(The Center Square) – The City of Seattle is suing the owner of a Dodge Charger Hellcat SRT for noncompliance with speed and noise laws.
The Hellcat driver, 20-year old Miles Hudson, is the target of a number of complaints from residents in the city’s Belltown neighborhood for frequent incidents of excessive speed and loud noise.
Hudson is one of the Hellcat’s registered owners, along with his mother. The vehicle has a Hemi engine, which has modified or removed mufflers, causing an increase in generated noise. The engine also has a control module that allows the software code to be re-written to create a series of backfires when the throttle is transitioned.
Hudson promotes his vehicle on his Instagram page, which has approximately 763,000 followers.
There have been multiple occasions this year in which the Seattle Police Department stopped Hudson and gave him citation warnings and verbal warnings before the Seattle Department of Construction and Inspections required Hudson to restore his vehicle to a less noisy condition by April 15.
Hudson has not responded to the city’s notice of violation and faces up to $1,300 in fines per day after the April 15 deadline.
According to court documents, complaints from residents and workers in downtown Seattle regarding the Hellcat’s loud engine increased during the months of February and March.
In one instance, on March 27, the Seattle Police Department had a decibel meter standing directly behind the vehicle while it was in park and idling, reading the decibel meter between 84-87 decibels.
Seattle Municipal Code makes it unlawful for a vehicle operator to have their vehicle exhaust noise or engine noise exceed 95 decibels.
