67OAI

The "squat" limits forward visibility, thus dangerous on the roadway; makes me think also of those who put the back of the driver's seat in such a recline that you can barely see their head...again, limited forward visibility! My other concern is how are they able to aim the headlights with that exaggerated squat?

rocketraider

They can't. Add in they always have high-powered aftermarket headlights and anyone they meet or follow gets blinded.

I think the bill is stalled in NC Senate right now.

Normally I'm ok with anyone modding their vehicle but the Squat 1) looks stupid and 2) is unsafe.

A local church had a cruise-in today and heard a kid grumbling that he couldn't find anyone who'd put an inspection sticker on his squat truck. As NC ties license plate renewals to inspections, that kid is in a bind. And word is apparently getting out to inspection stations on squat trucks.

matt69olds

Im surprised they still make drivers seats recline as far as they do. I know many people who drive like that, it always reminds me of sitting in a dentist chair.

There is no way you won’t find yourself wadded up in a bloody mess under the dash after a substantial front end collision. Even if your wearing a seat belt, your going to slide right under the belt.

Grayghost

Funny part is it was ok to put on highjackers, back in the day. That made handling and braking garbage. but it was what our/your generation was doing so it ok, RIGHT.
Or the gasser look that drove, road, turned and stopped like a stage coach.
Yes this new fad looks stupid, yes it makes the vehicles less safe than stock.
BUT it is no different than what many did with 30/40/50/60/70's cars back in the day.
What many FORGET is those making the rules. like more than anything to DIVIDE and conquer this hobby. Together we stand ,divided we fall.
YOU might not like that type of mod, but you also lost track of what makes this hobby great, different types of styles.
Cuz, Frankly there is nothing stopping them from banning anything that changed the vehicles stock spec's that affect safety.
You don't want them going down that road.

matt69olds

I like the gasser look. I also like the 70s street machine look.

The gasser look did elevate the front as compared to the rear or the stock stance. But not to the extreme of the new fad!!! At most, the gasser look would be comparable to having a couple tons of river stone in the bed of my Ram truck. The idiots with the Carolina squat are raising the front, while dropping the rear. There is no way anyone could have reasonable visibility over the hood.

As for the 70s street machine look, I like a little “stance”, unfortunately there were many people who took it way too far jacking up the rear. Raising the rear does nothing to impede visibility thru the windshield.


Many states have laws on lifted trucks. If you want to lift a truck for big tires, either do it right, or don’t do it period!! Most people know you can’t double the size and weight of the tires and not upgrade the brakes. You can’t stack a bunch of lift blocks between the springs and axle and expect the truck to drive and steer correctly. Yet that’s exactly what a few dumbasses have done. It’s those idiots that give automotive enthusiasts a bad reputation, and ruin the image for the rest of us.


I understand how easily this could result in a ban of any modifications. I have NEVER own a completely stock vehicle (stock is boring!!) at the same time I have never owned a unsafe vehicle either. Unfortunately, there are too many idiots who think nothing of the safety of their own vehicle or how it might affect others on the road.

Koda

I think there's both a difference in degree and intent between the trends of yesteryear and today. The technology, and taste, limited what was done back then, but current tech and taste do things to an entirely different level. I can understand why this particular trend can be declared illegal; and there's no need to whip ourselves into a froth over it. While I have no doubt that there are mentally deficient people in power who would love to ban any vehicle modification at all, or any old car at all; this is not that. In fact, the very people who get all in a tizzy about them possibly leading from banning this into banning everything are precisely the people who have enabled this stupidity. Just think how many squatted trucks there would not have been if the owners of the original ones had been told "Hey, that's stupid." Word would've gotten around that it was, in fact, stupid, and maybe it wouldn't have caught on.

Some things in life are dumb, and some people need it pointed out to them.

olds 307 and 403

As the only person on the Prairies who doesn't think trucks are the end all and be all, **** all the lifted to the Moon truck owners😁. Let the law makers focus on these rather than our old cars. Kind like letting 2 strokes being the sacrificial lamb for small engines as well.

Lonnies Performance

Yes, I had air shocks on my car, but to preload the rt. side suspension & to help prevent any tire interference.
No, to a skinny tire & an 8" wheel well gap with 150psi in the shocks.

Gassers, neat to look at & still mostly level due to a huge back tire.
Cars in most states have a lower bumper height than trucks, so many could be illegal for street use.

What about cars with huge 24"+ wheels & 12" lifts that do not stop or steer properly?

Nothing wrong with lifted 4x4 trucks (within reason) as long as you intelligently adjust the head lights so as to not be a nuisance & keep the tires in the wheel wells.
At least they have better braking capacity than cars to help stop the heavy wheel/tire combination.

I put squatted trucks in the same class as Honda's with 5" exhaust tips.... as well as huge rear wings on front wheel drive cars.
Lets not forget stretched tires & cambered suspension to excessive amounts. Remember to point & laugh to discourage future generations.

Grayghost

^^^^ This right here, It was different when we did it, and made a vehicle braking and handling garbage.
What a bunch of baloney.
Bills like this WILL affect the owners of gassers, prostreet, stink bug, lowered, lifted, on air ride, on hyd. NOT JUST the nose in the air, bro dozers.
Some can't see the forest through the trees.

