Hope the mods change the title of this thread as it's clearly misleading.
Anyway, the reason BMW withdraws the M-Performance exhausts seems to be twofold:
1: For cars with SOP 07.2018 it won't comply with the particulate filter
2: In Germany a new law has been passed that bans exhaust sound generators and lays down stricter rules on aftermarket exhausts
Since the folder posted was from BMW Germany it seems that #2 above might be a problem also for cars made before 07.2018 (but then only for the German market).
The new German law bans completely aftermarket sound generators that often is used on diesel cars to make them sound like a high powered petrol engine. It also lays down stricter requirements for aftermarket exhausts.
https://www.motor-talk.de/news/ander...-t6359596.html
Quote:
Berlin - How strong a car sounds, determine engine and legislation. With a few tricks of a medium-sized diesel is still a huge gasoline engine: so-called sound actuators (or sound generators, "Active Sound") can make a car any powerful or loud hum.
These are loudspeakers that can play any kind of engine sound under the control of the speed signal. Audi can be in this way nagelnde diesels like V8 gasoline engine. The principle is so popular that suppliers quickly offered similar systems for retrofitting.
Such subsequently installed sound generators are no longer registered. The Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure (BMVI) informs about this decision in the Verkehrsblatt issue 5/2018. The only exception: Electrically operated vehicles may make artificial warning noises.
Sound generators are no longer recordable
In the network excited about sound generators, especially about the approval. Some systems were previously delivered with a partial report and could register with it. Other components were sold without appraisals, but with false arguments: The providers equated their systems with audio equipment and sold them falsely as registration free.
Now the BMVI makes it absolutely clear: the facilities are subject to registration, but no longer registrable. The traffic journal states that the generators are not equivalent to sports exhaust. They contradict the paragraph 30 (paragraph 1: vehicles may not bother anyone) and 55 (sound, eg horn) of the StVZO.
However, manufacturers will continue to provide comparable systems. These are mainly about the sound, not the volume. The ban only applies to retrofitting. In principle, such generators could have a future anyway: They are able to make cars quieter through counter-noise.
On request from MOTOR-TALK, a spokesman for the TÜV Süd said that the retrofitting of exhaust systems offered with ex works offered sound generators on non-dedicated engines is also prohibited. All appraisals of accessory systems are now invalid. Legally registered investments are still
allowed.
Exhaust systems with valve control: restrictions on modification
The traffic sheet also mentions new rules for the subsequent modification of so-called flap systems, ie exhaust systems with a variable geometry. In the standard state, they regulate volume and sound depending on load, speed and driving mode. This principle can be manipulated - the exhaust is then on demand or at any
Critical: Older vehicles are subject to rather simple noise regulations. You only have to comply with the specified noise level in certain modes ("normal operating conditions"). Additional modes did not need to be tested - so the exhaust could be out of the tested driving conditions.
For this purpose, the BMVI notes in the traffic journal that any changes to flap systems contradict Paragraph 30 StVZO if they bring more noise with them. Regardless of whether this happens inside or outside the originally tested driving conditions. And that applies even if the car was approved according to the old standard. Factory-installed, modified flap controls or sound generators are only allowed if the car does not get louder.
For an approval, the volume must be compared in "all real driving situations" before and after the conversion if necessary. A changed sound is therefore still allowed - more noise, however, not.
|
This ONLY applies to Germany at the moment, however the EU Regulation actually has a similar wording though (but that has been the same since 2016 and lot's of aftermarket exhausts have been approved since then):
Article 6 #4
Quote:
|
4.The sound emission of the vehicle or replacement silencing system under typical on-road driving conditions, which are different from those under which the type-approval test set out in Annex II and Annex VII was carried out, shall not deviate from the test result in a significant manner.
|