A popular vehicle modification trend called the Carolina Squat has been banned in the state of North Carolina. Squatted trucks will be considered illegal in the state as of December 1st, 2021.
For those readers who don’t know what the Carolina Squat is, the term is used for truck and SUV owners who modify their vehicle’s suspension to include an increase in ride height in front, and a decrease in ride height in the rear. The modifications give the vehicle a substantial negative rake angle.
This style of suspension modification is also known as the Cali Lean, Dover Dip, and Tennessee Tilt.
As GM Authority covered previously, the North Carolina House of Representatives passed a bill in May seeking to make squatted trucks illegal. The bill, which is sponsored by Representatives B. Jones, Bell, Saine, and Hardister outlines that “a private passenger automobile shall not be modified or altered by elevating the automobile more than 3 inches from the manufacturer’s specified height in the front and lowering the automobile more than 2 inches from the manufacturer’s specified height in the rear. A private passenger automobile modified or altered in violation of this subsection shall not be operated upon any highway or public vehicular area.”
Now, North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper has signed House Bill 692 into law. Effective December 1st, 2021, the owners of squatted vehicles will be considered in violation of state requirements, and could face penalties that include fines and a one-year driver’s license suspension.
Critics of the squatted trucks trend argue that the suspension modifications impede forward visibility, while also negatively impacting braking and handling. Further issues may include blinding other drivers with misaimed headlights, and increased danger for pedestrians.
Videos depicting squatted trucks cruising on public roads have gained greater and greater momentum in the last year or so, with the trend extending around the country. It remains to be seen how other states may react to this new ban, and how enthusiasts will react to the new law.
Comments
would not that be racist ??
Not necessarily, down here in the South I’ve seen Trucks and SUV’s set up like this with White and Black drivers behind the wheel of these things, depending on the setup, these trucks you can tell you instantly who may be driving them even with the windows rolled all the way up, but I’ve learned over the past 2 years; that can be tricky.
You mean you have seen the gold teeth’s and wiggers driving these?
I see more Whites driving them that blacks
Yep, dangerous, and it looks horrible too.
Fotally Stuckin Fupid!!
The “sagged” pants of auto trends. Just as dumb and unattractive.
Just a visible minority thing, always want to be the center of attention!!!!!!!!
Hasn’t reached to NY State yet. It just looks stupid. Jack it up all around or drop it all around. Who came up with this crap? t And this law, is not racist! Just plain dumb.
Sounds like a typical know it all, obnoxious Yankee. Who cares about what people from New York think? I’m a North Carolina country boy and I don’t have any problems with squatters. It’s now new. We were doing the same thing with our cars back in the 1980’s. It was popular with the 1981 to 1988 Grand Prix, Cutlass, Regal, and Monte Carlo along with an occasional 1977 t o 1979 Thunderbird or Cougar. We used horseshoe spacers to jack up the front 3 inches or so, and we would have reverse offset Crager SS or Keystone classic rims to make the tires stick out past the fenderwells.
To each their own. But to satisfy my anil curiosity… Back in the day (70’s – 80’s) raising the front end was not only a fad, but was often “justified” as putting more weight on the rear wheel for better traction. I guess there may have been some basis to that. But could someone tell me – really – if there is any practical or perceived practical benefit to this extreme ? Like I said – I’m not knocking it. If you like it fine. Just really curious if there are any espoused benefits that go along with it.
You should be knocking it in the interest of safety ! It would be okay if the danger was limited to the owner of the vehicle and anybody dumb enough to ride in it. “ Squatters, 24”s all around, off road light bars, all this crap is dangerous to other people on the road. IT NOT OKAY OR COOL !!! Outlaw ALL of it !
Gerald. You are absolutely right. My libertarian side got away from me. I stand corrected. Thank you for one of the few polite and reasoned “disagreements” on this site.
They are 26’s not 24’s we have big boy wheels now 😉
The gold teeth’s will have to find a new hobby now
You’ve misspelled “teefs.”
I’m not sure which is worse then or the wiggers
Sez the typical, know-it-all obnoxious southerner….
Lorenzo, BOY is correct, Your IQ is still in the single digits.
Go back to playing with your sisters Ken & Barbie Beach jeep!
Thanks of noticing us “Yankees”. If you guys in the Carolinas really did all the stuff you wrote to your cars back in the day, they had to ride like crap AND wear out bearings and other drive line parts. Really, deep dish Cragers on the FRONT????? And horseshoe spacers? One never puts any kind of spacer in a front suspension and then drives it on the street. Not safe at all! You guys are really out of it down in yer neck of the woods. Keep the stupid stuff down there. We don’t want or need it.
