Motor vehicle noise regulations are not news in the United States today as they were in the 1970's when the United States Environmental Protection Agency created the Office of Noise Abatement and Control under auspices of the Noise Control Act of 1972. Just ten years later, in 1982, the EPA noise office was closed, essentially bringing a status quo to noise regulations in the United States.
That might have been the end of the story except that U.S. manufacturers have become more active in efforts to export U.S.-built vehicles.
In export market countries, regulations have become more stringent and the trend continues. Regulatory actions taken in 1992 are reverberating throughout the U.S. motor vehicle manufacturing industry, causing a reevaluation of tire/road noise and the effects of other variables on motor vehicle noise compliance testing as well as the test procedures themselves.
Changes in motor vehicle noise regulations are addressed from a historical reference and with emphasis on the future of noise regulations in the international arena.