Bill Text: VA HB883 | 2024 | Regular Session | Prefiled
Bill Title: Vehicle exhaust systems; operation in certain locations.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)
Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2024-02-13 - Left in Public Safety [HB883 Detail]
Download: Virginia-2024-HB883-Prefiled.html
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
1. That §§46.2-1047 and 46.2-1049 of the Code of Virginia are amended and reenacted as follows:
§46.2-1047. Muffler cutout, etc., illegal.
It shall be unlawful to sell or offer for sale any (i) muffler without interior baffle plates or other effective muffling device or (ii) gutted muffler, muffler cutout, or straight exhaust. It shall be unlawful for any person to operate on the highways in the Commonwealth; on any driveway or premises of a church, school, recreational facility, or business; on any governmental property open to the public; on the premises of any industrial establishment providing parking space for customers, patrons, or employees; or on any highway under construction or not yet open to the public a motor vehicle, moped, or motorized skateboard or foot-scooter equipped with a gutted muffler, muffler cutout, or straight exhaust.
§46.2-1049. Exhaust system in good working order.
No person shall drive and no owner of a vehicle shall permit or allow the operation of any such vehicle on a highway; on any driveway or premises of a church, school, recreational facility, or business; on any governmental property open to the public; on the premises of any industrial establishment providing parking space for customers, patrons, or employees; or on any highway under construction or not yet open to the public unless it is equipped with an exhaust system in good working order and in constant operation to prevent excessive or unusual levels of noise, provided, however, that for motor vehicles, such exhaust system shall be of a type installed as standard factory equipment, or comparable to that designed for use on the particular vehicle as standard factory equipment or other equipment that has been submitted to and approved by the Superintendent or meets or exceeds the standards and specifications of the Society of Automotive Engineers, the American National Standards Institute, or the federal Department of Transportation.
As used in this section, "exhaust system" means all the parts of a vehicle through which the exhaust passes after leaving the engine block, including mufflers and other sound dissipative devices.
Chambered pipes are not an effective muffling device to prevent excessive or unusual noise, and any vehicle equipped with chambered pipes shall be deemed in violation of this section.
The provisions of this section shall not apply to (i) any antique motor vehicle licensed pursuant to §46.2-730, provided that the engine is comparable to that designed as standard factory equipment for use on that particular vehicle, and the exhaust system is in good working order, or (ii) converted electric vehicles.
