Just keep it reasonable and nobody will bother you. As long as you dont tint your tail lights darker than paint and drive around with a straight pipe at 3am you should be fine. My friend drove an ignorantly loud lexus for two years, some of that time the exhaust looked like this and never had a problem and he lived in a college town where the cops are fairly strict.

Highly dependent on the area and what you’re doing. Generally speaking you should be fine.

I dailyed my off-road toy with axle swaps, big lift and tires, and no front plate around Springs and Pueblo without issue

You'll be fine. You may get a fix it ticket from a really dick head cop at the worst, but you can have it dropped once you show the judge your registration.

Generally speaking, all of your mods won't get you pulled over. MAYBE the straight pipes of you're driving a car with a fart can that's obnoxious, but that'll really only get you if you're doing dumb shit and not normal driving.

Michigan has no annual inspections or emissions testing at all.

You can be pulled over and fined for mods that aren’t legal though. Most don’t cause problems unless you are being dumb

Probably the most detailed province in Canada is Quebec, who specifically has a page on hellaflush. Personally I find it hilarious that such a page even exists.

They also have a handy brochure for what mods are and aren't allowed. Other provinces are more vague (Ontario, looking at you, although it does seem to vary just depending on any cop one might encounter).

Here in the United States varies per state. And within the state enforcement may vary within towns.

In my particular state, exhaust mods that affect emissions are prohibited, as well as certain darkness of tinted glass, and lowering/raising the suspension below/above certain distance.

Come to Tennessee in the U.S. Your headlights can't be certain colors. Outside of that, if it has an engine, 4 wheels, a windshield and blinkers, its street legal here.

Go to Florida. You can do whatever the hell you want there.

I had a beat up old Civic for a few weeks. Thing was slammed to the ground, had no rear bumper, no exhaust and super spaced out tires that stuck well beyond the fenders. Never had a problem.

Florida. They’ll register just about anything with wheels. And probably some things without.

Montana. No vehicle sales tax, no state inspection, and you can set up an LLC in your name to own the car.

Lots of supercar owners will register their cars in Montana, and I'm surprised I don't see more people doing it. Although, it's essentially light tax evasion.

California isn't the worst, since they don't have safety inspections. In PA, even replacing the horn can result in a failed inspection, as well as some common suspension mods.

In California, you're free to lift your truck so your bumper decapitates people. There are no checks for carcinogens in the exhaust anywhere in california for the past three or four years, just OBD checks. Anywhere in the state you're allowed to kill people with noise based adrenaline spikes.

To me, anti-California is a bit of misnomer as there's effectively zero checks besides OBD, even on things that have been proven to kill others. I've lived in New Jersey, PA, Virginia, and those states all did a more thorough job checking that car owners aren't actively ignoring the damage car modifiers are doing to others than California. California is basically a joke now.

While some folks I know have done this to avoid taxes, owners of older exotics are just tired of the hassles of smogging a persnickity beast that most smog shops will turn away. Niche car makers are notorious for doing the bare minimum for compliance. You can spend days running through very particular driving sequences trying to get the readiness codes to align (they reset if the car loses power), all for a car that might get driven 1K miles a year.

Counterexample: if I bought a car that could change its paint color at will, but then that feature became illegal, I may not have bought that car.

Okay, but this is the risk that you take when you buy anything, is it not? Many things are legal only by virtue of the fact that there's no law against them. The legality of anything can change at any time.

It would certainly be disappointing if you bought the car for that feature, and it would be nice if dealers could give you a heads up, but if it's now illegal, it's now illegal and that's that. If there's no grandfathering of existing vehicles with the feature, then there's nothing you can do. If the information is out there about changes to the law around vehicles, you're expected to know about it in order to comply with it.

It’s the driver’s responsibility to know the laws in their state and any changes to those laws.

My car came with the ability to drive 100 mph but if I do that I’ll get pulled over and probably arrested for reckless driving

If you don’t like a law change call your state reps, or if you think the law change was unconstitutional you can try to fight it in court.

What CA law changed?

CAs sound and emissions laws have been in effect for a while.

The Elantra and other vehicles have various settings. There isn't a specific law that says what mode you have to operate a vehicle in.

