[RahulNagaraj]

A Lamborghini Huracan Performante owner in New York City was fined after it pinged one of the city's noise cameras, despite having a stock exhaust.

According to reports, the owner, Anthony Aquilino was fined $800 for his car's exhaust noise exceeding 85 dB. Mr Aquilino though is said to have filed a lawsuit at the Manhattan Supreme Court to overturn the charges, claiming the exhaust is factory-fitted and compliant with the road laws in the USA.



The owner argued that the $800 fine is for the first offence, and keeps increasing every time making it unaffordable. He stated, "The fine amount is US$800 for the first offence. The second offence is US$1700 and the third offence is US$2700. How can anybody afford that? Especially if the city wants to move these cameras all across the five boroughs. The only remedy [to not be fined again] would be to sell the vehicle. How else do you fight the fine?"

He added, "I feel that if the residents are upset by noise and the city wants to crack down on noise – I don’t disagree with it. I disagree with if a car is unmodified and you want to fine them."

Mr Aquilino reportedly even took his Huracan Performante to the Lamborghini dealership in Manhattan to confirm the exhaust is unmodified. He also claims he wasn't speeding - but rather slowing down.

Source: New York Post

Link to Team-BHP news

[Capricorn]

After Dieselgate are we now looking at Soundgate?

[HillMan]

Super cars are cop magnets. My friend has a Dodge Viper everytime we were on the road we have been stopped. He had a quick removable advance lazer and radar detectors in the car to keep tab on speed guns. He is got so used to this attention he jovially jokes with the cops when pulled over.

[Samarth 619]

I think if everything is what the owner claims, he has no reason to bear the fine. I for one wouldn't tolerate paying a fine on sound if the exhaust and everything is stock condition and maintained well.

All the best to him for the lawsuit.

Although the way he said, "How can anybody afford that?" is funny. Respected sir, you're in a Lamborghini. The charge may be wrong, but are you talking about affordability? That too at $800 and $1700? That too while you earn dollars in USA?


I won't shout soundgate just yet. The air filter not installed well, exhaust got damaged, a 1000 things can go wrong with no one's fault as such.
Maybe the testing procedure involves testing stagnant speeds, and not decelarating or accelerating (its possible to have more noise while acc/dec).
Let's wait for further investigation.

[DicKy]

Originally Posted by Samarth 619

Although the way he said, "How can anybody afford that?" is funny. Respected sir, you're in a Lamborghini. The charge may be wrong, but are you talking about affordability? That too at $800 and $1700? That too while you earn dollars in USA?

Erm...

The fines will keep coming in as long as he drives the car in the city roads or through the places that have the noise cameras. It is not as if he is speeding and that he deserves the compounding fine. He is driving a car that has been certified by the government authorities as to have passed norms. And if he hasn't modified it, he has every right to drive the car through public roads provided he follows rules.

$800, $1700, $2700, $3800? He could be technically fined almost Rs. 7 lakhs plus if he travels through the city for no fault of his. Not sure people who have Lamborghini could afford paying fines like that daily. Maybe people who use private jets could.

[Jeroen]

This will be an interesting case. I can’t really comment on the legal details here. Way beyond my limited understanding.

But I would think it might not be as straight forward as just claiming the car is stock and approved for road use.

I’m sure the same car can exceed the speed limit and nobody would be surprised its owner would be fined for that.

Noise from a car is a function of things like, speed, RPM, throttle position, acceleration, deceleration and so on. So yes, you might exceed noise limits under certain conditions.

I am not sure how noise of a new car is measured and subsequently becomes part of a car’s approval for road use? Can a local council put specific noise levels over and above the ones that are used for the cars approval?

Same with all of my oldtimers. All my cars are perfectly road legal. But I can’t take them into certain towns/areas across because of emission restrictions!

So this is likely to be a complicated legal issues and not as straightforward as one might think/hope.

Jeroen

[Chetan_Rao]

Across the world, 'road legal' is not an absolute definition, and restrictions based on age, emissions and various other factors are applied.

So it's not a straightforward 'my car is road legal so I can drive it anywhere' argument. Curious to see the legal and statutory ramifications of this case.

[Hayek]

Don’t see any chance of a Manhattan judge ruling in his favour. As Jeroen has mentioned, you can always get a car to exceed sound limits by holding the gears - or to operate within noise limits by shifting early. He may not be able to have the fun he wants with his Lamborghini - but for that, he can always take it to a track or rural area. Frivolous case and one where costs should be imposed on the Lamborghini owner in my view.

[greenhorn]

not the first time this has happenned
https://www.roadandtrack.com/news/a6...-exhaust-case/
https://www.thedrive.com/news/stock-...t-registration

In my understanding this is one of those scenarios where there is conflict between state and national regulations (eg our vehicle registration, road tax etc in india ) and citizens are the hapless victims.