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

Section 14.03.003 catalogs the noises Hutto treats as Article 14.03 nuisances, and subsection (5), "Horns or other signal devices on vehicles," is the one that reaches an alarm sounding on a vehicle: it bans the continued or frequent sounding of any horn or signal device on an automobile, motorcycle, bus or other vehicle except as a danger or warning signal, and separately bans using such a device to create an unreasonably loud or harsh sound for an unnecessary and unreasonable period of time. A car alarm cycling repeatedly in a driveway or parking lot without stopping falls squarely within that second clause, since it is neither a warning signal nor a brief alert.

The same article also reaches other vehicle sounds nearby in the list: subsection (1) bans music amplification audible 100 feet from a moving vehicle, subsection (15) bans nonwarning sirens and horns on vehicles generally, and subsection (17) bans engine-braking devices on named roads including U.S. 79, F.M. 685, F.M. 1660 and S.H. 130. Section 14.03.006 exempts a horn sounded as a genuine warning device and sound from emergency vehicles from the article entirely, so a car alarm that trips briefly to arm or disarm, or that sounds to warn of an actual intrusion, is not itself the violation; it is the continued, unnecessary sounding that the ordinance targets.

Enforcement runs through section 14.03.007: any violation of Article 14.03 is a Class C misdemeanor, fined under the citywide general penalty in section 1.01.009, with each day the alarm continues sounding charged as a separate offense.