If you are operating it in track mode, on the street, you should know that it's illegal due to the exhaust noise laws.

what does that mean for the older models that were purchased prior to this information?

It means the drivers of those models need to stop using those configurations on the affected roads and highways.

If you have not received a notice from the manufacturer about these changes

It's not the manufacturer's job to tell the customer the law has changed. That's the legislature's job, and every legislature publishes changes to the law as they happen. (Here's California's, for example.)

Most people don't keep up with the law at this level of detail, and in practice legislators know this. Major changes generally get some level of governmental public awareness push, including anything from notices in the news or on billboards all the way up to mailers to individual homes. However, even when that doesn't happen, it's the public's job to know the law.

A driver cited for driving in a now-illegal configuration might find leniency on the penalties if they were otherwise operating reasonably and were not aware of the change in the law, but they're still formally responsible for knowing and following it.

Yea, that's what I was reading, too. No laws changed, though.

The noise law has been law for a long time. The officer was wrong in his modified exhaust citation but not wrong with the loud exhaust one.

The testing seems to be the issue here as apparently the issue hasn't come up before. No one wants to back down from their position, and the owner is the little man battling large government agencies.

It would depend on how the law is written. Older cars might be, but are not required to be, grandfathered in. Whether it would/should probably depends on the reason for the change in the law.

Given as it's an option-- the car can be driven perfectly within spec and within the new law-- I don't think you'd have much of a leg to stand on. What I'm wondering is what the case would be if it was just naturally loud no matter how you set it up, it was approved as was, and the new rules prohibited unavoidable side-effects of normal operation.

They are illegal. Anything that obstructs the view of the number is illegal.

I wish there was a clear reflective spray that blocks cameras from recording your plate.

They are illegal, but mostly used to pull over the usual suspects.

See them all over the place, if they are, it's not being enforced on any level. Same with the Carolina Squat, no one is enforcing it.

Yes, nothing is supposed to cover your plate.

Are you talking emissions related or noise related?

It's still a ticketable offense, but unless it's an outrageous mod, they'll likely just check your paperwork and give you a warning. They'll want to be sure you're just passing through and not maintaining an out of state registration as a dodge.

There are federal protections for traveling with a gun and so if they got arrested they didn’t follow those federal guidelines for safe passage.

If you don’t meet those guidelines then you have to make sure you are in compliance with each state laws. Gun offenses are not comparable to a car mod violation.

You might get ticketed,

Other states agree to honor driver licences, not vehicle modifications.

If nothing else, it gives the cops justification for a traffic stop. My state requires 2 plates and is strict on tints. If you violate either, you are inviting a traffic stop.

In most cases, the cop will check for warrants and make sure nothing else seems out of place. Then they'll either give a "cheap" $75 or $100 ticket or just issue a warning and send you on your way.

It could be as much as $1k - $5k for tint, and plate covers on the plate you do have could be expensive, too.

Other mods like "rolling coal" or jacking your ride up too high can also get you attention and tickets.

In GA. They will confiscate your car.

This changed very recently, I believe months ago or around COVID time, I think because a lawmaker was pulled over egregiously. Things like window tint or lights under the car are secondary offenses now.

That’s exactly what happened to me in Virginia. I live in AZ and my window tint is legal here and installed by the car dealer. I was only a few miles into Virginia on I81 and got pulled over and ticketed for window tint. I told the trooper, I live in AZ and the truck is registered in AZ, I’m only passing through. His only response, well it’s illegal in VA and TN. What an ass. When I interned for a local PD (in PA) they always told me they wouldn’t pull over an out-of-state for something like that, because it was probably legal in their state.

Back when I was in LE, it was technically illegal in our jurisdiction even if your state didn't issue front plates. Department policy was not to make stops or issue tickets for it, though, even though legally we could. Same deal with window tint - one of our neighboring states legal tint would be an instant impound for us.

Exception, though - if your DL was from our state, more than 30 days old, and the car was registered to you, the assumption was you were playing games with your registration, because you're driving your own car, live in our state, and were required to register your car with us within 30 days. So fuck you, the DMV wants their money.