Its not all of us southerners
Hey North Carolina country boy there’s a big difference between razing the front of car than a pickup truck or a SUV at 2ft. plus is lot and with most of these guys they probably have their seats laid back and I can tell you at that angle all your looking at is the sky. And if you are country boy like you say you are then why aren’t you riding around in a 4×4 with a gun rack like Hank Williams JR. sings in a country boy can survive. And also what gets me is why put off road tires on some them which doesn’t make sense.
Should be band everywhere, dangerous, unsafe, and driven by nitwit. What happen to bumper height restrictions. If one hits you be sure law suit takes everything they own and will ever own.
Do NC Insurance Companies cover this kind of modification? (if they know about it).
@bobert yes they cover it unless you get a truck from a dealership they have lifts that break coverage.
unlike the rest I have been in plenty of these vehicles & would like to say there is not much difference with visibility. With that being said how many more wrecks has there been with your standard car vs. these modified truck? Too many
sad thing is the ones that own these aint got sh*t in the first place
Reminds me of a dog dragging their ass across the carpet.
It’s called a “gasser” for anyone over 50.
It’s called “stupid” for anyone period.
But gassers only ran at the dragstrip. On the street? Forget about it!
Gassers had the front lifted and backed left stock height or even raised slightly. For 2 reasons. Tiny straight axle took ALOT of weight off the front end. Lifting the fronted transferred weight to the rear axle for a better launch.
This is no gases it is s dumbasser! Absolutely stupid and dangerously stupid. Like it is a dod taking a $hit.
Next it’ll be the Carolina Pop since the wording talks about raising front and lowering rear they will just do the opposite.
Who in their right mind would drive a POS like the the picture above ??
The pants sagging gold teeth’s that’s who and the wiggers
🤣👍
Wow! People are just throwing the word wigger around like it’s not just the n-word with a “w” on the front.
Do you know what it means? Wigger means a white person who wants to be black now keep your mouth shut next time if you don’t know punk.
Wow you really just said something you have no clue about you have to be one of the stupidest people I have seen on here.
Should be a compound word stigger!
Let’s see, you can’t see where your going, your headlights are not functional, vehicle stability and crash safety are severely compromised. These vehicles should be banned in all states. Anyone who believes otherwise is a complete fool.
That has already been answered Steve.s. See getoffmynutz comments.
Just plain bad looking, stupid, dumb and anything else you can call it.
Also dangerous.
I agree that they look stupid ,are unsafe both for the vehicle in question or to any vehicle that this “squatted” vehicle happens to be behind,especially at night when the head lights of the offender could “BLIND” the driver in front, and it is my understanding some states dont allow tires that protrude past the original wheel well !
Y’all mad and Butt hurt Bc we getting all the attention and Bc y’all can’t afford it😭🤣
Or, most other people have a bit of common sense!
Can’t afford it lol. None of you have new cars it’s all old early 2000s or 90s models. Which one are you a gold teeth or a wigger?
How can you talk about someone affording something when you bought your car from Jose’s used car lot?
Who is we? You don’t even own one.
squatted trucks look stupid and they are dangerous anybody who squats a truck is a stupid moron
The commenters are all missing the point. As a long-time professional engineer who has worked for 60 years in the mobility industry I can say with certainty that squatters are a very bad idea, for the reasons well articulated above. But this law is one more intrusion on our freedom. What will the busybodies ban next? Aftermarket rims? Steering wheel covers? Fender fares? I could argue that all of these things are a safety hazard, increase (mythical) climate change, and so on. Any supposed public benefit from this meddlesome law is far outweighed by the creeping loss of freedom we are suffering.
I agree with you on freedom thing, however driving is a privelege and not a right. Motor vehicle laws in general are to protect the occupents. Modifying them in way that defeats the system should only be used for show or off road use. If you hit someone driving a vehicle that no longer complies with the safety of vehicle a lawsuit could be huge and you will lose.
Your rights end where mine begin. And actual engineers understand that climate change is no myth….
Nobody says climate change is a myth, the myth is humans have any control over climate. Also hurricanes are stronger is a myth, flooding a myth, more natural wild fires is a myth. Wild fires are because of poor forest management. Places that have good forest management have no wild fires. Floods are because of bad water management most of times. Houston Texas is a good example. Some floods just happen, weather will never be the same day by day or year by year. Just so you know my rights never end. If you don’t like something i’m doing and its not harming you, then have the right to leave, forcing your ideas on me or anyone else is wrong and that’s when your rights are invading mine.
