Texas City, TX Noise Ordinances: Vehicle Noise (2026)

The core rule is § 70.11 of the Texas City Code of Ordinances, part of Title VII (Traffic). Subsection (A) bars any person operating or occupying a motor vehicle from operating, or permitting the operation of, a sound amplification system from within the vehicle so that the sound is plainly audible at a distance of 50 or more feet from the vehicle. A sound amplification system is any radio, tape player, compact disc player, loud speaker or other electronic device used for the amplification of sound.

The code sets the test itself. Plainly audible means the sound clearly can be heard at 50 feet or more, measured by the auditory senses, based on direct line of sight. Words or phrases need not be discernable, and bass reverberations are included, so a thumping subwoofer counts even when no lyrics carry. The vehicle can be stopped, standing, parked or moving, on a street, highway, alley, parking lot or driveway, on either public or private property.

Subsection (D) lists affirmative defenses, available only to an operator not otherwise prohibited by law from running the system. They cover a system used to request medical or vehicular assistance or to warn of a hazardous road condition, an emergency or public safety vehicle, a vehicle owned and operated by a public utility company including the city, an authorized public activity such as a parade, fireworks, sporting event or musical production approved by the City Commission or a city department authorized to approve it, and an operator holding a mechanical loudspeaker/amplifier permit under § 94.009.

Other vehicle noise sits in the general noise section, § 94.009(B). It lists as prohibited the discharge of a motor vehicle engine's exhaust into the open air except through a muffler or other device that effectively prevents loud or explosive noises, a vehicle so out of repair, so loaded or so operated that it makes spinning or squealing tires, grating, grinding or rattling, horn sounding while not in motion except as a danger signal, and mechanical loudspeakers or amplifiers on trucks or other vehicles. Radio playing is singled out between 11:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m.

Golf carts and neighborhood electric vehicles carry their own versions. Section 74.21(E) requires a muffler in good working condition on combustion-engine carts and bars a muffler cutout, bypass or similar device, and § 74.22(E) repeats the 50-foot amplification limit.