This is it guys; I've had enough.

SON240sx Automotive
1

So I got another improper fucking muffler ticket today. A cop sees my car from the opposite side of the road and u-turns just to follow me and look for something wrong with my car. He also checked for working e-brake, horn, etc etc.

I’m gonna fight it to the end and I’m gonna update you with exactly what I plan to say as my defense in court. According to the HTA section 75(1) – the section corresponding to the HTA violation written on the ticket:

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).</b>

To start things off, my exhaust is an Apex’i N1 catback- so it’s not some bullshit ghetto exhaust. I have a cat, resonator, and muffler which does in fact does muffle the sound of the engine. If i took my exhaust off for any cop there is no way they could disagree. There is no set dB limit written here, so to say that my muffler is ‘too loud’ isn’t enough to write me out an HTA violation.

He didn’t inspect my muffler. He didn’t check for a catalytic converter or resonator. He didn’t actually look for anything on my car that actually corresponds to section 75.(1) in the HTA, so as far as I know, he had no right to give me the ticket.

Any input from you guys would help, of course, this way we would all have a reliable, “100% win” defense in court for this crap that cops are wasting their time on.

If the defense actually holds up in court it would be awesome if we could sticky this or something for convenience.

2

I wonder if it’s a good idea to speak with a crown prosecutor prior to your court date… see if they will drop the charge w/o the hassles of court?

3

That would be easier, I’m sure, but I think he’s looking to set precedence to make this kind of bullshit easier to get out of, or occur less.

If it happened as you say, it’s pretty funking rediculous, and unfortunately, entirely plausible.

4

The same thing happened to me too one night.

It was late, about 4:00 am. I was waiting at a red light going East. In the Westbound direction, also waiting for the green light was a cop. The whole time he was starting at me. When the light turned green I left, shortly after I pass the inersection I see him making a u-turn, then he pulls me over.
For the first time I got the typical “Do you know why I pulled you over?”
Since I had a brake light out, I said, “Was it because of my brake light?”
To which he said, " No, guess again…"

At this point I thinking WTF don’t you have something beter to do?

He ended up giving me a ticket for my exhaust, again, not checking for anything or even asking if I had a cat etc. I took it to court, but forgot the date and ended up losing the case anyway. Oh well…
BUT… Here is the kicker. Earlier that same day, I was pulled over by MTO Spot Check shit. They went through every inch of my car, and said everything was up to snuff and they made me rev it to 3500 RPM.

But some dick in a cruiser at 4:00 am knows better than MTO I guess.

Anyway, good luck Chris, I don’t think you should have a problem with this one.

5

I’ve been pulled over for this too.

“your muffler is a little loud and grabbed my attention”

“well its a flowmaster super40 with a brullen resonator and a walker cat, every part of the exhuast system was replaced and not deleted, is there somewhere I can bring it to you guys to have it inspected?”

“no”

“whats the upper dB limit for mufflers?”

“Its up to the officers discretion, go slower and give’r less, have a nice day”

This officer had one of those telescopic pointer deal-ies with a mirror on the end and he actually used it to look under the car, at around 10pm in the dark, good luck seeing an black exhuast.

But none the less, see it through to court, prep for it and you should win.

6

just to set a point get a lawyer involved!

7

i also got a ticket last weekend for a loud exhaust.

i got pulled over a month ago as well cause it caught the cops attention but he gave me a headlight ticket instead?

well im going to get a first attendence date set and put my silencers back in and go from there.

8

just to set things straight, if you get a ticket for “exhaust being too loud” its in the officers discretion and you will probably loose, however if you got the “improper muffler” ticket, fight it, you will most likely win.

9

Once I get my turbo, how is my Dart Izumi ganna fair with no cat, no resonator and no muffler? lol, I’ll keep you guys updated on how many tickets I get.

10

That sucks balls. My muffler is pretty loud and i never got into trouble. (crossing my fingers)

I would recommend taking it to court and speaking with a justice of peace (? or something like that) prior to the court date. Take some pics of the car and the muffler system (cat + resonator + muffler) and I would even take a small vid with my cellphone while pressing the gas to show how “not” loud the muffler is.

