Gwinnett County, GA Noise from Specific Sources: Car Alarm Limits (2026)
Key Facts
- Covered by definition
- Sec. 38-45, 'testing of...car alarms'
- Outdoor residential daytime limit
- 300 ft+ barred, 8am-10pm
- Outdoor residential nighttime limit
- 50 ft+ barred, 10pm-8am
- First offense penalty
- written warning
- Repeat offense (12 mo.)
- $250 to $1,000 fines
- Emergency alarm exemption
- required vehicle warning devices only
Summary
Gwinnett County's noise code specifically calls out testing of car alarms as regulated "sound," so an alarm going off and carrying past the article's distance limits is a noise disturbance like any other, not an exempt category, under Sec. 38-45.
Sound means any oscillation in pressure, particle displacement, particle velocity or other physical parameter, in a medium with internal forces that causes compression and rarefaction of that medium. The description of sound may include any characteristic of such sound, including duration, intensity, and frequency. Bass reverberations constitute sound. Sound includes, but is not limited to:(1)Mechanical sound-making devices such as radios, stereos, speakers, loudspeakers, soundbars, televisions, musical instruments, horns, whistles, bells, chimes or carillons, phonographs, amplification devices, or other machines or devices for the producing, reproducing or amplifying of sound;(2)Human-produced sounds such as yelling, shouting, hooting, whistling, singing, speaking or arguing;(3)Impulsive sound;(4)Party and event noise;(5)Testing of burglar, fire, or car alarms; and(6)Sound coming from construction and demolition activities, machines, or electrical generators.
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: Code of Ordinances: Supplement 9).
Full Breakdown
Sec. 38-45 lists "testing of burglar, fire, or car alarms" as one of the six specific categories the ordinance's definition of "sound" expressly covers, alongside mechanical devices, human-produced noise, impulsive sound, party noise, and construction sound. That listing matters because Article III regulates "noise or noise disturbance," defined as any sound "louder than permitted by this chapter" or "plainly audible at distances exceeding those permitted." Testing your car alarm, or leaving a malfunctioning one blaring, is treated exactly like any other regulated sound source, not carved out as an exemption.
Which specific limit applies depends on where the alarm is going off. A car alarm sounding from a vehicle parked outdoors at a residential use is capped by the outdoor-residential table in Sec. 38-47(3)c: it can't be plainly audible 300 feet away or more between 8:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m., or 50 feet away or more overnight from 10:00 p.m. to 8:00 a.m. If the alarm is at a business or in a parking lot that doesn't fit the residential outdoor category, the general catch-all table in Sec. 38-48 applies instead, using the same 300-foot day / 50-foot night distances for a residential receiving land use, or wider 500-foot day / 200-foot night bands for nonresidential receiving uses.
Sec. 38-46 exempts sound from an audible warning device required on a vehicle by state or federal law when it's used for its intended emergency-alerting purpose, but that exemption is about a vehicle's required alarm doing its job, not about a car alarm that's simply testing or malfunctioning and disturbing neighbors past the article's distance and time limits.
Violations & Fines
A first substantiated car-alarm noise complaint results in a written warning under Sec. 38-53(b). A repeat violation within 12 months of that warning is fined $250, a third is $500, and further violations in that window run up to $1,000 each. Each day the disturbance continues counts as a separate offense, enforced by the Gwinnett County Police Department or the Department of Planning and Development under Sec. 38-52.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is testing or triggering a car alarm illegal noise in Gwinnett County?
How far does a car alarm have to carry before it's a violation?
Does a required factory car alarm get an exemption?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Gwinnett County
Compare Gwinnett County to another location·View the Georgia noise from specific sources overview
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