Penn Hills, PA Noise Ordinances: Vehicle Noise (2026)

Chapter 456 of the Code of the Municipality of Penn Hills, titled Operation of Vehicles, handles vehicle noise in two separate sections, both adopted by Ordinance 1938 on 11-17-1986. Section 456.05 bars any excessive, harsh or unreasonably loud noise from the use or operation of a motorcycle, motorized bicycle, motor scooter, snowmobile, all terrain vehicle, go-cart, racer or other motorized vehicle. The test is character, frequency, intensity or duration: noise that injures or endangers the comfort, repose, health, safety, welfare and peace of others. The section is written for operation on private property or Municipally-owned property, and that is the scope the text names.

Section 456.07 is the muffler rule and stands on its own. No one is allowed to discharge the exhaust of any internal combustion engine into the open air except through an adequate muffler or other device that effectively prevents loud or explosive noises. The wording covers any internal combustion engine, not only road vehicles, and it prints no decibel number. The standard is whether the device effectively prevents loud or explosive noises.

Section 456.06 sits between the two and controls where these machines run. Nobody operates a motorcycle, motorized bicycle, motor scooter, snowmobile, all terrain vehicle, go-cart, racer or other motorized vehicle on private or Municipally-owned property, other than property the operator owns, unless written permission has been secured from the property owner. The operator carries that written permission on his or her person at all times of operation.

Two neighboring rules reach other vehicle noise. Section 456.03 forbids sounding the horn or other warning device of a vehicle except when absolutely necessary as a warning signal while actually driving. Chapter 636, the Noise chapter adopted by Ordinance 2019-2654 on 10-21-2019, covers car stereos: operating sound equipment so it is plainly audible at a distance of 50 feet from a vehicle in which it is located, at any time, is prima facie evidence of a violation under § 636.02(b)(1). Chapter 636 has its own verbal-warning step and its own penalty, and those do not carry over to Chapter 456.