Wow, I don’t care much for this style, not my cup of tea, but whatever, if you like it, then that’s good enough for me. I guess you would have to get air bagged to have this so you could easily adjust your height to be legal. I grew up in Phoenix in the 70’s. Lowriders with Hydraulics (juice) was our thing, 13″ or 14″ wire wheels on 5×20 tires, cragars before the 1980’s came, 2 pumps, six batteries and a bunch of solenoids, and laws were passed to deal with guys who would ride around hitting the switch, as we called it, back then. We only did the ass down front up thing with lowriders, when we parked, occasionally on the move, never would we do it on trucks, unless the truck was a lowrider too. Never on a 4×4. It is funny to me how southerners have their own unique style when it comes to custom cars and trucks. When the DONK trend hit, I was like OK, that’s cool, now this Ass down and Front up thing with a big truck is kind of weird like the DONK style, but twisted even further…..ya’ll have some strange styles, that I don’t get, but that’s what makes the South unique. Ya’ll on some different sh*t when it comes to customizing your rides…..but I am sure you guys look at us out west the same way….its really funny when you think about it. I still love lowriders to this day, when you grow up in that scene, its just part of you. Same thing for you guys down South. Keep customizing and the more radical, the more they will have to pass laws to stop your creativity. Again, the DONK and the Ass Down thing down there is not my style. In Arizona, for us older cats, if it is a truck, its either a true 4×4 with a lift kit, or it is a slammed truck with 18’s-20’s and probably bagged. Cars from the 50’s on up are either lowriders or street rods with a few original(as built from the factory) styles sprinkled in. Wishing ya’ll the best.
About time they done this people don’t realize how much of a hazard this is, when they spend daddy’s money and only get half of a lift kit ,but the transmission shop sure did love it, I’ll never forget the first time I watch one try to turn around and he hit the damn dumpster, hilarious but at the same time ignorant! The youngas are sure going to be upset now at the fact the fagg sag can’t continue!
I bet all the gold teeth’s are pissed about this.
Doesn’t a car lose its type certification with such modifications? It should be illegal to drive a non-certified vehicle on public roads.
Sure doesn’t look DOT approved! I’m glad the lift is restricted to 3″. When trucks have a six” lift, just another stupid modification that is extremely dangerous. Then oversized wheels that are extending well past the body fender so mud, stones and water is slinged everywhere. Center of gravity is in the stratosphere. It’s ok for swamp buggy’s but they are usually not approved nor used for road use.
It should not matter what a person is doing to there car or truck black or white all these other things going on in this world today and they worry about a truck and how it’s sitting they need to be figuring out how to get rid of this virus that’s killing people
Do yourself a favor. Shut off cnn, nbc, cbs. Believe half of what you see and none of what you hear. These jerkoffs in tv take the face diapers off as soon as the camera moves. The squat look is dumb. Sagging pants is dumb. Not a lot of white people do either.
Haven’t you heard? Squatting is at least as effective against the virus, as masks and mass experimental injections. On the other hand, looking at the condition of state workers, they’re the last ones I want telling me how to fight anything: Except how to fight for the front of the snack aisle, donut counter, bakery, buffet line and the strato-lounger. Other than that, Darwin is naturally brilliant compared to Fauci, and more merciful too.
Go take your horse dewormer
Actually vets administer human parasite meds to horses, but in larger doses than humans need. But I trust it much more than I trust anything that puppy killer from the NIH has in his medical bag, any day.
It’s spelled life
Some of you people are missing the point here It look’s stupid and dangerous with the front of the vehicle up like that it makes it hard for the driver to see bicyclists, joggers, kids playing in the street, pedestrians, dangerous road conditions and what ever else that might come up.
Aside from all the myriad of non-compliance issues, the main one that concerns the public and other drivers is the headlight issue.
Do these morons drive these things at night?
If so, I find it hard to believe there is enough adjustment in the headlights to account for the angle to be in compliance with headlight laws.
And, if you’re in front of one of these things, I guess you’ll have to endure their lights shining down on you.
Given how little the drivers can see in front of them, I don’t see them as safe to drive during the day, either.
If driving was really about safety, we would just walk.
It’s odd how, there are no compliance issues, until somebody creates a law, to force compliance. If these geniuses can figure out how to lift the fronts of their SUVs, they can probably figure out how to mount a light bar under the bumper, or on the frame to project down the road. It would be interesting to see exactly what the accident statistics are, before jumping to conclusions.
How will a light bar mounted under the bumper keep the driver from hitting whatever is in front of the squatted vehicle, or seeing it in the first place?
Mount the backup camera in the front, or put a periscope on it…and definitely don’t be taking me too seriously on this one.
I guess that 6″ suspension lift to clear 35s with room to stuff them at full articulation I had planned for my next truck would be a no-go in NC. 🙄 It’s almost a requirement here because of our cavernous potholes.
