Cop: The reason why I pulled you over is because you have tinted tail lights. You can't have tinted tail lights

Me: Sir, those are actually stock

Cop: It didn't come from the factory like that.

Me: Sir, I'm pretty sure they come stock like that.

Cop: From the dealership?

Me: Yes

Cop: Exactly, from a dealership. Someone modified the car and the dealership sold it.

Me: Ok, well I just want to know the process of getting this cleared. You're going to write me a ticket and what is the process for me to prove that they come stock? May I get my phone? I can show you right now.

Cop: I'm actually not going to give you a ticket. I will do some research myself but all of the RX7s and RX8s that I've seen have clear tail lights. Just beware, you may not get a nice cop next time.

Me: Thank you, sir.

Anyone else get pulled over for this same reason?

 

Yes, just yesterday actually lol.....

 

Next time tell him that you heard the nearest doughnut shop was on fire and he'll leave you alone.

 

There was a big thread about this somewhere on here. It's a common thing we get pulled over for. :/

 

That is the least of my worries. He was looking at my 3 a-pillar and 2 dash gauges the whole time he was explaining to me that the lights have to be certain colors blah blah.

If he pulls me over for my tails lights, does he has the right to tell me to pop the hood?

 

I got the same thing awhile back and got no ticket either. Technically I did modify mine to 99 style so I'm sure that's illegal somehow in Ca, lol.

 

You aren't the first and you won't be the last.

 

This is the reason that I made my FD completely illegal, with full 4 inch loud *** exhaust spitting fireballz etc. They don't even notice the taillights

 

Sometimes the cops will just pull you over so they can check out your 7. One time I was heading home from the drag strip. It was cool and dark out. As I was getting closer to home, I decided to gun it one last time. There was a large SUV in front of me on the left lane with me on the right lane. Speed limit was 45mph. There was also another vehicle approaching from the opposite lane from a distance. I gunned it in 2nd gear and over took the SUV very quickly. I hit 70 pretty fast right in front of that oncoming vehicle. That vehicle did a u-turn and it turned out to be a cop. I was like ohhh shitttt. LOL! I pulled into my driveway and the cop with his lights on followed me in. He asked me to step out of the car so I did. The then nearly climbs into my ride like he's looking for something. He then proceeds to tell me to be careful and have a nice night. Funny thing is he never asked for my drivers license or insurance. My Fd was 100% stock at the time. LOL!


I never heard of the tail light thing. I can only assume their doing it just to check your car out. Makes me wonder if the last generation Pontiac Trans-Ams owners have the same problem?

 

Never had it happen to me in an FD.

 

The tinted taillights claim happened recently to Curacao's Finest
He did nothing wrong....
He racked up 8 tickets in one stop.

 

This is when I pull out the brochure from the rear bin...

 

me as well.

2 weeks after picking up this FD I am driving by the police station at the opposite end of my block, an officer is pulling out and turning behind me. No sooner did I think "If this is ever going to happen its going to happen now" He turned on his lights and pulled me over.

He said he pulled me over for tinted tailights. I told him they were stock. He said tinted is not stock and I told him they were not tinted. So we discussed that for a moment as he circled the car looking into all the wheel wells, not sure for what. He pointed out no fron tplate (since then I have put it back on). He came back to the car and told me to go to the dealership and order stock lights.
He then told me he had an emergency. Got in his car, turned on his lights drove 1/2 block away and turned them off. STOOPID!
Needless to say I avoided that end of the block with my FD from that point forward.

 

Smog equipment tampering has nothing to with tailight
modifications.

Sure they may take every opportunity to look under the hood and that is why they 'ask' you to pop it open. Only with probable cause they have the authority to search, so just keep that in mind.

And no true probable cause is not gauges (since they are legal). Here in CA probable cause for smog tampering is if he hears a bov, too loud of exhaust, have no cats, visible fmic... Basically things that directly point to tampering with the hp output of your vehicle.