I got pulled over in Tx (2 plate state) driving a car from Louisiana (rear only at least at the time) visiting relatives. No ticket, he'd only seen the car from head on and it was middle of nowhere. He just apologized and said he never saw out of state cars in that area.

The laws for most mods are fairly similar, with window tint being a big exception that varies a lot state to state. Mods to suspension, brakes, safety equipment, and emissions equipment are pretty similar in law and only differ in enforcement.

I have heard of them towing cars back to Ontario but never actually seen any evidence of that and looking at this:

https://saaq.gouv.qc.ca/en/drivers-licences/vehicle-seizure-and-recovery

I see no reason to seizure a modified car from another province? I assume the problem is people in modified cars driving like assholes.

Try a state specific subreddit or the DMV subreddit.

Good luck from Georgia, we're still banned from 2023 and awaiting news on the lawsuit and/or the bill they're proposing to ban all imported cars under 4000 lbs from state roads.

They banned us in a similar way with anything not meeting federal safety standards is banned, and they defined this as anything without a 17 digit vin. This means all cars prior to 1981 even usdm were banned, they obviously walked that back because it would've banned classic American cars.

They cancelled our titles, destroyed the original import paperwork, and kept the TAVT tax we paid with zero recourse outside of collectively suing the state and that slimeball Kemp.

Someone in MI formed a Facebook group (Michigan Kei Advocates), ran a go fund me, and hired a lawyer who is also a car enthusiast.

For lobbying your state reps, hop online and figure out who your representatives are. Hand write them a letter (be courteous) and send it.

Personally, I think that Washington’s model is the best - carve out a legal exception for non-interstate travel. Most of the NHSTA safety stuff is for cars that are traveling at high speeds or with other vehicles at high speeds, but Kei truck owners aren’t trying to travel at high speeds, so we should be able to travel roads 55mph and below.

Anywho, do some research, figure out who your state reps are, and reach out proactively to explain why you think these cars should be legal.

If you really want to make a difference, sign up to volunteer for your local rep’s campaign, and show up in a mini truck.

I like to reach across both sides of the political spectrum. I tell Republicans that they are practical, fun, they’re not dangerous to other drivers, and people should have right to make their own choices about their own safety. I also mention that they are small business friendly because they are cheaper and easier to maintain than big pickup trucks.

To Democrats, I mention that they’re great for urban farmers because they’re cheaper than big expensive pickup trucks, and they’re more environmentally friendly because they aren’t trying to move 6,000 pounds at 100 miles per hour. They’re safer for urban settings wh pedestrians and bicyclists and since they are lighter than my Honda Fit and slower than a Dodge Ram they can’t plow through a crowd of schoolchildren (or bicyclists).

Get an advocate group formed and have everyone write letters and make phone calls to your state reps!

Mentioned in another thread but I've been denied Registration on my 1997 Suzuki Carry in Colorado. If you want a Kei Truck/Van in CO this can not pass as they are already denying with no Legality to the decision, just State Patrol saying no it's not safe/emissions etc.

Lots of us having a similar problem in Missouri, State highway patrol refusing VIN inspections which are required , due to them being "unable to be titled in MO", while the DMV requires a vin inspection for registration and titling. Very aggravating experience.

Good luck friends.

We just sued the state of Michigan and forced the SOS to back down on their shadow ban.

Next step is to proactively lobby some state representatives/senators to make sure they don’t pass any new laws. Or if they do, to make sure they’re friendly.

We went through the same bullshit here in Massachusetts this summer. Just out of the blue, keis were banned. No reasoning other than the vague FMVSS rule. There was a pretty good pushback from kei owners. For some unknown reason, the Mass RMV reversed their decision the day before their next hearing. However, they left the door open, pending a 'comprehensive safety review' to be considered at a later date. I'm not convinced they won't come back at some point in the future.

Fucking AAMVA.....they should meet Luigi.

https://www.mass.gov/news/advisory-massachusetts-rmv-announces-update-to-kei-vehicle-policy-in-massachusetts

https://www.roadandtrack.com/news/a62259797/massachusetts-reverses-kei-cars-ban/

https://www.reddit.com/r/keitruck/comments/1fnj8qm/massachusetts_rmv_reverses_ban_on_kei_trucks/