is a piller pod legal?

[boosted92laser]

I have a 2 gauge pillar pod in my eagle summit. I got pulled over today and the cop told me that it is illegal to have the pillar pod, he said it is obstruction of view. I live in Illinois if that matters. I was just wandering if anybody knew whether it was illegal or not?
Thanks in advance

 

[nube90]

Well its legal in some states and illegal in some states, from the sounds of things its illegal in Illionois.

 

[GSX Spyder]

i know in pa its not an issue. as the law states you cannot have anything from the rearview and nothing within a reasonable window of view in the windshield area. find a local mechanic with an inspection book and study like the 11th hour of a calc test.

cheers.

 

[JayRolla]

Never have had a problem here. Tell him they came factory. Its a rare model.

 

[Mitsubishified]

If it is illegal in your state, you could always fab up some gauge bezels that fit in your vent or something. I mean our cars are easy to do simple and most of the time unneeded modifications to. An example is my cousin and i taking out the ac, and the ac button and installing the boost controller in place of the ac button haha. But i can't remember what the summit looks like on the inside, but im sure with a dremel you would be fine

Luke

 

[JayRolla]

Summit????

 

[nothingfiction]

Now i don't know if this thread has been abandoned yet or not...
But that is total BS! i have just recently moved from illinois. And i have been pulled over so many times and fight it everytime becuause it's always some bullshit reason that they stopped pulling me over. i mean it litterally got so bad that i ended up going on ebay and getting one of those huge ass IL auto laws books that the library won't let you check out.

But i have a 3 gauge pillar pod, and that has never not even once been an issue. However tinted license plate covers can get you up to 3 months in jail but clear ones are fine. if you have loud exhaust it is best to have a loud system too (and a resonator) One time i saw a cop, he turned his lights on and had to do like a U-turn to catch back up to me, while i quickly turned off into a gas station and slapped my resonater in and hopped back in my ride. cop pulls in and i crank my system up and he tells me to turn it down and does the whole check and everything. But my exhaust is silent so he lets me go. Haha! Always gotta have at least a screwdriver and pliers in your ride.

But to end this i have never had a problem with my a piller. But how big are your gauges? Mine are only 2.5s, and how bright are they? Do you have them hooked up to a dimmer switch? And Where in IL are you? How far away from De Kalb are you? i would suggest getting an IL rules and regulations book if you have the money for it. (trust me it's expensive) Or maybe you could look for an older version like the 98 revised version (not sure what the differance is) but mine is the 2002 version.

 

[boosted92laser]

Summit????

Yes, I have a 94 eagle summit that i am getting ready to do a 4g63 turbo motor swap into.

Now i don't know if this thread has been abandoned yet or not...
But that is total BS! i have just recently moved from illinois. And i have been pulled over so many times and fight it everytime becuause it's always some bullshit reason that they stopped pulling me over. i mean it litterally got so bad that i ended up going on ebay and getting one of those huge ass IL auto laws books that the library won't let you check out.

But i have a 3 gauge pillar pod, and that has never not even once been an issue. However tinted license plate covers can get you up to 3 months in jail but clear ones are fine. if you have loud exhaust it is best to have a loud system too (and a resonator) One time i saw a cop, he turned his lights on and had to do like a U-turn to catch back up to me, while i quickly turned off into a gas station and slapped my resonater in and hopped back in my ride. cop pulls in and i crank my system up and he tells me to turn it down and does the whole check and everything. But my exhaust is silent so he lets me go. Haha! Always gotta have at least a screwdriver and pliers in your ride.

But to end this i have never had a problem with my a piller. But how big are your gauges? Mine are only 2.5s, and how bright are they? Do you have them hooked up to a dimmer switch? And Where in IL are you? How far away from De Kalb are you? i would suggest getting an IL rules and regulations book if you have the money for it. (trust me it's expensive) Or maybe you could look for an older version like the 98 revised version (not sure what the differance is) but mine is the 2002 version.

