2006 Code of Virginia § 46.2-1049 - Exhaust system in good working order

46.2-1049. Exhaust system in good working order.

No person shall drive and no owner of a vehicle shall permit or allow theoperation of any such vehicle on a highway unless it is equipped with anexhaust system in good working order and in constant operation to preventexcessive or unusual levels of noise; provided however, that for motorvehicles, such exhaust system shall be of a type installed as standardfactory equipment, or comparable to that designed for use on the particularvehicle as standard factory equipment. An exhaust system shall not be deemedto prevent excessive or unusual noise if it permits the escape of noise inexcess of that permitted by the standard factory equipment exhaust system ofprivate passenger motor vehicles or trucks of standard make.

The term "exhaust system," as used in this section, means all the parts ofa vehicle through which the exhaust passes after leaving the engine block,including mufflers and other sound dissipative devices.

Chambered pipes are not an effective muffling device to prevent excessive orunusual noise, and any vehicle equipped with chambered pipes shall be deemedin violation of this section.

(Code 1950, 46-305; 1952, c. 455; 1956, c. 651; 1958, c. 541, 46.1-301;1960, c. 120; 1970, c. 266; 1972, c. 66; 1989, c. 727; 2006, cc. 529, 538.)