What is the law on loud exhausts in Ontario?

[Bumbobee]

I am thinking about getting an aftermarket exhaust on my bike, and I'm curious as to what the law is here on that in Ontario? Is there a certain DB level the cops use to measure your exhaust? How and when do the give tickets? How much are the tickets? How hard are they to fight in court?

Can't find any official and proper procedures anywhere, any info is much appriciated.

[frekeyguy]

i've run open headers on the street. hogs always run straight pipes.

i think they targer cars...little civics more I think they'r looking more for catalytic convertors being removed.

I dont think you will get into any trouble with any type of exhaust. Lots of ppl run aftermarket stuff...

[Rob MacLennan]

The law in Ontario is antiquated:

75. (1) Every motor vehicle or motor assisted bicycle shall be equipped with a muffler in good working order and in constant operation to prevent excessive or unusual noise and excessive smoke, and no person shall use a muffler cut-out, straight exhaust, gutted muffler, hollywood muffler, by-pass or similar device upon a motor vehicle or motor assisted bicycle. R.S.O. 1990, c. H.8, s. 75 (1).

Note that you can also be nailed with a bylaw ticket for excessive noise, which has nothing to do with the HTA.

[Splash]

I am thinking about getting an aftermarket exhaust on my bike, and I'm curious as to what the law is here on that in Ontario? Is there a certain DB level the cops use to measure your exhaust? How and when do the give tickets? How much are the tickets? How hard are they to fight in court?

Can't find any official and proper procedures anywhere, any info is much appriciated.

Noise, smoke, bells and horns
Muffler
75. (1) Every motor vehicle or motor assisted bicycle shall be equipped with a muffler in good working order and in constant operation to prevent excessive or unusual noise and excessive smoke, and no person shall use a muffler cut-out, straight exhaust, gutted muffler, hollywood muffler, by-pass or similar device upon a motor vehicle or motor assisted bicycle. R.S.O. 1990, c. H.8, s. 75 (1).


It means that if it's not OEM the cop can say it's too loud and give you a ticket... There's no db level needed.

[Brian P]

The trouble with most (>99%) aftermarket mufflers is that they are straight-through designs and can be interpreted as a "straight exhaust".

Hindle sells an accessory for their Stealth mufflers that takes a few dB off the sound level and also puts an obstruction in the muffler so that it is no longer "straight through". Other (mostly european) mufflers come with an internal baffle that has the same effect ... leave it in place. If you have the noise-reduction baffle present, (1) you will attract less of the wrong kind of attention to begin with, (2) even IF you get a ticket, there is at least the possibility of challenging it on the grounds that it was not a "straight exhaust".

P.S. The last Ontario government before the election had a bill on the table that would have pretty much required OEM exhausts, and there are several places in the USA that are doing this, too. Let's not be giving the do-gooders any more ideas. Now is not the time to be attracting attention to yourself with a lot of noise.

[SlowNLow]

Solving the issue is quite easy...
Drill the rivets at each end of your pipe.
Pull the end caps off.
Down the center of the pipe will be a perforated metal pipe and around that will be the muffler packing.
Take a coat hanger and cut two or three sections out of it. Slide the coat hanger through the perforations in the pipe and bend the ends over so they cannot be removed. Put two or three side by side about half way down the muffler.
Wrap the packing around the pipe again, and tape it into place with some masking tape. Tape it TIGHT. The tape will burn off and the packing will expand later.
Put the thing allllll back together, and there you go.

Personally, I have dual carbon fibre TRCs on my bike, with the baffles removed and I have never had a problem at all.

[SlowNLow]

Noise, smoke, bells and horns
Muffler
75. (1) Every motor vehicle or motor assisted bicycle shall be equipped with a muffler in good working order and in constant operation to prevent excessive or unusual noise and excessive smoke, and no person shall use a muffler cut-out, straight exhaust, gutted muffler, hollywood muffler, by-pass or similar device upon a motor vehicle or motor assisted bicycle. R.S.O. 1990, c. H.8, s. 75 (1).


It means that if it's not OEM the cop can say it's too loud and give you a ticket... There's no db level needed.

Ummmm, no that is not true at all. There is no provision for noise. The only thing is straight pipes... not good.

[rukus]

Ummmm, no that is not true at all. There is no provision for noise. The only thing is straight pipes... not good.

ummmmm, no that is also not true at all. there are excessive noise bylaws in most of the areas around, and that is completely subject to interpretation

[SlowNLow]

ummmmm, no that is also not true at all. there are excessive noise bylaws in most of the areas around, and that is completely subject to interpretation

You are confusing the Highway traffic act and Bylaws.... two totally different things....HTA is province wide, bylaws are different in city........

[rukus]

You are confusing the Highway traffic act and Bylaws.... two totally different things....HTA is province wide, bylaws are different in city........

you didnt differentiate bt bylaw and HTA either. What i said had also been stated earlier.

[mikemacd]

Note that you can also be nailed with a bylaw ticket for excessive noise, which has nothing to do with the HTA.

City of Toronto Noise bylaw
http://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/bylaws/2003/law0111.pdf

[Wraith600]

Ok let me break this down for you all as I was subject to this in my import car a few years ago. Sorry to bring this up from a month ago but I was looking for something and it came up.

This is all up to the cop that pulls you over for this, yes hoggers included get this a lot more then you think.

