Is having aftermarket exhaust illegal in Washington state?
 

I ordered agency power exhaust for my FRS three days ago.
And I was doing a little research and I came to a conclusion that aftermarket exhaust is indeed illegal in Washington state.
And also imports with modified exhaust are prone to get pulled over and get a ticket possibly.
Are these all true? Can anyone with aftermarket exhaust share some of your experiences? I mean this is like the first time that I actually want to do something to my car and I don't want to get pulled over all the time by having aftermarket exhaust... So I ended up cancelling my order for now.

I am 33 and got 2 kids and I don't want any headaches from state cops.

thanks guys.

As long as your not a douche about it, revving and speeding to show off. You should be ok.

Technically yes, modifying your exhaust is illegal. If you're not driving like an asshat (or in Federal Way) you will be fine. I rocked a straight pipe on my MR2 loud enough to be heard a mile away for some time, which I replaced with a Greddy SP. No problems at all.


So don't drive like a douche, and stay away from Federal Way.

I've had after market exhaust on all my vehicles and I've lived in the Seattle area for years. Never had any problems.

the way i under stand it is aftermarket exhausts are ok but they cant be louder then stock. but cops dont use db meters any more so its all by ear. and like people have told me do you know the stock db of *insert car here. no you dont. and are you MR. officer a db meter no i dont think so.

Yes it is illegal, an exhaust other than factory is illegal reguardless of decibel readings. It is ultimately the law enforcement officer's discretion.

Contact the SEMA Action Network. They've put in legislation in multiple states that have tried this ban. Basically all the state laws are identical at a 95db limit from a certain distance away. The cops have a decimal meter to actually measure.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks for all your inputs. Now I am curious if TRD is going to be illegal too. It is being sold at a dealer as an option. Hard to imagine you buy a brand new car from a dealer and being illegal.
This law is just absurd imo

Decimal reading doesn't matter here in WA.

I don't think the TRD exhaust would be illegal as it is an option from factory. Don't quote me on that though.

Yes it does, very much so and the officer pointed me to this RCW (and only issued me a warning, this was 8 years ago)

http://apps.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=46.37.390

Bold and Color are mine.


A TRD exhaust meets that criteria as you can order a TRD exhaust with a brand new car installed by the dealer. So TRD is definitely good to go in WA State.

Also what makes the wording of the law so rough is that it's pretty ambiguous and leaves it up to the officer to make the call.

They don't write a lot of tickets on this from understanding however. Loud exhausts, from a perspective your neighbors, co-workers, boss, wife, family and pretty much everyone make the driver look kind of like a tool. just sayin'

But hey, go with what you like and who cares what people say right!?!

edit: not directed at the OP or anyone specifically. The AP exhaust nor the TRD exhaust are loud fart-can kind of setups.

I got pulled over in 2007, for an Espelir Exhaust which had documentation that it was 50 state legal. It was well below the decibel reading. Law states anything other than factory is illegal.

Join the SEMA Action Network and contact your state legislators. These types of laws ignore the facts that aftermarket exhaust systems increase fuel mileage & reduce emissions.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Give another look at the wording. It does not state aftermarket exhausts are legal, it essentially says THEY ARE but not if they're louder than the OEM option. Where have you seen it specifically says aftermarket exhausts are illegal? Just so people know, it is VERY possible to make power without making more sound regardless of what Harley Davidson wants us to believe.

"In a manner" means modifying is allowed but must meet the criteria set out by terms following the phrase; "In a manner".

You might want to consider keeping a copy of the RCW in your glove box.

I do exactly that when I'm towing to the track (and have a passenger) and use the car-pool lane. Some cops may see me with a trailer and think I'm not allowed in the HOV lane but the RCW states that as long as my total combined weight is under 10k lbs I'm good. And it is. And I have documentation with regarding both the law and weight.

:laughabove: @ the reduce emissions.

I don't know about you but as I've read through countless Header/Exhaust build threads on this forum alone I see many (if not most) people looking for options that remove 1 or both catalytic converters for MO POWAAAAA!

Not here to argue with you man, just went through a whole thread back then on northwestnissans.c o m when it went down and they analyzed the law and quoted everything just like you did. OP, your call. Just giving you my advice based on my experience.

Here's the link to the thread:
http://www.northwestnissans.com/boar...73-Pulled-over

And just a quote from that thread:

I got pulled over for "non-stock exhaust" on the way home from PIR. I was like "it meets the db requirement". Apparently ANY modification is illegal. He said if I'm going to take the car out with an exhaust like that, I should trailer it to the track. I guess it didn't help that I had no bumpers on the car ;-)

I don't think anyone should have to spend money replacing their aftermarket exhaust (which was legal when it was installed) with a stock one. Why should people have to pay for something just because a law changed? So what, now it's going to be illegal to sell them? I don't think so! It's just another legal money making scam. Just like rental car companies charging you for going over 70mph. If they were so worried about it they should limit the speed of the car.

BTW: No bumpers, illegal exhaust, no proof of insurance, no ticket ;-)


-Matt-Panic!

I am not an attorney nor a car expert but 99% of aftermarket exhausts are going to be louder than OEM so that pretty much makes all aftermarket exhausts illegal. The only exception would be TRD I think, because you can order a brand new car with TRD as an option. Now it gets confusing. So if TRD is acceptable any exhausts that aren't louder than TRD are legal now?

thats exactly what i said. and how may cops can tell you what the exact db of your stock car is NONE!!!! i dont even know the stock db of all the cars i own. plus if "aftermarket" mufflers were illegal you couldnt put an OEM replacement muffler from a muffler shop you would have to by an OEM part from a dealer and they cant make you do that.

I didn't say anything about removing cats. It's illegal to do anything to the factory cat here in CA, but a catback exhaust for sure does reduce emissions simply based on the better mileage from installing it. (As long as you can keep your foot off the floor)

Hated, I found this question humorous as it's rather self evident.

Why should I have to pay for something because the law changed? The answer: Because the law changed.

Will not believe without data and I've never seen data to suggest this is a common occurrence.

Better mileage =/= better emissions.

You can increase mpg while simultaneously increasing emissions, in fact I venture to guess that's what most commonly happens.

I agree, Matt is a really good guy/drifter/fabricator, just maybe a tad rebellious. Haha.