is it illegal to not have a front bumper ?

[johnpaul]

is it illegal to not have a front bumper? and i see people with turbo style airdams, does that count as a bumper?

[c.d.iesel]

bumpers not needed - but fenders covering tires are......

bumpers are for your/cars protection

but ....if in doubt - check with your states Dept. of Motor Vehicle web site for equip. requirements.

[Lars]

but you it is okay to tie a 2x4 to the area with rope and it will pass inspection. No, I haven't done this, but have see plenty of people do it. I'm not sure if a turbo style front end counts or not here.

[BarryA]

years ago for running a VW bug with no bumpers (of course, the fact that it was radically lowered and had a fairly loud exhaust system probably contributed - the CHP might not have pulled me over just for the lack of bumpers, but the whole package was probably too obvious to ignore).

Can't remember when I last heard of somebody being stopped just for not having a bumper (or no front license plate for that matter - only one of our 4 cars has a front plate, and we've never been stopped for that either).

[johnpaul]

i think as soon as i get a fix it ticket ill put them back on so i dont have to pay but then take it off again (im a weezle)

[Harv]

I think in many states, if you don't have a bumper you cant have the mounts sticking out of the car. I'm not planning on any bumpers for a while on my car. I mean, look at all the street rods out there without bumpers.

"Excuse me Mr. Coddington, but your car doesn't have any bumpers." Yea right!

John

[SteveJ]

In California it is illegal to run without a front bumper. Give me time and I can pull out the ticket I got years back and give the the CVC passage number. I had just the airdam on the 02 at the time. Cop had me on that one, but the bald tires he also cited me for were actually Yoko A008s that had plenty of tread.

I think the line is pretty blurred nowadays as most cars out there have integrated bumpers in the nose covers. I remember how slick the E30M3 looked because the front and rear bumpers were part of the the nose and tail covers and not these huge aluminiyum things bolted on. Much cleaner look. Look at a new E90 and about the only thing you will see that suggests there is a bumper is a couple of black rubber accent strips.

I'd like to know the exact wording of the Vehicle Code as there are cars out there running nerf bars and pick up trucks with no rear bumper at all.

[alp]

I had a 1933 Ford Hot Rod that I use to get into lots of trouble with. One thing the police seemed to like to hassle people for was no fenders. In Washington they have a fair weather rule: fair weather no need for fenders

[ingraham]

CALIFORNIA CODES

VEHICLE CODE

28071. "Every passenger vehicle registered in this state shall be

equipped with a front bumper and with a rear bumper. As used in this

section, "bumper" means any device designed and intended by a

manufacturer to prevent the front or rear of the body of the vehicle

from coming into contact with any other motor vehicle. This section

shall not apply to any passenger vehicle that is required to be

equipped with an energy absorption system pursuant to either state or

federal law, or to any passenger vehicle which was not equipped with

a front or rear bumper, or both, at the time that it was first sold

and registered under the laws of this or any other state or foreign

jurisdiction."

See California laws at

[Mike Self]

your '02, and have a picture of a 2002 Turbo to show the cop when he stops you....

mike

[johnpaul]

i cant do that because right now i dont have anything i took off the impact bumper in the front to see what it looks like and havent gotten around to putting it back on but i just wanted to know how risky it would be to drive ticket wise.

[johnpaul]

you know it is kind of a plasebo affect when you take off you bumper.

after i uninstalled it i went for a drive in my windy residential area, and the car acctually felt zippier, but it was probably just due to me not driving it for two weeks