Carolina Trucks
Got a lift kit? Squatted truck? You could get ticketed if this NC bill becomes law
Will Doran
Fri, May 7, 2021, 2:39 PM
If you’ve ever been driving down the road, blinded by the off-kilter headlights of a truck with a lift kit, a new bill advancing at the General Assembly is for you.
And if you drive a vehicle with after-market modifications like a squatted lift, you might soon face a fine or even the threat of losing your license.
One popular lift is so closely associated with its fans in North and South Carolina that it’s called the “Carolina Squat” even in other states around the country. It’s the term for when the car isn’t lifted evenly, but has the front end angled up. That can be done by lifting the front, lowering the back or both.
And it’s becoming increasingly popular.
According to Google Trends, online searches for “Carolina Squat” or “squatted truck” have taken off in the last few years. Numerous social media groups dedicated to the style have thousands of members.
The rise has brought both fans and critics.
The laid-back style is popular at car and truck shows, but not with state lawmakers concerned about the driver not being able to see drivers or pedestrians on the road in front of them.
“Many of you have probably seen these cars that have been elevated so high in the air, a car that would come with 16-inch tires, they now have 37-inch tires,” said Rep. Brenden Jones, a Columbus County Republican who sponsored the bill, during a committee hearing Wednesday.
Extreme lifts cause all sorts of safety concerns, he said, from dangerously angled headlights to drivers not being able to see the road, or the cars even falling apart as they drive.
“I’ve seen several instances where the wheels have literally run off these vehicles,” said Jones, who owns a used car dealership in Tabor City.
Bill now heads to NC Senate
The House of Representatives passed HB 692 nearly unanimously Thursday, by a vote of 107-5, with little debate. It now heads to the Senate. The day before the vote, when the bill was in committee, Jones sought to assuage fellow Republicans concerned about what some of their friends and constituents might think.
Rep. David Willis, a Republican from Union County outside of Charlotte, said he belongs to a Jeep enthusiast group and asked to exempt Jeeps from the rules.
“It’s very common for a lot of these to have four-inch lifts, 37-inch wheels on there,” Willis said, warning lawmakers to be cautious of angering people passionate about modifying their vehicles.
“You’ll have an awful lot of Jeeps parked out on Jones Street (in front of the legislative building) one day and, you know, making a statement of their own,” he said.
Jones said he wouldn’t agree to exempt specific types of vehicles — but that as long as people have had their lifts done properly and evenly, he said, they shouldn’t get pulled over even if this change does become law.
People who do get pulled over could get a warning or a ticket, Jones said. Someone with three offenses within 12 months would lose their driver’s license for at least a year.
Rep. Mark Pless, a Republican from Haywood County in western North Carolina, mentioned how expensive lift kits can be and said he was concerned for people who have already paid for the work. Jones said it’s already illegal to do certain types of lifts, and this bill would just tweak those rules to focus more on angled lifts in particular.
However, it does appear that at least some Carolina Squat style lifts are legal under current law. State law as-is bans high riders and low riders, but not squatted lifts — as long as they aren’t too extreme.
The law currently says passenger vehicles “shall not be elevated or lowered, either in front or back, more than six inches.”
The language in this new bill, if it becomes law, would say passenger vehicles cannot be lifted more than three inches in the front and also lowered more than two inches in the back.
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Awesome news!
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Most stupid looking thing on the road, a Carolina squat. Look like a dog dragging his itchy but.
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I admit it looks dumb , especially since my area of nc is overrun with them. BUT so did the cars we drove in the 70’s jacked up in the rear and running wide tires on just rear
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3" max lift...
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some one on here posted about the trucks a few months ago I thought Ok there lifting the front end so what .
I watched a few videos posted on youtube under the title of whistling diesel . no way to explain and if your like me and had to take care of any think you own . well its 1000x the opposite but that's how is making untold amounts of money what I seen he has 3.5 million subscribers and millions of views taks a couple minutes and watch one is the best I can say to describe him
so back to the surprised part the young fellow making the videos' bought a truck with the Carolina lean .
sheer nuts this one was crazy and hacked together . he showed him self driving it and you can not see the road for a 1/4 mile in front of the truck while driving it . he had to lean up or out the window to see .
I had no idea they were that far out there as far as being lifted just in the front and meets / shows' with similar trucks and there following
spoiler alert it will not last long the fellow doing the videos makes his money completely trashing what ever vehicle he is driving and tosses countless thousands ( hundreds of thousand ) of dollars .doing it the couple I watched he is inventive on what he does to get the haters going . and millions of fans enjoying watching him doing it
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I hate more laws but I hate these crappy trucks more. And they all run straight pipes, louder than hell. I saw some gumby pulling a boat with one yesterday. Get the crap off of the road.
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my youngest son ( who has had and has a assortment of jacked up built up 4x4 trucks both ends lifted ) I ask him a couple days ago when he was over
he told me per his west coast buddy it started in Ca the people were dropping the back of the trucks to make it easier to load the bikes and four wheelers into the truck . seems like a good explanation then they started getting carried away
and now its spread and got crazy
Carolina Squat Trucks | Exhaust Kings
Play the game _ Win the Game!More likes - more videos Last video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkRGDjf4vkkI am all for doing what you want and have done a lot of my own to cars and trucks
however no way could anyone see what's in front of them when driving one of the squatted trucks .
JMHO look like a accident looking for a place to happen . like most things people always seem to want to push the limits of how far they can take any thing to one up your buddy
I will say in there favor at least there putting some effort into a hobby in place of protesting and burning down the towns
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I have talked to shops doing this work and they tell me those idiots spend big bucks on suspension work. Then they throw away the exhaust system including the cats. It's gonna be expensive putting the junk back on boys. Maybe a nice shiny mountain bike while they save up.
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If one could just ticket stupid, all of these little laws would be unnecessary.
Properly adjusted headlights are a good thing regardless of how your rig sits. Not blinding someone coming towards you at a relative speed of 120 MPH just makes common sense.
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Maybe I'm different, I'm just glad to see these young males with wrenches in their hands doing "male related things" and not playing games on their cell phones. Give it time, all fads change 😊
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IDK, so what if someone wants to do something with their vehicle. HOW many people have been run over with a jacked up truck? Another law, yea, another law is what we need, said no one ever. They put a lot of money in their rides and that gives jobs to many people. Yea, I am a redneck I guess but so what. Hope it fails.
Kind of like owning a firearm that shoots more than one bullet before reloading, why do you need on that shoots more? Flame on.😵
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Just as long as they don't drive the junk on the same roads as me.
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Way back in the mid sixties when I started driving, the drag racers were lowering the front of their cars for better aerodynamics to reduce drag. Then they decided to raise the front ends to help transfer weight to the rear end for a better launch off of the line. I remember driving my 55 Ford wagon to Renton to chase young horny girls and I would stop in a parking lot, jack up the front end and block it up with a couple of 2x4’s. Then go bouncing around the cruising circuit and burn a little rubber now and then between stoplights.
Oh, those were the days!
That is what I remember when and why the lifting started...
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my first car was a 65 mustang , 1st thing I did added headers big tires and air shocks and 10" shackle's to jack up the rear to clear the tires ( and yes tickets soon followed )
over the years I put lift kits and large tires on more then a few 4x4 trucks
young people like to show there independence maybe thru there cars / trucks . clothing , hair , all have and will look for ways to be different to stand out .
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It's dumb.........but "to each their own".........I always thought that that the point of having a truck was clearance.........a lift kit makes sense.........that Carolina nonsense doesn't.
Never have understood the reason to drop a truck an inch above the road........it becomes useless as a truck.
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