Grayghost

You honestly think, they write a bill that only affect bro dozers with nose in air?
Come on. You know it will cover ALL vehicles used on public roadways.
This is how they get bills like this passed, Other parts of the hobby ,think it not effect THEIR rides. This thinking, is the same as pointing a gun at yourself, and hoping when you hit the trigger it wasn't loaded.
I am not siding with the bro dozers tail draggers, nose up owners, but I know that a bill that is "sold" to the useful idiots, will not be limited to ONLY the tail drag'n nose up bro dozers. It will cover all public road going vehicles, And any adjustment in ride height from stock,

rocketraider

As the guy who started this thread I am going to ask politely to not drive it into the ditch by taking it political, because there's a moderator on here with a hair trigger.

The bill has a lot of people here stirred up. The way it's worded, it specifically targets the Squat. If it passes (stalled right now) will an ******* police chief or town manager use it as a revenue or harassment tool? Undoubtedly. I'm old enough to remember local cops keeping a metal yardstick in the cop car and measuring rear bumper height.

My usual thought is people can do what they want with their own vehicle and money. But I'm convinced the Squat is hazardous to ME or any other driver one of these squat trucks hits because its driver cannot see what's in front of him. That's what's driving this. The bill allows for some suspension modifications. It just limits how much.

Last night, raining so hard you couldn't see 100 yards in front of you. A short kid in a Squat was leaning out the driver's window trying to see where he was going and getting drowned in the process. Sure, I no longer think like a teenager trying to fit in, but ya have to ask yourself is looking cool worth going thru something like that?

Koda

Could you go inactive again like you were for the past three months? Most of your 200 some post small contribution to this site is argumentative and contrary and we really don't need you here.

Grayghost

Ok, it is a tread about a bill/law regulation that will be filed in that states political system .
As the OP of the thread.Your thread is POLITICAL in nature.
Just pointing it out, it is the nature of laws/regulations on vehicles and this hobby.

Grayghost

I pointed out logic and reason. and going by history of what has happened for the last 50 years.
Prove me wrong.
I get it the old guys in the classic cars or muscle cars that are driving like grandma going to church a few times a year don't like the younger car guy/gal fads. the bro dozers, the tuner imports, the turbo'd fwd cars.
So any bill aimed at them is All cheering. But history has shown that it never only targets the group they claim it is aimed at, when they in office are "selling" the bill to the general public.
Then when it is brought up for vote and passed, it's language covers ALL vehicles used on public roads.
Not JUST the bro dozers with tail dragg'n nose up stance.
Some can see the forest through the tree's. others can't or don't care, as it not effect them and their almost never driven stock down to the chalk mark cars.
Sorry I get salty when those in the hobby, don't support other parts of the hobby, you don't have to like thier trend, or mod's. but they are part of the hobby. and any bill/law/ regulation that be pushed to change something they do, will effect the hobby as a WHOLE.
Those aging out of the hobby , DGAF. and that s sad..VERY sad.

Koda

I'm not going to debate with you until you quit insulting people every post. This isn't yellowbullet.

Grayghost

I like the fact that seat recline as far as they do. On days I am working a double, split shift. Being able to recline the seat and take a nap is a god send.
Or during a storm where I might be stuck (read forced) to stay at work in case we lose power. This can be 48 hours plus straight.

Grayghost

What is a yellowbullet?
A type of ammo?

matt69olds

Thank god this isn’t yellowbullet!! Way too many guys with 8th grade mentality.


With its anything goes policy, it takes awhile to weed out the people that think they know what they are talking about, from the ones that really do.

matt69olds

I should revise my statement. The seats in my Ram recline, and I sometimes recline the seat for the very reason you mention. No way in hell would I drive like that.

I guess this makes me appear as a hypocrite. That was not my intention.

Grayghost

No worries.

rocketraider

Talked with a NC Highway Patrolman this afternoon and he said the bill passed, takes effect December 1, 2021, and will be enforced.

Come to think of it I haven't seen a squat truck in nearly 2 weeks.

Vintage Chief

Thanks for the update. I know several NC HP quite well & they are looking forward to enforcing the new law.

Tri-Carb

He is mistaken. H692 sits in the Senate Transportation Committee with a serial referral to the Senate Rules Committee. This is not the type of committee referral that predicts a bill will pass the Senate or even get a floor vote.

rocketraider

That's what I saw on NC Legislature website as late as Sunday. When I saw the Trooper I asked about it and the man said effective 12:01AM Dec 1 2021 law enforcement in NC would write citations.

Had actually stopped to ask if NCSHP could do anything about a local roadhouse's badly aimed high wattage LED parking lot light, that blinds drivers when they approach. The conversation turned to several other things including the Squat legislation.

Tri-Carb

The HP means well. He probably heard that H692 passed the House. The effective date, if it passes during this session, is as he states. Do not hold me to it, but at one time it only had a prospective application to modifications made after the effective date----which is nonsense.