Let us know how you’re gonna fight it and what happens.

Good luck.

11

That doesn’t set anything straight… which specific law are you referring to re: “exhaust being too loud”?

12

same thing happened to me chris.

to make a long story short, after i made it clear that he had nothing on me for his claim of “speeding” and “running a yellow light”, he inspected my car under the hood, but did not check the exhaust system AT ALL. he simply asked me to rev it, i did, to 3500 rpm. i told him i even bought the car that way. issued me a ticket for “improper muffler”.

at the same time, it’s a good thing he didn’t check, because i later found out that the previous owner had gutted the cat.

i took it to court. my date was november 3, 2006. drove to richmond hill from sauga at 8 in the morning, was hassled by some fat broad when signing in, and when i sat down, they closed the floor and told us we’d be getting new court dates in the mail. still waiting… funny, he showed up, yet we came for nothing.

i guess this is the clincher - “prevent excessive or unusual noise”.

i haven’t been hassled by cops at all since then. where did you get the ticket chris?

13

i battle you on who has the loudest/deepest exhaust

trust dd vs dart izumi!

14

Well right now it sounds like monkey ass cause I’m still NA (and my car is in storage haha), but this summer after I go KA-T, it’s going down for that for sure! :cool:

15

wow, you guys get hassled with loud exhausts a lot eh, i never got one, i blow by cops and don’t get bothered. i dunno why. i usually get pulled over by cops hiding and shit. last week, i got chased by a cop as i was doing 180kms on morningside down ellesmere, that big fucking slope. the cop pulled over 2 kms later, cause i idnd’t see him, and he said " you know how hard it was to catch up to you?" he took my info, and went to the car, i was like, OHHH SHIT, here comes the questions and stupid ass fines, and probably lose my license.

he comes back “you were doing 120 over, you get 10 points, 500 dollar ticket, and lose your license, BUT, i’m going to give you a break, 10 over, no points, 40 dollar ticket.” like…come fucking on. what, they give little asians a break everytime? like, i got stickers, loud exhaust, exhaust leak, chain rattle at that time as my oil was getting thin, three different rims, drift stickers all over the damn place, baseball bat in the back seat, a folded metal chair in the back seat, tools all over the place, a pool of zip ties everyhwere…and he doesn’t ask any other questions about the obvious stuff about my car, and just went back to his car. as i was putting my shit back in my glove box, he honked at me with his siren to tell me to get moving, so kinda sped off, doing around 80 again, he was following me, and still didn’t pull me over again, so then i booked it and got on the highway and he was gone.

i’m not really asking to get hassleed, but…wtf.

16

I now enjoy living in Niagara a little bit more after reading all that crap, The worst I have ever been bothered for at 4am before was a cop that pulled me over because it was odd to see someone driving a car like mine at 4am. I didnt bother to question him and he let me go on my way.

17

i think ive heard the dart ONCE and i forgot how it sounds

u better get a video of it later and without the silencers…

18

still waiting on a court date for improper muffler and a noise one, happend in late november…How long does that thing take anyways? i cant remember if the chick at the court place said 6 weeks or 6 months for a date?

19

wow, toronto sucks. Ive never been bothered for that shit in london, but i guess my car isn’t nearly as loud as yours chris. once you leave GTA cops don’t care. I don’t drive like a retard all the time but ive done my fair share of pull-over worthy things in close proximity to cops and never been bothered by them.

20

I can attest. The Trust DD is THE shit when it comes to NA exhausts… I never would have thought a pair of NA pipes could sound that good… amazing really.

I got a ticket a while ago, along with it came a form to fill out that goes to the crown prosecutor, they called it a plea bargain reguest or something… I filled it out and am awaiting a reply. I was busted doing 151km/h in a 100. Really hoping they lower it to the 15km over zone but I doubt it.

Oh yea, and 1 week before that I got a ticket for unnecesary noise. my entire exhaust system is stock… why the noise ticket? I guess my winter tires create too much noise when they are going sideways on dry pavement. hehe. $50 fine, I felt like I should just pay that one as my plates weren’t even valid at that point.