Doors! its the law!

As a current LEO I know in my area we do not have a law aginst having doors on a jeep. But like my state Washington has an online datebase with Washington state laws.

http://apps.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx

Here is a small thing I found on that site about body requirements

WAC 204-10-022 Body requirements. (1) Defroster and defogging devices: Every enclosed motor vehicle must be equipped with a device capable of defogging and defrosting the windshield area. Vehicles or exact replicas of vehicles manufactured prior to January 1938 are exempt from this requirement.

(2) Door latches: Every enclosed motor vehicle equipped with side doors leading directly into a compartment that contains one or more seating accommodations must be equipped with door latches which firmly and automatically secure the door when pushed closed and which allow each door to be opened both from the inside and outside.

(3) Hoodlatches: A front opening hood must be equipped with a primary and a secondary latching system to hold the hood in a closed position.

Hoods are optional equipment on vehicles defined as street rods and kit vehicles by the Washington state patrol vehicle inspectors.

(4) Enclosed passenger compartment: A motor vehicle with an enclosed passenger compartment and powered by an internal combustion engine must be constructed to prevent the entry of exhaust fumes into the passenger compartment.

(5) Floor pan: A motor vehicle must be equipped with a floor pan under the entire passenger compartment capable of supporting the weight of the number of occupants that the vehicle is designed to carry.

(6) Bumpers: A motor vehicle must be equipped with a bumper on both the front and rear of the vehicle with the exception of motor vehicles where the original or predominant body configuration, provided by a recognized manufacturer, did not include such bumper or bumpers in the design of the vehicle. For the relevant model year, bumpers must accommodate recognized manufacturer impact absorption systems pursuant to applicable SAE Bumper Standards or equivalent standards.

Bumpers are optional equipment on vehicles defined as street rods and kit vehicles by the Washington state patrol vehicle inspectors.

Bumpers, unless specifically exempted above, must:

(a) Be at least four and one-half inches in vertical height.

(b) Be centered on the vehicle's centerline.

(c) Extend no less than the width of the respective wheel track distances.

(d) Be attached to the vehicle in a manner equivalent to the original manufacturer's installation.

(e) Be horizontal load bearing and attach to the vehicle frame to effectively transfer energy when impacted.

(f) Be mounted at a maximum height based on the original gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of the vehicle, measured from a level surface to the highest point on the bottom of the bumper. For vehicles exempted from the bumper requirement for the reasons stated above, a maximum frame elevation measurement must be made to the bottom of the frame rail. Maximum heights are as follows:

 

Good point...I forgot all about municode.com until you posted the above....you can use it for my local laws, and of course the state legislatures.

 

I guess "enclosed motor vehicle" then is the defining term.
never a lawyer around when you need one...

 

Why is a County Sheriff enforcing a Federal Law?

 

Excuse me?
What federal law?

And your VIN will tell them if your vehicle is open or not.
At least it will on the ones before 1971.
And why is he e-mailing you?
Which Washington county is the mounty working in?

 

Why wouldn't your front bumper be legal, and did your year come with one on the rear?

Depending on the year, there were not secondary latches. Or seat belts. Or even a passenger seat.

Mine did not come with a heater, there for not having a defroster set up.
Did any of you ever drive a pre -71 VW bug or bus? Those defrosters were not capable of clearing a windshield.

 

I would consult my lawyer or the state legislater online. sounds like this guys is just making stuff up to give himself a reason to pull you over. After all do motor cycles have to have doors as well

 

The Tuxedo models did. And maybe those Surrey things with the barber pole striping on them you see in movies from Jamaca.

 

I would not have known if I hadn't just been reading up on the Tuxedo models.

still not sure about the Surrey's though.

 

this appears to render the "child safety locks" illegal, since by enabling them, the rear door can no longer be opened from the interior.


as far as LEOs, i pretty much act as pleasantly as i can, even if i believe they're incorrect. that's resulted in verbal warnings, rather than written warnings/tickets. i then go and look up the "violation" to determine whether i really was in the wrong, so that if there is a next time, i'll know the answer.

i've twice been stopped for having a plate light out on my car in the last 2 years. both lights were functioning in both stops, but were dirty (i travel a LOT of gravel/muddy/dusty roads in my work).

wally

 

There are some counties that require doors in WA, Walla Walla comes to mind. They don't care if it came with them or not, they will right you a ticket in a Jeep without "something" acting like a door. I have not hear of this statewide and believe it to be a county by county rule. I also think the "hinge" comment is similar to the seatbelt law, technically it is legal to run a pre-67 (ish, can't remember the exact year) rig without seatbelts but IF you have them, probably a good idea to wear them otherwise they "could" write a ticket because they exist.

WA does have some odd laws, like you don't have to have a windshield but must have wipers, go figure.

 

No such thing as county vehicle laws. Vehicular legislation is state and federal level. A county sheriff might have his own interpretation of a state law, and he may be backed by a county judge, but a state appellate court should overrule a county decision that is counter to state law.

 

This can be solved easy. Just go to your nearest state tropper post, if yall call them state troppers. Ask them for the state code on Door requirements. If there is one, look it up on the website I provided earlier and see what is in it. If they can not provide one, the officer was more than likley blowing smoke. I now in the the south east there is no Law on door requirements.

 

thats what we call a catch22 around here. I have ran into things like this all the time when driving truck. we are issued a FMSC book. think thats right every year, if you read it the laws cancel one another out so it is impossible to be legalmehh all depends on the LEO and his mood that day

 

sounds like bull#### to me.