If a cop doesn't like how loud it is = ticket. If it's aftermarket = ticket. If the exhaust smells funny = ticket.

There is no innocent until proven guilty. It's here is your ticket now prove your not. Then it's up to the judge to decide if it's "to loud" when he was't there and no accurate reading was taken.

Best of luck fighting that one.

The real kicker is if you have an aftermarket pipe it's your job to prove to the judge it's passed all the standard emissions and noise testing set forth by Ontario and Canada. So you order a US company pipe and import it, ya again not going to likely win this one.

The problem is it's up to the cop that pulled you over and how he writes the ticket based on how vague this section is written.

Why I came across this is that there is a new legislation that was discussed being presented that says ANY modification to the exhaust system, pipe and all, will be illegal, yes even aftermarket pipes unless that said product was stamped approved for Ontario / Canada.

I can seem to find the information on this so if anyone has come across it link it up.

Will this stop you from buying your pipe or slipon, likely not. Just take notice that if you decide to take a short can and stick it on which basically makes it a straight pipe as already pointed out. The one time you get pulled over and the cop can't charge you with what he wants he and you flaunt it at him for being a ****** bag, he will hit you with this.

Trust me this is from experience....one I like to forget at times.

[Brian P]

The bill that you were referring to was on the table in the previous government of Ontario. It died with the election a year and a half ago. That's not to say it won't come back. To help it stay away ... be responsible and reasonable!

[DaFrEnCh-TiCkLeR]

In Ontario if you get a standard aftermarket exaust you'll be o.k. unless your looking for trouble in the over the top section.

Your question should also include I'm I o.k. if I go to different places, example Quebec where they will ticket you for sure. My home town fuzzers LOOOOVE aftermarket exausts. They wont even ask to hear it and ticket you.

In Ontario I never heard of cops looking for this kind of garbage but it's always possible you'll get that guy that tickets you and your on your own after that. Like Wraith said.

I'm one that tries to be as incongnito as possible not to draw attention to myself.

[Rob MacLennan]

In Ontario if you get a standard aftermarket exaust you'll be o.k. unless your looking for trouble in the over the top section.

Your question should also include I'm I o.k. if I go to different places, example Quebec where they will ticket you for sure. My home town fuzzers LOOOOVE aftermarket exausts. They wont even ask to hear it and ticket you.

In Ontario I never heard of cops looking for this kind of garbage but it's always possible you'll get that guy that tickets you and your on your own after that. Like Wraith said.

I'm one that tries to be as incongnito as possible not to draw attention to myself.

Pretty sure that you could find a few people on this board who have received noise tickets from OPP, while riding on Forks of the Credit Rd.

[mma01]

i think they targer cars...little civics more I think they'r looking more for catalytic convertors being removed.

Its entirely up to the officer's discretion as to who gets ticketed for loud exhaust. A bit off topic, but running an import car with any sort of aftermarket exhaust is just asking for trouble from the police because they tend to equate exhaust on an import as "young punk street racer".

My brother in law has a otherwise stock civic with an aftermarket muffler on it. It had cats in place and was not overly loud (not a straight through design). He got ticketed twice in the same week! He has since had to go to a junk yard to buy a stock muffler. I have been pulled over and questioned about my fiance's lexus and had to explain to them that the big exhaust tip on the IS is stock from the factory (and its a quiet car!).

On the otherhand, most cops are cool with sports/muscle cars being loud. I have drove in front of numerous cruisers on my ex v8 camaro with 1.75" primaries, off-road y-pipe and full 3" exhaust (i.e. loud) and have never been pulled over.

[frekeyguy]

Its entirely up to the officer's discretion as to who gets ticketed for loud exhaust. A bit off topic, but running a import with any sort of aftermarket exhaust is just asking for trouble from the police because they tend to equate exhaust on an import as "young punk street racer".

My brother in law has a otherwise stock civic with an aftermarket muffler on it. It had cats in place and was not overly loud (not a straight through design). He got ticketed twice in the same week! He has since had to go to a junk yard to buy a stock muffler. I have been pulled over and questioned about my fiance's lexus and had to explain to them that the big exhaust tip on the IS is stock from the factory (and its a quiet car!).

On the otherhand, most cops are cool with sports/muscle cars being loud. I have drove in front of numerous cruisers on my ex v8 camaro with 1.75" primaries, off-road y-pipe and full 3" exhaust (i.e. loud) and have never been pulled over.

i've ridden by cops with a open header, they dont mind. I got my can back on cuz my ears were bleeding.

Yeah, they dont like the imports...

[DaFrEnCh-TiCkLeR]

Pretty sure that you could find a few people on this board who have received noise tickets from OPP, while riding on Forks of the Credit Rd.

Oh I dont doubt it, I was just making the reference to QC. I saw a guy ticket a line up of bikes just for exausts without anybody on them and with no other plan but to make the easy cash.

Hater lol

[shicksr6]

Basically if you buy one you will be fine. There is a line of discretion on what is too loud and what is not. If the cops is in a ****** mood he'll hand you the ticket worth 110$$, personally ive had an exhaust system on 2 cars and i have a yosh pipe on my bike never once had a ticket. So its really up to you.

[strictlye]

Ummmm, no that is not true at all. There is no provision for noise. The only thing is straight pipes... not good.

Tell that to the cop who gave me a ticket for excessive noise with my OEM exhaust. It's excessive if the cop says it is.