# Stock 2022 Hyundai Elantra had registration pulled by officer over noise **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 17, 2022, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stock-2022-hyundai-elantra-had-registration-pulled-by-officer-over-noise/973355 "2022-10-17T02:23:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2022, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stock-2022-hyundai-elantra-had-registration-pulled-by-officer-over-noise/973355/1 "2022-10-17T02:23:57Z")
[Video here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4g-esW0tos&t=0s), A Riverside Police Officer pulls over a driver for a loud car. The officer didn’t look under the hood to see if it had any modifications and suspended his registration until the state certified it was repaired. It was a bone stock vehicle that has multiple modes and one of the modes is louder than the state allows. There’s nothing to repair. The dealer certifies it’s stock and the state inspection was done in the loudest mode (which it failed). There may be more to this. I couldn’t find any mainstream news outlets picking it up. It seems like a pretty excessive enforcement of law for what is a simple noise violation… Is this something people in California regularly experience or is it a bizarre single event? ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2022, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stock-2022-hyundai-elantra-had-registration-pulled-by-officer-over-noise/973355/2 "2022-10-17T03:39:20Z")
One important point: It was a Hyundai Elantra **N** , the high performance version, not a standard Elantra. > [@Magiver](#): > > Is this something people in California regularly experience or is it a bizarre single event? I’ve lived in California since 2005, and this is the first I’ve heard of anything like this happening. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2022, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stock-2022-hyundai-elantra-had-registration-pulled-by-officer-over-noise/973355/3 "2022-10-17T03:57:59Z")
> [@WildaBeast](#): > > One important point: It was a Hyundai Elantra **N** , the high performance version, not a standard Elantra. Yes, Sorry I left that out. I’m wondering if this guy was a constant nuisance in Riverside and they decided to make an example out of him. There has to be more to this story but I couldn’t find any local news on it. the Officer comes off looking like a seriously passive aggressive jerk. ---
**Author:** ![Sylvanz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/fbc32d/32.png) [@Sylvanz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sylvanz)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2022, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stock-2022-hyundai-elantra-had-registration-pulled-by-officer-over-noise/973355/4 "2022-10-17T03:58:28Z")
I don’t live in Cali. In my town and near by we have noise ordinances. However, they only seem to apply to crappy old cars with failing mufflers. Big trucks, with packed mufflers, motorcycles, and tricked out cars that are all ear piercingly loud, get a pass. I wish they would _at least_ give these people tickets. They don’t though, they chase down older model cars for spurious reasons. Mostly, wanting to see paper work, so they gotta’ pull them over for something. The poor people around here would lose registration while the intentionally loud attention seekers go on with their lives. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2022, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stock-2022-hyundai-elantra-had-registration-pulled-by-officer-over-noise/973355/5 "2022-10-17T04:04:29Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > I’m wondering if this guy was a constant nuisance in Riverside and they decided to make an example out of him. Now that you mention that, the loudest mode is called “track” mode, IIRC. As the name implies, it’s really only indented for use on the race track. But there’s nothing to prevent the driver from enabling that mode on the street, so I wonder if this guy was driving around in track mode on public streets. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2022, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stock-2022-hyundai-elantra-had-registration-pulled-by-officer-over-noise/973355/6 "2022-10-17T13:32:35Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > Is this something people in California regularly experience or is it a bizarre single event? Given [how seldom such noise ordinances are enforced](https://urbanmilwaukee.com/2014/09/02/murphys-law-the-unbearable-loudness-of-harley-hogs/) in general, it probably falls into the category of “bizarre single event”. On average, at least one a week I hear a motorcyclist without adequate muffler accelerating madly with corresponding racket, up the road near my house. I’ve never seen one pulled over. ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2022, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stock-2022-hyundai-elantra-had-registration-pulled-by-officer-over-noise/973355/7 "2022-10-17T13:42:45Z")
I wonder if this is covered by California’s lemon law. The car cannot be registered, it’s value has been reduced, it has not been abused by the owner, and the dealer cannot restore the car to a condition where it will be drivable on public streets. Hyundai should be picking up the hardship since they designed and sold a car that is in violation of state law. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2022, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stock-2022-hyundai-elantra-had-registration-pulled-by-officer-over-noise/973355/8 "2022-10-17T14:40:07Z")
> [@Cheesesteak](#): > > I wonder if this is covered by California’s lemon law. It sounds like the driver could have a legal car if he changed the mode so it is not a lemon. It’s the driver being an ass. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2022, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stock-2022-hyundai-elantra-had-registration-pulled-by-officer-over-noise/973355/9 "2022-10-17T14:41:32Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > The officer didn’t look under the hood to see if it had any modifications and suspended his registration until the state certified it was repaired. This part confuses me. I would think it is a court or DMV that can suspend a car registration - not an LEO. The most they can do is cite them. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2022, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stock-2022-hyundai-elantra-had-registration-pulled-by-officer-over-noise/973355/10 "2022-10-17T14:55:34Z")
I didn’t watch the video, but what’s wrong with the cops enforcing noise ordinances? I wish they would do it more often. And it sounds like it can be “repaired” simply by changing the setting. That’s a repair. Maybe the guy is a dick, and intentionally drove on the streets in a mode not intended for street use. Or maybe the dealer sold it in that mode, and the owner doesn’t know how to fix it. Either way, there seems to be a solution. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2022, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stock-2022-hyundai-elantra-had-registration-pulled-by-officer-over-noise/973355/11 "2022-10-17T15:02:22Z")
