Parsippany-Troy Hills, NJ Noise from Specific Sources: Car Alarm Limits (2026)

Section 258-5C(5) of the Township of Parsippany-Troy Hills noise chapter regulates alarm duration, not alarm volume. An exterior burglar alarm of a building or motor vehicle must be activated in such a manner that it terminates its operation within five minutes for continuous airborne sound and within 15 minutes for impulsive sound after it has been activated. The same clause states that at all times the limits in Tables I and II do not apply, so an officer measures how long the alarm runs and does not take a decibel reading.

Two time limits apply because the code separates sound types. IMPULSIVE SOUND, defined in § 258-1, is either a single pressure peak or a single burst of multiple pressure peaks lasting less than one second, which describes a chirping or repeating pulse. Continuous airborne sound is the steady wail or siren. A car alarm that sounds continuously has five minutes, and one that pulses has 15 minutes, counted from activation.

The rule follows the vehicle as well as the building. A MOTOR VEHICLE is any vehicle propelled other than by human or animal power on land, so the clause covers cars, trucks and motorcycles parked on a residential street or in a lot in Parsippany-Troy Hills. It also covers exterior alarms on houses, stores and offices.

The clause is limited to exterior burglar alarms. Fire alarms and other required alarm systems are governed elsewhere in the Code, and stationary emergency signaling devices follow N.J.A.C. 7:29-1.3 with testing capped so that it cannot meet or exceed 10 seconds (§ 258-2C).

Noise control officers, certified under § 258-3, enforce the chapter and can work with officers in adjacent municipalities.