Since H692 has passed the House, it will be eligible to be considered in the short session in 2022. This short session would usually start in the spring of 2022. This does not avoid the problem that the committee referrals suggest that the bill will be taking a dirt nap.

Frisbee_k9

NC Squat Truck -Dyslexia

David Sloop

I hope they never stop making reclining seats... It's nice to lay back and shut my eyes while waiting for a kid to finish up riding lessons, or a sports practice...
Reclining seats are also good for when Mommy and Daddy manage to escape for date night...

Koda

Not being able to recline to 45 for nap is one of the things I miss in my single cab truck.

rocketraider

It was only a matter of time. I can about guarantee none of the little dumbasses saved the parts to put 'em back legal. Gonna be a lot of trucks either junked or auctioned out of NC.

https://www.cbs17.com/news/north-car...pickup-trucks/

Vintage Chief

Woo Hoo!

Koda

Tri-Carb

Check out the references to the word “fender.” What at first might seem like an easy statutory standard to articulate, can often be the most difficult.


GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA SESSION 2021 SESSION LAW 2021-128 HOUSE BILL 692 *H692-v-4* AN ACT PROHIBITING CERTAIN MODIFICATIONS TO PASSENGER VEHICLES OPERATING ON HIGHWAYS OR PUBLIC VEHICULAR AREAS. The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts: SECTION 1. G.S. 20-135.4 reads as rewritten: "§ 20-135.4. Certain automobile safety standards. (a) Definitions. – For the purposes of this section, the term "private passenger automobile" shall mean means a four-wheeled motor vehicle designed principally for carrying passengers, for use passengers on public roads and highways, except a multipurpose passenger vehicle which is constructed either on a truck chassis or with special features for occasional off-road operation .highways. (b), (c) Repealed by Session Laws 1975, c. 856. (d) The manufacturer's specified height of any passenger motor vehicle shall not be elevated or lowered, either in front or back, more than six inches by modification, alteration, or change of the physical structure of said vehicle without prior written approval of the Commissioner of Motor Vehicles. On or after January 1, 1975, no self-propelled passenger vehicle that has been so altered, modified or changed Prohibited Modifications. – A private passenger automobile shall not be operated upon any highway or public vehicular area without the prior written approval of the Commissioner, if, by alteration of the suspension, frame, or chassis, the height of the front fender is 4 or more inches greater than the height of the rear fender. For the purposes of this subsection, the height of the fender shall be a vertical measurement from and perpendicular to the ground, through the centerline of the wheel, and to the bottom of the fender." SECTION 2. G.S. 20-17 reads as rewritten: "§ 20-17. Mandatory revocation of license by Division. (a) The Division shall forthwith revoke the license of any driver upon receiving a record of the driver's conviction for any of the following offenses: … (17) A third or subsequent conviction of operating a private passenger automobile with prohibited modifications on any highway or public vehicular area under G.S. 20-135.4(d). A conviction for violating G.S. 20-135.4(d) is a third or subsequent conviction if at the time of the current infraction the person has two or more previous convictions under G.S. 20-135.4 that occurred in the 12 months immediately preceding the date of the current infraction. …." SECTION 3. G.S. 20-19 reads as rewritten: "§ 20-19. Period of suspension or revocation; conditions of restoration. … (c2a) When a license is revoked under G.S. 20-17(a)(17), the period of revocation shall be not less than one year. …." Page 2 Session Law 2021-128 House Bill 692 SECTION 4. This act becomes effective December 1, 2021, and applies to offenses committed on or after that date. In the General Assembly read three times and ratified this the 25th day of August, 2021. s/ Phil Berge

1970cs

Maybe they are still waiting for their second stimulus check, to complete the lift?

Pat

Tri-Carb

Statutory language issues:

It does not seem to prevent obtaining the same effect by the use of different tire sizes.

Is the measurement to be taken to lips or to the tops of the inner wheel wells? For some trucks the factory stock measurements front to back differ more than 4 inches when taken at either location.

The local prosecutors will have the burden of putting the factory stock measurements at these locations into evidence. Authenticating the factory stock measurements at these locations is not a light burden.

rocketraider

That's why NC DAs drive Benz, Audis and Jaguars. If they do that in podunk counties like Caswell, Person and Rockingham, imagine Wake, Durham/Orange, and Mecklenburg.

It'll be like the Virginia State Police said when the local legislator decided to mess with antique registrations in a money grab, and VSP was asked how they intended to enforce the new statutes. The reply was "when these gentlemen tell us how"- pointing to the legislator and the tax department representative, who sat there mute.

Minutiae of enforcing a law never kept one from getting passed. Figure it out as you go, and by the time someone challenges it, the bill's financial projections will have been met.

Tri-Carb

The job is not as pictured in TV programs. If you think Assistant DAs get paid enough to handle 200 shucks a day in Wake County, you are mistaken. A county like Caswell is not as stressful but it is still not enough. They do it for the experience if they intend to leave or for the retirement benefits if they intend to stay. Most HVAC workers that I know make more money with a lot less stress and 7 years less post HS education.


Since H692 never went to an appropriations or finance committee, the bill was projected to be revenue neutral.