Intakes and the Law

[Mavrik]

I've been talking to a friend of mine today about car stuff, turbo, nos and some other car modifications and intakes. I mentioned to him this summer my Vibe is getting the unichip I bought from the wife's Vibe and then a Magnaflow exhaust installed to go along with my CAI and he told me I had to be very careful cause if cops want to be a pain they can charge me for having an intake on my car. If they hear it or what ever. Now I was not about to argue with him cause what the heck do I know about US laws right?Anyway he is from Georgia so maybe thats the difference who knows but I have never heard anyone of you talking about trouble with cops and intakes and figured if anyone would it would be Paul (Merzbow) hehe sorry dude, picked you out. But really is there a law against intakes? I know you all got them and I'm keeping mine and any cop who wants to lift my hood better have a warrant before I pull the release.I don't want to argue with him about it, I'm just curious cause this is the first I ever heard of it.

[ragingfish]

I can't fathom any laws banning that. It's not like a sort of exterior light that isn't DOT approved.The only trouble you might encounter is inspections. Not sure if AK does inspections, but here in Jersey, we have inspections after 4 years for a new car, then every 2 years after. If somehow, any of those mods alter your emissions, it COULD trigger the inspection equipment and cause a failure. Can't say I've ever heard of it happening, but in Jersey, ANYTHING is possible!

[Raven]

Yep, you can carry a 357 magnum but an intake is against the law.

[nadir]

in cali (toughest emission laws) , we need to have a CARB (cali air resources board) sticker on the intake that indicates it has been exempt with an EO number. without that sticker, it is illegal. so when buying an intake, make sure it comes wiht it.

[Mavrik]

No idea what he was talking about then.

[AKLGT]

that's total BS. it's not illegal to have an intake on your car. if that were true, then they would only be able to sell them with a warning. just like getting darker tint than what's legal, they have to tell you what the legal codes are. as long as the intake passes emissions (CARB sticker shows it's approved) then there should be no problem (unless it throws a CEL).

[DaddyVibeMI]

Why not, try go over to Police Station to ask them and they will tell you then.... If you don't know, it won't hurt to ask them. That is very simple to get answer. I did once to ask them for something and they gave me good answer before get myself trouble...

[Mavrik]

I do not expect to get into any trouble, just this is the first time I heard of this and just had to get other opinions on it before I wasted my time arguing about something pointless with him lol.

[ToolGuy]

Never ever heard of this before... If it were true then I am sure intakes would say for off road use only. Since lots of car mod offs take place in Motor Trend Mag and others, I am sure it would be mentioned. Do not beleive it... He could not tell me a cop could tell when a car drove by if it had an intake or not.What would cops do, make you open your hood if you got pulled over in the first place? Cops do not know what is normal equipment or not...

[PhillyVibeGT]

FYI, I asked a cop I know about the whole topic, he was like, "What's an intake?" LOL, I wouldn't worry, how could they tell anyway, just take that Injen sticker off your car...LOL!

[Mavrik]

Quote, originally posted by MiVibe-ToolGuy »Never ever heard of this before... If it were true then I am sure intakes would say for off road use only. Since lots of car mod offs take place in Motor Trend Mag and others, I am sure it would be mentioned. Do not beleive it... He could not tell me a cop could tell when a car drove by if it had an intake or not.What would cops do, make you open your hood if you got pulled over in the first place? Cops do not know what is normal equipment or not... I think your underestimating cops. Just cause they are a cop doesn't mean they don't know a thing or to about cars. I've had people just hear the sound of my engine and ask "hey you got an intake?" without me saying anything or opening my hood. I'm sure cops out there know what one sounds like to if they have come across such stuff. City cops who see lots of weird stuff done to cars I'm sure.But yeah, as I said, I didn't believe him but wanted to see if anyone of you had ever heard of this before even as a rumor, seems he was wrong so cool

[Raivis]

first off it is pretty easy to tell that a car has an intake even easier to tell that the vibe does. second ill ask my freind about the legal or illegal intakes in ga bc him and his wife lived there awhile and they have family there its legal here in va by the way

[Stang2Vibe]

They're legal here in PA, too, unless they throw the CEL (if the CEL is on, the car will automatically fail the required annual emissions test). And putting electrical tape over the CEL bulb won't work anymore on newer cars, either. Any car equipped with OBD II style connectors is checked. The state's emissions system checks for any codes stored in the car's ECU before allowing the operator to begin the test. I just went through this crap last month because my Vibe had a bad O2 sensor.California is the only state that I'm aware of that made them illegal. As stated before, any part that is installed on your car that is not a factory style replacement requires a CARB sticker to be put on it. So if you change 10 things on the car, you need 10 valid stickers. And over the past decade or so, the cops there have been getting special training to detect modified cars and how to identify non-original parts. It seems especially strict in southern CA, particularly around the San Diego area--they claim due to all the illegal street racing that goes on there. I recently read an article on how the San Diego cops that went through the training were being sent up to LA to train the cops there. I've heard some crazy stories of what cops have done to people in CA. And if you make them get a warrant to look under the hood, it only pi$$es them off big time. They always get their warrant, and if they find an illegal part on the car, they impound it. This issue came up here a little while back. I figured that if you wanted to drive an illegally modified car in CA, you should go buy an old outhouse somewhere in the Nevada desert and register your car to that property.

[ToolGuy]

Quote, originally posted by Mavrik »I think your underestimating cops. Just cause they are a cop doesn't mean they don't know a thing or to about cars. I've had people just hear the sound of my engine and ask "hey you got an intake?" without me saying anything or opening my hood. I'm sure cops out there know what one sounds like to if they have come across such stuff. City cops who see lots of weird stuff done to cars I'm sure.But yeah, as I said, I didn't believe him but wanted to see if anyone of you had ever heard of this before even as a rumor, seems he was wrong so cool I still say though most cops know nothing about cars other then what they can see as they drive down the road or something so obvious like headers. I have had three cold air intakes on three different vehicles and the only way you could tell it had an intake was at WOT. Even my Vette CAI sounds normal, stock, unless I get on the gas.I dunno, just my experience though...

[drunkenmaxx]

to me, it's very obvious my vibe has an intake...the hiss, the growl.

[ballrub]

The laws are different in each state, with California being the most critical about modifying emmissions. Anything that modifies the emmissions of a vehicle (air intake, fuel, timing, catalytic converter, exhaust) are subject to scrutiny, only if they change the outcome of your emmissions for the worst.While it is true, that here in California, if you add an air intake, headers, supercharger or turbo (things that are quite evident they are not stock when opening your hood and viewing the engine compartment) require a "CARB"(Calfornia Air Resource Board) expempt sitcker, because not only does California have the strictist and hardest "sniff" test when it comes to emmissions, but each vehicle has to be visually inspected under the hood as well. Having an "exempt" sticker, with an aftermarket item under your hood, you get to pass the visual inspection.But...the only time I've ever heard of the police asking to check under the hood, is when the car and driver in question was doing something to (removed) off the police in the first place. We have had some smog inpsections set up randomly across the state, but that is a rare occasion, and even then, as long as you've got your "exempt" stickers (and not belching out smoke), you shouldn't have any worries.Most "brand name" manufacturers of intakes, headers, superchargers and turbos will tell you up front that they "are" or "are not" "CARB approved. If it's CARB approved, you're ok anywhere in the U.S.!