Lmao. The “Carolina squat” ban.

Furious_E (Forum Supporter) said:

Is there like a massive population of these things that exists somewhere that I'm not aware of? Because I can literally count on one hand the number of "Carolina Squatted" trucks I've seen in my lifetime, and that includes on travels to the south. I think we can all agree these things are stupid, but seems like much ado about nothing, IMO.

This was exactly what I was thinking. I dont think I've ever seen one in person. They strike me as being like the the jnco giant leg jeans of vehicles. As useless as it is, it seems like it is a fad that would fade away pretty quickly. 

I do wish they would crack down on blinding headlights, and OEM's are some of the worst offenders.

In reply to gearheadmb :

The latest gen Ferd Stupor Doodies are awful for this, and I see way more of those in a single day than the grand total of Carolina Squat trucks. Not to mention, this is a problem that can actually be addressed, OEMs can be compelled to comply with regulations. Tasteless rednecks are always going to do tasteless redneck E36 M3, legal or not.

I'd say in favour of this sort of (insane and unsafe)  vehicle modification that it acts as a distant early warning moron detector - when you see one of those in the area, you can assume that the odds of something stupid and possibly dangerous happening  have gone up considerably.

But what is the real difference between that and the trucks that have been raised so high that you need a ladder to get into them?

gearheadmb said:

Furious_E (Forum Supporter) said:

Is there like a massive population of these things that exists somewhere that I'm not aware of? Because I can literally count on one hand the number of "Carolina Squatted" trucks I've seen in my lifetime, and that includes on travels to the south. I think we can all agree these things are stupid, but seems like much ado about nothing, IMO.

This was exactly what I was thinking. I dont think I've ever seen one in person. They strike me as being like the the jnco giant leg jeans of vehicles. As useless as it is, it seems like it is a fad that would fade away pretty quickly. 

I do wish they would crack down on blinding headlights, and OEM's are some of the worst offenders.

I see probably 5 or so everyday.

They all have furry steering wheels too.

I have no idea how people see over the hood of them.

ShawnG said:

Owner has to take it to a registered inspection facility and it has to meet all standards that it met when it was new. This means lift kits, non-DOT parts, etc all have to be removed and the vehicle has to be put back to stock to pass the inspection, otherwise the vehicle is now a pumpkin and can't be operated on the road.

 

This seems excessive. I mean, as you wrote it (back to stock), if somebody were to  change the speakers out or add a sub, they can fail it. 

Snrub said:

It's funny you mention impaired driving. If it wasn't currently illegal, I don't think it would be made illegal. It's become socially acceptable to think poorly of drunk driving. I'm guessing, but hundreds of thousands of people likely drive drunk every day. Back in '85 18k people died per year from impaired driving, now it's only around 10k/year. Millions of people's personal freedom is infringed upon by not being able to have fun and drive drunk. It's far less risky than many things with greater controversy. Overreach?

100% wrong. If you want to drive drunk, go ahead on YOUR land. Just stay off of the public roads where your action has consequences for others- e.g. your fist is hitting their nose. 
Want to drive without a license? Go ahead, on YOUR land. If you want to drive on public roads, you have to play the game.
Want to squat your truck? Go ahead. Again, just keep it off of public roads.

 

How common are they?

I saw about 3 different ones today while driving about 10 total miles. I generally see one every time I go out.

 

I see a couple pretty regularly around here, too.

It's come as far north as Richmond VA as I've seen a few around. They still very much prefer the donk style here as I see about 5x as many around.

They have become quite a bit more common than I like.  

I don't generally have a problem with the way people modify their cars.  These however, seem dangerous.  One of them passes down my street often and when it is coming up the hill I walk down with my son to reach the shopping center, I don't see how the driver can possibly see any adult pedestrian traffic - forget about kids/dogs/etc.

In addition to the safety issue, this crowd seems to attract as many proudly obnoxious shiny happy people as coal-rollers (there is overlap as well).

All that said, I agree there are already laws in place being violated.  Just enforce those please.

Squatted trucks, suburbans,tahoes & even escalades are all over the place in eastern NC

Interesting, I guess this must be a highly regional thing then. With the number of brodozers around here, I'm surprised it hasn't caught on yet.

Pete. (l33t FS) said:

In reply to maschinenbau :

OEM lighting is a huge peeve of mine.  A lot of current trucks are illegal per many state laws as far as headlight height is concerned.  (Laws enacted to eliminate heavily lifted trucks) Federal regs overrule state regs, with the only exception being California emissions laws, simply because CARB is grandfathered in because it existed before the EPA.

Hell, there are quite a few CARS that have taillights that are illegal per some old state laws regarding taillight light.

 

There was a thread a ways back where a guy with a GTO kept getting ticketed because of a state (maybe city) law regarding taillight design that the GTO didn't meet.  When he tried to fight it in court by saying the car was as-produced by GM, he was told "well, it looks like you're going to keep getting tickets."  THAT is poor judgin', because Federal overrides State per interstate commerce.

