Springfield, OR Noise from Specific Sources: Car Alarm Limits (2026)

Springfield's noise ordinance, Municipal Code Section 5.220, does not carve out a chapter specifically for car alarms; instead, a vehicle alarm falls under the same burglar or fire alarm exemption the code applies to home and business security systems. Subsection (2) sets the baseline rule: no person may create or allow the continuance of any noise that is unreasonable in its volume or duration. Subsection (3) lists several per se violations, including keeping an animal that causes a continuous disturbance audible off the property for more than 15 minutes, showing the ordinance's general pattern of tying noise violations to a 15-minute duration threshold.

Subsection (4) then lists sounds that are permitted notwithstanding subsections (2) and (3), and paragraph (d) exempts sounds made by burglar or fire alarms operating repetitively or continuously for not more than 15 minutes, which covers a car alarm triggered by a bump, break-in attempt, or malfunction. Once an alarm, vehicle or otherwise, continues sounding past that 15-minute mark, the exemption no longer applies and the alarm can be cited as an unreasonable noise under subsection (2), or, if it is loud and mechanical enough, potentially under the automobile, motorcycle, or other vehicle per se clause in subsection (3)(b), which targets vehicles or engines operated in such manner as to create loud or unnecessary grating, grinding, rattling, or other noises.

Subsection (5) sets the penalty for any violation of subsections (2) or (3) at a fine of up to $720 under SMC Section 1.205, the same general penalty schedule used throughout Chapter 5. There is no separate towing or impound provision tied to a car alarm in this section; the alarm complaint is handled as a standard noise citation.