I only had 2.5" gauges. They were hooked up to a dimmer switch. I live in kankakee, IL. I have been pulled over 4 times in the past two weeks, so I just ripped them out and will fab up some mounts when I do the motor swap.


Thanks everybody for the input.

 

[Allboost429]

Its legal in Maryland. Which is weird because just about everything is illegal here

 

[IHeartMyHonda]

some cops will try to pull you over for just about anything. one tried to get me for false registration because i had an eagle airbag in my eclipse.

 

[mavisky]

The bottom line is that the "obstruction of view" law is going to be based upon judgement of the individual officer, much like exhaust noise. If you had a little scented pine tree hanging from your rear view window he could ticket you, if he so felt that way.

Is it a BS ticket, yes, are you going to have to pay it one way or another, most likely.

 

[eboy0]

I live around ohare/rosemont area, and get harassed by cops for anywhere from not having my front plates, to having my front bumper too low to the ground to my bov being heard a block away, but I've never been told anything about my pillar, and i have 3 gauge piller too..
I'd take that to court.

 

[LTUDSM]

well first,the dual or triple pillar pod doesn't have anything to do with the obstruction view,at least if you got the tach big sockets in your pillar pod i got pulled in PA,nj and NY the cops were ok with my pillar pod,well in NY i got pulled cause i was and i still running open o2 housing(dumping into an atmosphere) ,they looked under the car and they thought that im running with no exhaust at all fools but anyway they gave me ticket for running with no cat it was 75 i think so talking about pillar pods,they are legal in every state,cause i read about the pillar pods before i put it on and nowere says that its illegal

 

[eboy0]

well first,the dual or triple pillar pod doesn't have anything to do with the obstruction view,at least if you got the tach big sockets in your pillar pod i got pulled in PA,nj and NY the cops were ok with my pillar pod,well in NY i got pulled cause i was and i still running open o2 housing(dumping into an atmosphere) ,they looked under the car and they thought that im running with no exhaust at all fools but anyway they gave me ticket for running with no cat it was 75 i think so talking about pillar pods,they are legal in every state,cause i read about the pillar pods before i put it on and nowere says that its illegal

Cops looked under my car 3 times, what i did was take my stock cat heatshield and wrap it onto a straight pipe after that it lead to opening my trunk in search of NOS.. cops are dumb around here...

 

[LTUDSM]

Cops looked under my car 3 times, what i did was take my stock cat heatshield and wrap it onto a straight pipe after that it lead to opening my trunk in search of NOS.. cops are dumb around here...

like my old buddy sayd to the cop,he said : "it doesnt mean if you driving impala you could catch me there is DSM'S that makes fun of you guys" )

 

[mavisky]

like my old buddy sayd to the cop,he said : "it doesnt mean if you driving impala you could catch me there is DSM'S that makes fun of you guys" )

That doesn't make any sense at all.

Bottom line is you're not going to find a law that explicitly states that an a-pillar pod is illegal, it's going to fall under the obstruction of view which is purely subjective. The judge will side 99% of the time with the officer who writes the ticket.

You can waste all the time you want paying for a lawyer or paying court fees and fighting it yourself, but in the end you're better off sucking it up and paying the fine since it shouldn't add any points to your license. Most cops won't give you any crap about it, but if he'd had a bad day or was just looking to write you up for something then it may happen again.

 

[eboy0]

That doesn't make any sense at all.

Bottom line is you're not going to find a law that explicitly states that an a-pillar pod is illegal, it's going to fall under the obstruction of view which is purely subjective. The judge will side 99% of the time with the officer who writes the ticket.

You can waste all the time you want paying for a lawyer or paying court fees and fighting it yourself, but in the end you're better off sucking it up and paying the fine since it shouldn't add any points to your license. Most cops won't give you any crap about it, but if he'd had a bad day or was just looking to write you up for something then it may happen again.

Don't know how it is over there in Indiana, but in Illinois, cops won't show up for court 95% of the time.

 

[Defiant]

I have a 2 gauge pillar pod in my eagle summit. I got pulled over today and the cop told me that it is illegal to have the pillar pod, he said it is obstruction of view.

