Cathedral City, CA Noise Ordinances: Vehicle Noise (2026)

Section 11.96.040(A) of the Cathedral City Municipal Code applies to anyone operating or occupying a motor vehicle on a public right-of-way, a public place or private property. It bars operating or permitting any radio, stereo receiver, musical instrument, television, computer, compact disc player, tape recorder, cassette player or other device that produces or reproduces sound from within the vehicle when the sound is plainly audible at a distance of fifty feet from the vehicle. For a vehicle on private property, the test is whether the sound carries beyond the property line. The chapter defines plainly audible as any sound a person can detect with unaided hearing, so no meter reading is needed.

The muffler rule sits in § 11.96.030(A)(3). In Cathedral City it is unlawful to operate or permit the use of a motor vehicle on a public right-of-way, a public place or private property within a residential zone when the exhaust muffler, intake muffler or any other noise abatement device has been modified so the vehicle is louder than it was as originally manufactured. The same subsection list also bars sounding a horn other than as the Vehicle Code or other California laws require or permit, and racing the engine of a vehicle that is not in motion unless the work is repairing, adjusting or testing.

The decibel table in § 11.96.030(A)(6) does not apply here, because it exempts noises caused by motor vehicles or trains. Stereo cases turn on the fifty-foot test instead.

The police department and code compliance division share administration of the chapter under § 11.96.080. For a stereo violation, § 11.96.040(C) allows a misdemeanor citation, a notice of public nuisance, criminal and civil penalties, and immediate confiscation and impoundment as evidence of the amplifying components. If the component cannot come out without harming the vehicle, officers can impound the motor vehicle itself. An owner requests the vehicle back in writing from the police department within seven calendar days of the confiscation.