Agreeing with @Elmer_J.Fudd on this.
If it’s a first offense, I agree that it’s unreasonable. If he’s been making a habit of it, then, as I said, whatever’s needed to stop him, up to and including confiscating the car. The proposed penalty is much less than confiscating the car, as he could still sell it and inflict it on another state, even if there really is no way to permanently disable track mode.
Of course, a nicely worded letter from Shirley N. Weber to Hyundai International, advising them that the Elantra is to no longer be sold in California, effective immediately would go a long way towards solving this impass.
Citing all the onlookers is tough, but seizing the cars is not. It happens often enough in the Bay Area. You need a decent number of cops and be able to block all the road exits. Though I’m not sure how much the vehicle owners end up having to pay as a fine. Whatever it is, it doesn’t seem to be enough. Maybe confiscating the vehicle permanently would do the trick.
No, not every car. Only those that burn fuel.
A car that meets federal emission standards for its year and model will pass a California smog check. When you do a smog check, the shop merely needs to pick the “49-state” test option; the state does NOT require that older out-of-state cars be brought up to California standards. (They used to charge a “Smog Impact Fee” for registering such vehicles, but that fee was ruled unconstitutional in 1999.)
The car does need to meet the federal standards, and sometimes cars brought from out-of-state have had emissions equipment removed or it’s not working right, so the car may still require some work to pass smog check.
NM. Quoting misfire.
I mean, they can’t all have tiny dicks can they? 
Yes, yes they can.
I agree with you. but extending a thought out to levels that seem absurd is how to test for future legal precedents.
And I also liked sports cars in my youth but I liked to hear the engine under the hood. Not the exhaust.
In this example I think he should have gotten a ticket for noise. The louder it was, the higher the ticket. But this legal circle-jerk doesn’t make sense. I expect a judge to throw it out.
Then the cars can play the exhaust sounds through the internal speakers. Which some cars actually do. Don’t force everyone in a one-mile radius to hear your vroom-vroom sounds.
You’re preaching to the choir. He should have been given a ticket for excessive noise.
That’s the problem I had with the old Saturn I had when I moved to California. Almost every time I got a smog check, it needed something fixed to get it to pass. I eventually got sick of having to fix smog related stuff that I decided to just take advantage of CA’s Vehicle Retirement Program – sort of like Cash for Clunkers for cars that have failed smog.
Weber. Oh, the irony!
I would include tractor pulls, mud bogging, moto cross, boxing, the list is almost endless. The point being: I don’t care if people like doing that stuff, as long as they don’t make me have to suffer through it too.
I have to agree with the above mention of loud music. I’m sure a lot of people don’t care for my musical taste so I don’t inflict it on them.
On the other hand, we all have to listen to bass that literally vibrates the solar plexus, lyrics blasted that are blatantly offensive, music that I personally think is trash, anything these noise lovers/attention seekers/ whatever, want to “share” with us.
Nope, it’s not destroying my life, or anything earth shattering, but I’m really glad we moved.
Look at this. The Aston Martin DBX 707 comes with Asshole Start Mode. And abutton to turn on a louder exhaust while driving.
A hi-viz, $240,000 car and the owner is still needy enough to demand everyone look.
Now that is just silly. I mean, making the exhaust louder when you’re in sport mode like in the Elantra N and similar cars will, at least in theory, get a little more horsepower out of the engine. But a “loud start mode” with no other purpose than to make more noise when you start the engine? WTF?
I hate/despise loud vehicles. Most of it is done for the “look at me factor”. All of my motorcycles have had stock exhaust and I prefer it that way. When I am doing the twisties at a spirited pace, I’m not announcing myself to every cop around. Putting a loud exhaust on a Harley to get some additional HPs is ridiculous. Just buy something that has the power you want from the get-go. And I am saying that as someone that has owned a HD (Sportster, one of the better bikes they make) and a Buell.
My (admittedly fancy but far short of an Aston Martin) car has something similar.
Upon start up, for about 10-15 seconds the exhaust note is a bunch loud and powerful / authoritative sounding. And the RPM is up around 1600. Then it mellows out to a more gentle purr at about 800 RPM. The noise difference is far more than merely the RPM difference; clearly some exhaust flow is bypassing the mufflers at first.
Doubtless the engineers invented some warm-up related reason why less exhaust back pressure is helpful right after a cold start. But I bet the marketing department has/had a lot more to do with it.
And no, this is not a user selectable option: the car just does it whether you like that or not.
People have been doing stuff like that to cars almost as long as cars have existed. Jay Leno’s 1913 Mercer Raceabout has a pedal that lets you bypass the muffler:
I’m the king of quiet sports cars. I despise loud exhausts. I have a naked version of a factory touring bike and I’d rather have the quieter exhaust.
With that said, if someone has committed the crime of disturbing the peace then they should be ticketed for for it. If someone is a repeat offender then let the court hand out higher fines. But this arbitrary cancellation of registration without due process for a certified car is an abuse of power.
The court date is some time in November so we may find out if there’s more to this. If there isn’t I expect the judge to restore registration and fine the owner for excessive noise.
Nobody’s forcing the manufacturers to do a damned thing, but if they want access to the enormous California marketplace for their cars then they’ll have to either make a separate California model or fix all of them so they’re legal in CA. Guess which option is cheaper?
Back in the day I bought a used '77 Toyota truck and imagine my surprise when I went to register it–they ran the VIN, told me it’s not a legal CA emissions engine and if I want to register it it has to pass the smog inspection AND I pay a one time $300 import fee for the truck. Since I only paid like $600 for the truck this was a serious pain in my ass. Seems like it was for Toyota, too, and the other car makers because within an amazingly short period of time all cars sold had CA level emissions–because even in the used car market, the state made it economically disadvantageous to sell 49 state emissions vehicles. CA is just that big a car market and anyone who doesn’t like it is gonna be SOL because if CA lays down the law then that’s what everyone’s car is going to be like.