If he didn't write you a ticket, it's not.

 

[DJYoshaBYD]

if he doesnt show up to court, then he cannot defend the ticket, then your cool... I did that here in Cali to a couple cops... got my car impounded and I told the cop he profiled me (they are cracking down on Honda and Acura VERY bad out here) and that I would "See his donut loving ass in court." He threatened to arrest me, I told him to eat a d*** and I walked off.... He didnt "call my bluff" cause 2 weeks later, Im in court, he's not, and I get away with minor court fees.... like, 50 bucks.... depends though... thats just my experience

 

[Elvenhome21]

I would go to court and hope he doesn't show.

I haven't been pulled over yet, but after I installed my pod I wish I would have put the gauges in the vent or on the tapered part of the dash. They are quite an obstruction IMO.

 

[mavisky]

I would go to court and hope he doesn't show.

I haven't been pulled over yet, but after I installed my pod I wish I would have put the gauges in the vent or on the tapered part of the dash. They are quite an obstruction IMO.

I couldn't agree more. Drove a few cars with 2 and 3 pillar pods and couldn't see apexes for crap. When it came time to mount my guages I called up carbontrix and went with a 2 5/8" opening on their guage pod. I can clearly see all 3 guages and they don't even stick up above the wiper blades.

*pay no mind to where the harnesses were attached in this photo, I've since moved them*

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[daren_p]

^^^ Glad to hear you moved the seatbelt mount points, that mounting job doesn't look safe, at all. As for a pillar pod being illegal, I had never even thought about that. I've been pulled over a few times & never asked about my triple pillar pod, though I do get asked about the turbo timer on my steering column all the time. You'd think the big letter on the top that say HKS Turbo Timer would tip them off but for some reason they always act like Im using a radar detector (which are illegal here). My question is, if these pillar pods are illegal (or so they say) how come factory cars now have them, Cobalt SS etc?

 

[Elvenhome21]

Thats what you can argue now, I believe some diesel trucks have a egt gauge on the pillars. I don't know if its the "Big Ranch" or something like that.

MAV, that pod looks cool, IMO the brackets should be black though.

As far as belt mounting, If the strut bar would be steel of similar size, it wouldn't be a problem for strength or belt mounting location/angle. But the shoulder belts are only 2 in and not the strongest of webbing (to stretchy). Granted its better than stock, but if its a partial street car I understand (wouldn't want 3 inch either for street driving either).

 

[mavisky]

Thats what you can argue now, I believe some diesel trucks have a egt gauge on the pillars. I don't know if its the "Big Ranch" or something like that.

MAV, that pod looks cool, IMO the brackets should be black though.

As far as belt mounting, If the strut bar would be steel of similar size, it wouldn't be a problem for strength or belt mounting location/angle. But the shoulder belts are only 2 in and not the strongest of webbing (to stretchy). Granted its better than stock, but if its a partial street car I understand (wouldn't want 3 inch either for street driving either).

The brackets are aluminum so you could either anodize them or just powdercoat them if you wanted. My car has some silver interior accents as it is though so I left them that way. (don't tell everyone but at times I have ricer tendencies)

Actually the driver's side seat is already replaced with a fixed back Corbeau and the driver's side is getting a 5 point G-Force camlock with 3 inch webbing. I just have to get a cage or harness bar in there to mount the belts too as they'll never reach more than about 10 inches behind my shoulders.

 

[GiRlsGoFaStEr]

I live in louisiana and I got pulled over because in the back of the eclipse you have your two taillights and the center tail light (that doesnt light up even from the factory) and they wanted to give me a ticket because the lights werent working.....so I took the ticket and went to court to have it dropped. Funny thing is, my car is totally dropped to the ground with limo tint and loud as hell, so I guess I was somewhat lucky. I did get a warning about my tach being too big on my a pillar (thats where I mounted my 5" tach so I wouldnt drill into the dash) but I just left it the way it was and they never said anything else to me. The only reason cops are such assholes is because they are just jealous that they are only making 9.50 an hour and can't afford to do what we do. So, whatever =)