Dearborn Heights, MI Noise Ordinances: Vehicle Noise (2026)

Dearborn Heights City Code § 32-425, adopted by Ordinance No. H-00-10 in November 2000, targets the owner, operator, or anyone in possession of or exercising control over a motor vehicle, whether the vehicle is moving or parked, on public or private property, from which sound is plainly audible thirty feet away. The section lists the sources broadly: radio, phonograph, stereo system, compact disc player, cassette player, eight-track tape, television set, amplified or unamplified musical instrument, microphone, sound system, or sound amplification device, and it adds loud voices to the list as well, so a car stereo, a karaoke setup running off a vehicle's power, or simply loud arguing or shouting from inside or near a vehicle can all trigger the section if the sound carries thirty feet.

The thirty-foot distance is the sole test; the ordinance does not require police to measure decibels, only that the sound be 'plainly audible' at that distance from the vehicle that is the source. Because the section is written as its own misdemeanor rather than a civil infraction folded into the general Uniform Traffic Code penalty, it sets its own maximum: a fine of not more than $500, imprisonment for not more than thirty days, or both, roughly five times the $100 fine cap that section 32-577(b) sets for ordinary traffic misdemeanors that do not specify their own penalty.

The rule applies whether the vehicle is parked in a driveway or moving down the street, and it covers private property as well as public streets, so a car stereo audible from thirty feet away in a home driveway is treated the same as one idling at a curb.