> [@WildaBeast](#): > > But there’s nothing to prevent the driver from enabling that mode on the street, so I wonder if this guy was driving around in track mode on public streets. Yep, he admits it in the video. So yeah, the car is “stock,” but its stock includes a mode that basically makes it a race car. Using it on the street was stupid as hell. ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2022, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stock-2022-hyundai-elantra-had-registration-pulled-by-officer-over-noise/973355/12 "2022-10-17T15:20:39Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > It sounds like the driver could have a legal car if he changed the mode so it is not a lemon. It’s the driver being an ass. My understanding is that the car will default to “normal” mode every time is starts up, but the state is also testing it on the sport mode that doesn’t pass, precisely because this guy was being an ass and drove it on that illegal setting. Hyundai’s cars should not come with an “illegal settings” button on the touchscreen. Would we be dumping it on the driver if Hyundai had a “fuck the Earth” setting that bypassed the catalytic converter? ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2022, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stock-2022-hyundai-elantra-had-registration-pulled-by-officer-over-noise/973355/13 "2022-10-17T15:21:09Z")
This old [news story](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSOSJ68xOBA#t=21s) seems relevant. They said in the story that loud cars are legal, even if they can be heard a mile away. So CA must have updated their law in the past 15 years. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2022, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stock-2022-hyundai-elantra-had-registration-pulled-by-officer-over-noise/973355/14 "2022-10-17T15:21:50Z")
Complain about engine noise? You’re one of those get-off-my-lawn old fogies. "If you’re outside the culture, you really don’t understand the narrative of what it really is,” he said. “It’s not bad people. I look at it as the next generation, and this is how they express themselves.” > **[Inside N.Y.C.’s Insanely Loud Car Culture (Published 2020)](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/16/nyregion/loud-cars-noise-complaints-nyc.html)** > > At gatherings in empty lots all over New York, loudness is the point. But how much are weary residents supposed to take? ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2022, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stock-2022-hyundai-elantra-had-registration-pulled-by-officer-over-noise/973355/15 "2022-10-17T15:23:52Z")
> [@WildaBeast](#): > > One important point: It was a Hyundai Elantra **N** , the high performance version, not a standard Elantra. I was wondering about that. I owned an Elantra and it wasn’t the loudest vehicle. If Hyundai actually made and sold a car that literally isn’t legal to drive, that is a remarkable failure on their part. How tight are California noise laws? My next door neighbor drives a pickup truck that literally shakes my house when he starts it up in the morning but in my entire life I’ve never heard of a vehicle in this province being ticketed for being too loud. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2022, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stock-2022-hyundai-elantra-had-registration-pulled-by-officer-over-noise/973355/16 "2022-10-17T15:25:13Z")
> [@Cheesesteak](#): > > Hyundai’s cars should not come with an “illegal settings” button on the touchscreen. Would we be dumping it on the driver if Hyundai had a “fuck the Earth” setting that bypassed the catalytic converter? Every car I’ve ever owned comes with illegal settings–specifically, the car is capable of exceeding the highest speed limit in my state. If I choose to drive at 100 miles an hour through the middle of downtown, it’s stupid for me to say, “But the car comes equipped with the ability to do that!” I feel similarly about driving at the loudest setting. ---
**Author:** ![Pork\_Rind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pork_rind/32/111_2.png) [@Pork\_Rind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pork_Rind)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2022, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stock-2022-hyundai-elantra-had-registration-pulled-by-officer-over-noise/973355/17 "2022-10-17T15:30:31Z")
> [@Cheesesteak](#): > > Hyundai’s cars should not come with an “illegal settings” button on the touchscreen. It’'s a perfectly legal setting in the intended environment, at the track or an autocross event. Just 'cause this guy’s a jackass why ruin the fun for the people doing nothing wrong? ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2022, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stock-2022-hyundai-elantra-had-registration-pulled-by-officer-over-noise/973355/18 "2022-10-17T15:39:18Z")
FWIW, I’ve been driving in California for 40+ years and neither I nor anyone I know directly has ever run afoul of a noise ordinance on the road. And not for lack of violation, I’m sure. Between audio systems, intentional racing noise, and just bad maintenance, there were plenty of opportunities for citations. I don’t think the ordinances were enforced in the past because it was a subjective call by police. A decibel meter is a $5 app on a smartphone now, so maybe these laws are only recently being enforced. ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2022, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stock-2022-hyundai-elantra-had-registration-pulled-by-officer-over-noise/973355/19 "2022-10-17T15:55:58Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > If I choose to drive at 100 miles an hour through the middle of downtown, it’s stupid for me to say, “But the car comes equipped with the ability to do that!” Do you have your registration revoked because your car is capable of driving 100mph? I’m cool with giving the dummy a nice big ticket for disturbing the peace, but the state wants him to fix a car that is operating as designed from the factory. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2022, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stock-2022-hyundai-elantra-had-registration-pulled-by-officer-over-noise/973355/20 "2022-10-17T16:44:41Z")
There are people ordered by the state to "fix"their car so you can’t start it without blowing into an alcohol tester. This guy is being ordered to fix his car so it doesn’t let him do the illegal thing he’s been doing. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stock-2022-hyundai-elantra-had-registration-pulled-by-officer-over-noise/973355.md?page=2)