Decibel levels for 2003 OE exhaust

[Frenchbird]

Hello all! I've just purchased a Shadow Mountain Grey 2003 TBird that I am importing to France. I live part time in San Diego and part time in South France. In order to get the car through the receiving agent for importation and to get the car registered in France, I need to know what the decibel (dbA) level of the oe exhaust system was rated at the time of production. Google searches have not yielded any accurate information. I'm hoping that someone here may have that information. Thanks in advance for any insight that can be provided!

[merlot4]

Hi, Kene. First, welcome to TBN!

A device like this might be useful for your purposes, and is something you could use to demonstrate to the appropriate authorities:

https://www.amazon.com/RISEPRO-Decib...17797099&psc=1

Here are the California legal standards, which state that a vehicle can't exceed 95 decibels, so if your vehicle has been inspected, it is that much, or lower. Hope this helps. Note that this is measured next to the vehicle in this state, I think that EU also measures from a distance, which could change this as I seem to recall that noise drops by the distance squared. New cars have a more aggressive standard to meet.
http://www.bobsmuffler.com/noise.htm

Here are the EU standards, but I don't know from distance they are measured, which makes a considerable difference. It appears that they are also measuring tire noise as part of noise emissions, so they must have a standard that includes distance measurement, also, tires, as well as cars, sold in the EU must display noise emission ratings, so this is a complex subject.
http://www.dft.gov.uk/vca/fcb/cars-and-noise.asp
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-cont...LEX:32014R0540

Click here to find the authority in France that you can contact for further information:
http://ec.europa.eu/DocsRoom/documents/28647

Actually, in thinking about it, the KISS (keep it simple stupid) method would be for our German, or Dutch birds to chime in, they would have had to meet EU standards and could fill you in. Hopefully, they will respond, or someone will give their contact information.

[007Cruiser]

Welcome, Kene! Some of our members have contact with the original engineers for our cars. Perhaps they could reach out for the information you need. Several others have already imported to Europe and may also be able to help. Have you tried contacting Ford directly?

[BLACK BEAUTY]

Welcome Kene..I doubt the decibels OEM would exceed any regulations...pretty quiet

[Frenchbird]

Thank you both so much for taking the time to respond! (: I have not contacted Ford directly. Great idea. I'll see if I get anywhere with that. Thank you.
I did download a decibel meter app, started the car, stood 20ft behind the exhaust (I think 19ft is the EU standard) and it registered a 62dbA reading. It registered 70dbA directly behind the car. That # seems plausible as I have a Plymouth Prowler that I found manufacturer specs for at 60dbA. I'm not sure my testing will be good enough for the authorities though! I'm sure it meets the EU standard, but I need to put a dbA reading on the paper work I file for importation. Fingers crossed..
Thank you again.