Mods, Cops, and the Tow Truck

[Ferdball]

I got a speeding ticket last Friday. I was passing a car from an on ramp to the fast lane, up to about 80. But there was a cop was behind me about 1/8 mile. I had some sort of misfire between 4th and 5th. He saw a puff of black smoke. I need to get that fixed, but...

He asked if I had any mods under the hood. I said that I had an intake. He asked if he could take a look. I showed him, he saw the CARB sticker and all was good. He was cool and I was cool.

But what if I had a FMIC? Or if he was keen enough to find a mani? Could he claim some soft of emissions modding and have me towed? I'm in California, by the way. I remember reading that Haltech said that you don't have to show him anything. But there was that puff of black smoke. I think denying him access could have set off his inner cop in him.

 

[coyfish]

Not sure why he aksed to look under the hood. As long as you pass emissions you should be good. A FMIC isn't illegal. Evo's have them stock . . .

He probably wanted to see if you had a bunch of shiny crap under your hood so he could test you for emissions.

 

[TheDoc]

Not sure why he aksed to look under the hood. As long as you pass emissions you should be good. A FMIC isn't illegal. Evo's have them stock . . .

He probably wanted to see if you had a bunch of shiny crap under your hood so he could test you for emissions.

California is a different planet when it comes to mods.

 

[JCell]

yet is still the capital for it lol

 

[essejkcamraw]

california is WHACKK!

 

[dandan2]

i know right! all my performance mods have come from cali!

 

[MAZDA_SPEED]

Anything that is not CARB is illegal. Including a FMIC. If its shiny, they can call you on it. It just depends on the cop. My father got pulled over for having a mazdaspeed axle back on his protege. its wack.

http://www.arb.ca.gov/msprog/aftermkt/devices/amquery.php

 

[hectik1]

Thank god I don't live in CA!(bang)

 

[SBSPEED3]

...cant wait to move away from Ca...

 

[Design]

Anything that is not CARB is illegal. Including a FMIC. If its shiny, they can call you on it. It just depends on the cop. My father got pulled over for having a mazdaspeed axle back on his protege. its wack.

http://www.arb.ca.gov/msprog/aftermkt/devices/amquery.php

The ARB is focused on emissions components only. This includes the intake filter, turbo, combustion chamber, cats, ECU, intake/exhaust sensors, etc. Generally speaking, cooling and post-cat exhaust mods do not affect emissions in the same way as modifying an emissions component. The filter/cats still trap the same ratio of contaminants relative to intake temps/engine speed.

A FMIC indicates you might be running an aftermarket turbo swap, which is illegal in Cali. Hard for cops to tell the difference, so they'll cite you on probable cause. From there it's off to a state ref who would easily be able to tell the difference and clear you.

Hope that helps.

 

[Cager]

Yeah, that's ridiculous, I'm from ohio and we don't really have problems that bad here, besides the cops being extremely stingy on speed they don't really care about large puffs of smoke, hell just look at all the diesel rams running puffs of black smoke quarter mile behind em.

 

[Gmac03]

Maybe he just liked your car and wanted to take a look.(lurk)

Gmac

 

[jri4]

Maybe he just liked your car and wanted to take a look.(lurk)

Gmac

As I read the original post, this is how I thought the story was going to end!(burnout)

 

[Ferdball]

Maybe he just liked your car and wanted to take a look.(lurk)

Gmac

Nope. He was looking for something to bust me on. He mentioned that Evo's and Eclipse's usually have illegal mods. He was definitely trying to bust me.

I'm just trying to get a better idea on me having to open my hood for his inspection.

 

[Nismothecat]

they are starting to make "stealth" products for CA. My AEM intake on my Evo is pretty stealthy (it does have a CARB exempt #)

 

[Mike240SX]

Are you sure the 80mph isn't what got you stopped, not the puff of smoke?

 

[Ferdball]

Are you sure the 80mph isn't what got you stopped, not the puff of smoke?

22349 (a) vc - 75 mph on the freeway
27163 vc - Excessive smoke

 

[opt_ms3]

our cars are turbocharged. they run rich (lots of fuel) for safety (runs cooler). The cop was completely bullshitting you. you have rights as an american, and the state of california can't take that away from you. the officer can't use the fact that he saw black smoke as probable cause to check under the hood. he also probably didn't catch you actually speeding either. you should have said you didn't know why you got pulled over, said you did not know you speeding, and that black smoke is no cause to have the car searched. lesson learned.

 

[Design]

our cars are turbocharged. they run rich (lots of fuel) for safety (runs cooler). The cop was completely bullshitting you. you have rights as an american, and the state of california can't take that away from you. the officer can't use the fact that he saw black smoke as probable cause to check under the hood. he also probably didn't catch you actually speeding either. you should have said you didn't know why you got pulled over, said you did not know you speeding, and that black smoke is no cause to have the car searched. lesson learned.

This isn't about rights or probable cause. This is about making a routine stop as painless as possible. If a cop asks to look under your hood and you have nothing to hide, let him look. Most times it's a quick 5 minute conversation and you're on your way.

Exercising your "rights" only works in your favor if you have something to hide. Your actions are doing nothing more than rasing the cop's suspicions, whether justified or not. So unless you're content with dragging this out in court just to prove your legal rights, just cooperate and be done with it.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[eg6motion]

our cars are turbocharged. they run rich (lots of fuel) for safety (runs cooler). The cop was completely bullshitting you. you have rights as an american, and the state of california can't take that away from you. the officer can't use the fact that he saw black smoke as probable cause to check under the hood. he also probably didn't catch you actually speeding either. you should have said you didn't know why you got pulled over, said you did not know you speeding, and that black smoke is no cause to have the car searched. lesson learned.

It honestly sounds like this, or similar, situation has never happened to you. We have rights, but those rights are open to interpretation by the officer and are to be determined by a Judge or Jury in Court. The Officer could have your car towed under suspicion if they pleased. If you truly don't have anything to hide, it's best to cooperate and just go on with your day.