Lima, OH Noise Ordinances: Vehicle Noise (2026)

Vehicle noise in Lima has two prongs. Amplified sound from a vehicle (car stereos, loudspeakers) is a 'noise disturbance' under Codified Ordinance 648.20 when heard across a property boundary or in public. Engine and exhaust noise is governed by Ohio Revised Code 4513.22, which requires every motor vehicle and motorcycle with an internal combustion engine to have a muffler in good working order and constant operation to prevent excessive or unusual noise, and bans muffler cutouts or bypasses on highways. Ohio courts have narrowed this to prohibit defective or bypassed mufflers rather than simply loud factory ones. Lima Police enforce both the local stereo rule and the state exhaust statute.