Truck, SUV, and other vehicle drivers who raise the front of their vehicles more than the back will have to change how they drive after July 1, 2024.
People often call this style “The Tennessee Tilt” or “The Carolina Squat.” It’s achieved by raising the front of the car and lowering the back, making the car look like it’s sitting. The stance is also known as the California Lean or Cali Lean, which is where the look came from.
The new state law says that the front bumper of any car driven on a street, road, or highway can’t be changed in any way to be 4 inches or more higher than the back bumper.
Driving a car with Carolina Squat changes is a Class-B misdemeanor under the new law that makes the squat illegal. For the first crime, people who break the law could be fined $250. For each subsequent violation, the penalties get worse. For example, a $500 fine and a 12-month license suspension for the third crime within 12 months.
In 2021, Seventy-Five Thousand people signed an online petition in North Carolina asking for the ban on the Carolina Squat. South Carolina then passed a similar bill that made it illegal to change the front or back of a car by more than 6 inches, either up or down.
Drivers have trouble seeing because of the look; it’s hard or impossible to see small children and road obstacles right in front of the squatted car. Several lawsuits have been brought against drivers of modified vehicles who were involved in accidents because the raised front end made it harder to see. Virginia banned the look in 2022 after a low truck crossed the center line and hit another car head-on. The man who died in the accident’s family thinks that the truck driver couldn’t see the other car because the front end of the truck was changed.
Summary of the Bill: This bill says that someone can’t drive a passenger car on any street, road, or highway in this state if they have changed the suspension, frame, or chassis so that the front fender is four inches or more higher than the back fender. If you measure the height of the fender from the ground, straight down through the middle of the wheel, and to the bottom of the fender, that’s what this bill means.
This bill says that breaking the above rule is a Class B misdemeanor that is punished by a $250 fine for the first offense in 12 months, a $500 fine for the second offense in 12 months, and a $500 fine and the loss of the person’s driver license for 12 months for the third offense in 12 months. As soon as someone is found guilty of a violation, the clerk of the court must let the department of Safety know within 30 days.
