Corpus Christi, TX Noise from Specific Sources: Car Alarm Limits (2026)

Under Sec. " Subsection (3) singles out "the continued or frequent sounding of any horn or other signal device on any automobile or vehicle, motorcycle, bus or other vehicle, except as a danger signal," language that reaches a car alarm blaring after being triggered, as opposed to a single horn tap used to warn. Responsibility for an alarm going off does not require anyone to be present: Sec. 31-9(c) assigns liability to "any person who leaves unattended any machine, instrument, device, animal, or any combination of same, which thereafter commences producing noise in violation of this chapter," so a parked car with a malfunctioning alarm still exposes the owner.

Chapter 31's general exceptions in Sec. 31-6 carve out sound "for the purpose of alerting persons to an emergency" and sound from emergency vehicles, but a nuisance car alarm does not qualify. Enforcement runs through Sec. 31-8: a violation is a misdemeanor punishable by the general Code fine set in Sec. 00, and "each act of violation and each day of violation is considered a separate violation," so a chronically malfunctioning alarm can generate multiple citations. Sec. 31-8(b) separately criminalizes obstructing an officer who is enforcing an abatement order.

Because Sec. 31-2(a)(3) sits inside the general noise-nuisance list rather than a fixed decibel table, officers weigh whether the sounding was "continued or frequent" and disturbed a person of reasonable sensibilities, rather than metering a specific dB(A) threshold.