Fauquier County, VA Noise from Specific Sources: Car Alarm Limits (2026)

Section 13.5-4 lists activities exempt from the noise chapter, and subsection (a)(14) pairs two exemptions together: electric garage door openers installed and operated per manufacturer specifications, and 'alarms or noise emanating from a motor vehicle when locking or unlocking such vehicle.' That means the routine chirp, horn-tap or light flash a car makes when a driver locks or unlocks it with a key fob is carved out of the general noise prohibitions in § 13.5-3, including the residential decibel limits and quiet-hours windows. The exemption is narrow: it covers only the locking/unlocking signal, not a triggered anti-theft alarm siren that continues sounding, which is not listed among § 13.5-4's exemptions and would instead be evaluated under the general plainly-audible and decibel standards in § 13.5-3(a).

Other listed § 13.5-4(a) exemptions covering related noise sources include the emission of sound to alert people to an emergency (subsection (9)), sound from law enforcement, fire and rescue responding to an emergency (subsection (10)), and backup generators run during a power outage from a storm or other emergency (subsection (12)). The noise chapter's severability clause in § 13.5-5 preserves the rest of the chapter's rules even if one exemption or provision were struck down, and county officials retain authority to pursue nuisance remedies separately from the noise chapter itself.