Taylor, TX Noise Ordinances: Vehicle Noise (2026)

Section 17-381, in Article XIV of Chapter 17 governing vehicle equipment, imposes two distinct duties. Subsection (a) requires every vehicle to be equipped with a muffler in good working order and in constant operation whenever the vehicle is used, specifically to prevent excessive or unusual noise, and separately prohibits a muffler cutout, bypass or similar device on a highway or street if it creates excessive or unusual noise; a driver who installs an aftermarket exhaust that removes the muffler's noise-suppressing function violates this clause even if the vehicle otherwise runs.

Subsection (b) is broader and does not depend on the muffler at all: it bans emitting excessive or unusual noise on the highways or streets from any person or vehicle, and it bars equipping a vehicle with any noisemaker other than the horn required elsewhere in the chapter, which reaches aftermarket horns, sirens or sound devices unrelated to exhaust noise. The section sits alongside Section 17-382, which requires every motor vehicle to carry a working horn audible from at least 200 feet but bars using it as anything other than a warning device, and separately prohibits any vehicle from carrying a siren, whistle or bell except an authorized emergency vehicle.

Because Section 17-381 traces back to the city's 1954 traffic code, it predates modern sound-level metering; it does not set a decibel limit, and enforcement instead turns on whether a police officer determines the noise is excessive or unusual under the plain language of the section.