 

yup same happened to me

but i actually got the ticket, have the court case on monday to get it cleared

 

Same here. In fact i never really thought about getting pulled over for that but now that i think about it, our tail lights do in fact look tinted, from factory.

Great, just another thing to be paranoid about when driving my car lol.

Thanks lol

 

so is this the actual trial or arraignment?

tell you what it be very interesting to see the cop 'prove' that they are modified. As you know the burden of proof is the state's responsibility (at least it is here in CA)

 

Make sure you keep copies of the court case documents after you win. That way, if a cop tries to write you another ticket for it, you sow him those papers and kindly inform him that if he wishes to pursue this you will consider it harassment. That's what I did when my plate location and lighting was perfectly legal to the letter of the law on my motorcycle. You show them that kind of documentation, they tend to just walk away.

Also, if they ask you to pop your hood after they pulled you over for tail-lights, respectfully decline. If they insist, you politely inform them that pulling you over for perfectly legal and stock tail-lights is not probable cause to look anywhere else in the vehicle. And any further intrusions will be considered harassment... "by the way officer... may I get your name and badge number please?"

 

I would imagine this is a bit tricky to pull off if you are young. My thoughts are to simply pull over on private property...such as a parking lot. I think thats why my cop didn't ask me to pop the hood because legally he could not. Thats my only reasoning as to why he checked every single wheel well on my car.

 

That's a tough situation though..if you know your stock tail lights are legal but cop insists its not, then proceeds to go about asking to pop the hood etc, he can then just write the ticket for modification.

You can't deny a ticket at that present time. You have to accept the ticket. Of course you can fight it in court and probably win but in the event he writes you for a ticket for not popping the hood and NOT the legal tail lights, court might favor the cop soley for the fact you didn't pop the hood and assume its modified illegally under there.

Either way you just have to hope whatever cop pulls you over, you get an understanding cop. Otherwise it could be a nightmare by experience, even if you do end up winning in the end or not.

 

tricky or not the second that you consent to a search you are done. You basically gave away any barganing stance, as you gave the cop a free pass for you to get convicted. There is a reason why the 'ask'.

There is no ticket for not popping a hood. He either has the authority to open or he doesnt its that simple.

Lets be realistic here they are very likely going to open your hood even after you denied consent. The difference being that without your consent you can argue that the ticket should be thrown out due to an illigal search. Yes I speak from experience.

A great rule of thumb when talking to the police is to keep your damn mouth shut and consent to nothing. They are there to bust you why are you helping them? lol

 

No I didn't say when the cop asks to pop the hood, you pop it.

I was saying when he asks about your legal tail lights and then proceeds to asking to pop the hood because he believes your tail lights are illegal, and you don't pop the hood, he can just write you a ticket for modification. We all know that's absurd right? and that's why we fight it in court right?

And that's why I said after that, and you're in court fighting it, court might favor the cop because you DID NOT pop the hood at that time and just assume it's modified illegally.

Let's use you for example, if you were to show pics of your engine bay in court, guess what? You lost that case. As with most fd owners.

Same thing happened with srt4 owners back in the day. Cops were giving tickets because the cars were too loud. And the cars had STOCK exhausts. Most cases were lost because DB levels actually proved to be too loud for stock.

Theres a thread on the forum about it. I haven't posted there since 2006 but im sure it can be found.

 

ok so are you saying that a cop would still write a ticket for non compliant modifications when he doesnt have proof?

 

Sure. Why not? 2 people I know are cops and the general consensus about our "lifestyle" is that most car owners wont go through the hassles of fighting in court. Because that means you have to take off work, and its just an inconvenience.

Not many poeple know about the fourth amendment and you can be sure cops know most people don't know as well.

That doesn't mean they don't do it..

In the event you deny popping the hood and still get a ticket. How will you justify your car NOT being illegal when in fact it is?

Don't tell me your car is stock. Because it's not. Lol

 

Any cop writing tickets for car modifications is a pinko commie unamerican bastard and should get a tazer to the nuts.

Only exception being mods that are genuinely unsafe like flamethrowers or something.

Hottrodding and car modding are a fundamental part of american culture