Akron, OH Noise Ordinances: Vehicle Noise (2026)

Section 74.56 of Akron's Traffic Code, in the Equipment and Loads chapter, sets the standard for what counts as an illegally loud vehicle on city streets. Subsection A requires every motor vehicle and motorcycle with an internal-combustion engine to carry a muffler that is in good working order and running at all times to prevent excessive or unusual noise, and it flatly bans installing a muffler cutout, bypass, or similar device that routes exhaust around the muffler; motorcycle mufflers must additionally carry baffle plates. Subsection B separately targets vehicles rigged to emit excessive smoke or gas, or modified so that oil or another chemical flows into the exhaust pipe or muffler, and subsection C makes it illegal for a seller, lessor, or installer to sell, lease, install, or replace a muffler or exhaust component that fails to prevent excessive noise or that amplifies exhaust sound.

Subsection D adds a hard number: no motor vehicle or motorcycle may emit a sound exceeding ninety decibels, measured from a point at least twenty feet from the vehicle, whether the vehicle is parked with the engine running at its highest speed or moving. That ninety-decibel ceiling does not apply to vehicles operated by state or local law enforcement or firefighting agencies while on duty. Because § 74.56 sits in the general Traffic Code, Akron police officers enforce it the same way they enforce other equipment violations: during a traffic stop where an officer can hear or measure the excess noise directly, not through a separate noise-complaint process.