good luck with yours!
10-4 on sleepers! One of the great thrills out there IMO! We are soul brothers, my friend. Under-stated is the very most fun!
Now I have to admit I haven't done this for some years but it was great fun to clean clocks of '57-'60 Corvettes with my '55 Chevy four-door sedan that had big exhausts - but quiet - to conceal a very hot highly modified small-block engine. We stomped them every time.
These rice-burner kids have no idea what real fun is!
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.