But having said that, Taildraggers are supposed to have WINGS.
If it ain’t sparkin’, it ain’t draggin…;)
I will charge you to ruin your vehicle.
In North Carolina, it’s pronounced “rurnt.” But the best jobs are free…
Now paving the way for the highly anticipated Carolina Booty face: Back-end up front-end down
All of these should be impounded and scrapped. Screw the vehicle owners.
Only if the rear bumpers aren’t dragging. If they spark, then they’re good to go.
Alo
Alot of you older crowds are pretty staunched in opinion which dwindles over in affecting your peers. One thing you have to accept is the fact, this is a display of individuality. Just as you see a pt cruiser you don’t like, dont mean they should be banned! I see old people driving Oldsmobiles and the Lincoln town cars, who ties up traffic which is a hazard, should i ban them from driving???
In regards to safety, if death is the motive -even the prevention, this should be extended to officials and government workers also, with their red light running and “wreckless driving”… Or classic cars who’s emission standards doesn’t meet today’s standards, which inhibits air quality. Point being, this is selective outrage, more people are killed from texting and driving, consider banning cellphones!
This comment section is more superficial than practicality and personal choice. Just as I hate my child listening to Billie ellish, I think i spelled it right. Inevitable choices have to be accepted
Squatted PT Cruisers, HHRs, Olds and Lincolns, should be mandated. No exceptions. Period. End of Story….
Please shut up brad you have no clue how old anyone is on this thread.
im with brad dont take these from us
In PA a squatted vehicle would never pass state inspection. Besides,how could you drive at night with the headlights shining in the trees.
It depends on what you’re hunting for.
It’s what happens when somebody steals your big block. You can’t help it. This law is clearly displacement discrimination.
Lol we found the gold teeth or wigger in the comment section
You don’t know me like that. So, don’t call me “dawg.”
How can you say it’s discrimination when most of the people driving the trucks are white.
Yall just cant let kids have some fun its always got to get us introuble everytime we find something were into yall have to take it away from us so what if yall dont like it its not your truck its our truck so if you dont like it dont look at us as long as were not doing drugs and killing people why should yall care let us be kids and have some fun you only live once and the truck game inspires us to work harder so many people in the game have inspired me marshall evans taught me work hard and youll suceed bolundy taught me be nice to others and good will come to you and brett taught me be yourself and make some noise its so much more than a truck its a lifestyle and we like it so dont take that from us were kids let us be loud and look stupid as long as were being ourself.
Have your fun on your own premises, but not on public roads, where your play can endanger the lives of others.
No motor vehicle is allowed to be driven on public roads, which is not being certified by the relevent authorities of the countries concerned to be safe. Significant changes to the construction which had been certified for a given TYPE have to be individually certified, in order to protect the safety of the public roads.
In the USA it is the NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration), a department of the “Department of Transport”, a ministry of the US government.
What is shown in the images accomanying this post is certainly not certified to be safe.
I respect you with not putting people in danger but if it can pass inspection i can drive it but theres real crimes happening in the world and yall are worried about kids trying to have some fun honestly its there truck so let us be loud and stupid and if we can drive then let us be its not the way the trucks sitting its how the person can drive let us kids be kids while we still can
» if it can pass inspection« — that’s the question, and with a big IF!
I don’t believe that any of these cars with that nonsensical modification ever was presented for individual validation.
i have 9 in the front and stock in the back and ive never crashed so ima do me whether you like it or not it aint illegal if i dont get caught
but in reality if teens dont listen to the law now there not gonna listen to that stupid law anyway
Yall just mad a kids clapped out obs gets more audience than your stock f150
Speak English please you are not around your friends here so you don’t need to act like a wigger
what really needs to be banned is them ugly ass slammed cars and trucks they the thing thats ugly not the squat.
fr man they wanna ban us because they dont wanna see us live our lives how we wanna live them
kids look up to me bc of da truck game dont take this away from us we just some redneck kid trying to have some im with @dylantoler on this
yall just mad because ya cant have one lmaoo
All I know is Honda ridgelines and squatted trucks ain’t allowed in TRUCK GANG! If you have to ask you aren’t in either!
Problem with this law is that it affects those who want to put a modest 6″ lift on their truck. And I thought California was bad.
I used to own a Chrysler Crossfire until a squatter truck caused me to run off the road totaling my car I suffered 3 broken bones cracked ribs black eye and total loss of my vehicle and lost wages from work and $8000 in debt for medical bills because they left the scene! They were going to drive over my car because they clearly didn’t see my vehicle because the front was jacked up and they recline there seats so the only thing they see are street lights!