I believe it was about a Pontiac G8 with oem clear taillights having issues In Maryland

Furious_E (Forum Supporter) said:

Interesting, I guess this must be a highly regional thing then. With the number of brodozers around here, I'm surprised it hasn't caught on yet.

Well, it is called the Carolina Squat.

ProDarwin said:

Furious_E (Forum Supporter) said:

Interesting, I guess this must be a highly regional thing then. With the number of brodozers around here, I'm surprised it hasn't caught on yet.

Well, it is called the Carolina Squat.

Yeah, but it actually started in California where it's called the Cali Lean or the California Lean. 

I have never seen that in CA.

I have though, seen the off-road (stadium racing style) trucks with the front end up a bit with big tires and flaired open style fender.  I am not sure they are very common anymore.  No where near as extreme as the pics here.

The Caroline version might be the result of imitating the look without any concept of why the stadium style trucks look like that (super soft suspensions, with need of lots of front end travel for jumping).  The ones I have seen in CA seem to have at least some of the functionality.

Its kind of like how the stance absurd camber thing probably came from the lowered VW scene, which of course had to have the extreme camber because of the swing axles in the older cars.  Of course it could have just been taking the camber gain that result from dropping a car to the bump stops to an extreme (more is better, right)

wspohn said:

But what is the real difference between that and the trucks that have been raised so high that you need a ladder to get into them?

I had a coworker who owned a 4wd truck that had been jacked way up.  One day he was hauling a load of firewood home, drove around a curve, and with the combination of high center of gravity and added load the truck just tipped over.  The truck then caught on fire, and with all that firewood on board it burned to a crisp.  He didn't get a lot of sympathy afterwards, and I remember that the truck he bought to replace it was left at stock height.

Proposing a ban is a clear sign that mockery has fallen down on the job. If everyone who saw these trucks offered to help install the rest of the lift kit, it would never need to come to this.

In reply to MadScientistMatt :

This is the backwoods redneck crowd, mockery may well get you shot. I wouldn't advise it. 

I was followed into town by one yesterday. It was raining so his headlights were on. They were apparently properly adjusted. His were much less annoying than many new cars. 

ProDarwin said:

Furious_E (Forum Supporter) said:

Interesting, I guess this must be a highly regional thing then. With the number of brodozers around here, I'm surprised it hasn't caught on yet.

Well, it is called the Carolina Squat.

Touche 

I'm not sure I like the ban. I'd rather see LEOs pull folks over for illegal/improperly adjusted headlights. 

I'd also like to see that teal one pulled over to determine if it is possible to see the road ahead of you out of it. I'm struggling on the physics of of it, unless they've put shims under the back of the seat?  This wouldn't be nearly as much of a problem if the hood heights haven't gotten so ridiculous, but here we are. I've never sat in one so this is just me wondering; is it functionally any different than painting the bottom half of your windshield. Here is a visual: This guys eyes look to be lower than the top of the hood, or right at the top of the hood. How far out would a miata need to be that he could see it?

I don't know that it is a big enough deal to do anything about it though. Kinda seems like fear mongering. I've never seen it. I doubt it is causing accidents, let alone injuries and deaths, because I doubt that anyone would live with it for very long - those that would probably are doing dumb stuff anyway. It is expensive and presumably annoying to live with, so I don't see it ever being a big problem. Just another news cycle freak out.

Stampie said:

In reply to Mr_Asa :

I watched all three.  Kinda annoying kid.  The fact that he thought the truck was annoying was not lost on me.  Here in Jacksonville we call that the Palatka rake.

I was wondering what the hell I was seeing on my roadtrip stop in Jacksonville when I saw a group of squatted trucks lol

In reply to Snrub :

DUIs kill 27 people every day; that's a mass shooting every day, it also represents 28% of the fatalities

I'd be willing to bet sqaut trucks are not a sginficant factor in traffic safety................again I'd rather seeing them working harder to kerb texting and DUIs.  

In reply to Tom1200 :

Personally I want them to keep slow cars out of the left lane.

Well I'm all about order of the law and supporting the police but the police have much better things to do then enforcing some politicians personal dislikes. I'm sure there are enough laws already on the books to take squatted trucks/SUV's off the road. I'm seeing more of this fad in south Alabama and don't care for it. I personally don't like donked, stanced, squatted, etc and think they are probably unsafe but where exactly do you draw the line. I'm sure there are those who look at lowered, roll caged, big tires and immediately think  "race car" and that shouldn't be driven on the street. SEMA is constantly fighting these battles to protect our right to modify and own vintage vehicles that don't meet current safety/environmental laws. 
 

I think a more pertinent question is don't our politicians have better and more important issues that they should be dealing with. And oh yeah stay the hell off my lawn.