Being Told To Open The Bonnet After Being Pulled Over

[Astro Bear]

Hi guys,

I had an interesting experience earlier in the week, when I was pulled over as part of a "random check".

My girlfriend was driving the car at the time, he breath tested her and checked her licence etc. All good. When he found out it was my car he stated asking me what modifications had been done etc, I replied and told him that for the most part it was pretty stock.

My car looks very stock from the outside, no rims or bodykits etc, it hardly ever gets any attention. However, it does have an exhaust and a front mount which are visible externally. He asks me to pop the bonnet, which I did. The officer then noted the pod filter and boost controller in the engine bay.

In all fairness, the officer was a pretty good bloke, he knew what he was looking for and went about his business in a pretty professional manner. At the end of the day I was in the wrong for having those modifications. The officer didn't defect me or anything, however, he did tell me that I should expect a letter in the mail from the EPA in the future. Naturally, the officer was doing his job, and I obviously deserve this.

However, reflecting back on the experience, i'm curious to know under what circumstances an officer can look under the hood of your car. I've been told that the officer must have "reasonable suspicion" that there is something illegal going on, but looking back, I'm hard pressed to know what suspicions could have been formed in the officer's head, particularly given that my car looks so stock.

Obviously the common sense approach is to comply with the officer's request and be polite etc, however, at the same time, i think it is important to know your rights. So, my question is:

Under what circumstances an officer can look under the hood of your car?

Thanks guys, happy motoring.

[assyrian4evaa]

dont qoute me on this but i belive the hoon legislation gives officers the power to search a car for illegal modifications which unfortunatly in your case were there so it was well within his power i think

[nuR.spec]

pfttt cops in the northern suburbs seem to be carrying tools and removing kick panels to discover aftermarket ecu's as experineced by one of my customers

[tets]

very unlikely he will send out the epa notice, but if he does most likely just exhaust epa.

if its full epa then your very un lucky person.

[R31Nismoid]

Its more than likely he will get a full EPA...

Not unlikely

[llama_au]

He can look in your engine bay for any reason.

[WYTSKY]

I was 400m from my house last night... coming back from drive ins with the gf.... pulled me over...and my gf had to use the girls room pretty bad.... luckily they didnt take too long.... just the regular checking...

they pulled me over because 1 of my headlights were out... which I seriously had no idea... must have happend last night... i flicked them from high beam back to low beam and then the one that was off turned on and the other 1 turned off.... my hid balasts were playing on me...... the cops had a chuckle and just said fix it up....

10 days ago i was coming back from work in the city at about 11:30am.... talking to my dad on a blueant (bluetooth handsfree) which is legal to use while driving... they pulled me over for thinking i was a nutter...... i mean come on... who doesnt know about handsfree?! especially them when they are so ready to give out fines for talking on the mobile.... i was sooo tempted to say yeh theres this new technology going round called hands free..... they were just trying to be ass's werent they? then they asked if the car belonged to me and I lived at the address thats on my license...... in the end nothing happend and I want my 15 mins of life back they wasted....

[joeyjoejoejuniorshabadoo]

10 days ago i was coming back from work in the city at about 11:30am.... talking to my dad on a blueant (bluetooth handsfree) which is legal to use while driving... they pulled me over for thinking i was a nutter...... i mean come on... who doesnt know about handsfree?!

they must have been taking the piss...

[bombtrack]

Even if they do need some form of suspicion, I think driving a 'line is all the suspicion they need heh.

[skins]

Are the anti hoon laws the same from state to state ?

[R31Nismoid]

No

[Astro Bear]

Does anyone know where I can site the relevant piece of legislation that refers to vehicle searches / police powers with regard to the searching of vehicles?

Cheers

[KezR33]

I think refusing to pop the bonnet is suspicious enough. You're kinda doomed either way.

[bryce19]

come to tassie we have none of the bullshit u guys have to put up with

[paulr33]

i guess the question is why do you care

if they pull you over and want to check

they will check, if you refuse, it raises suspucion and you are probably hiding something

its not rocket science really

[Phatboy]

I think refusing to pop the bonnet is suspicious enough. You're kinda doomed either way.

Has anyone ever used the "I have lockable bonnet pins and I lost the keys to them today" excuse?

[(B1) MR_fanny]

i've been told this one, be it a myth or not but the officer has to be a senior Sargent or to that affect to have an uncontested look under your bonnet. A friends work colleague used this to avoid it but he probably had a lot to loose if defected so it was a chance he was willing to take. That said if you give permission to look for a lower ranked officer then that's enough for them. But as someone said before, your probably gonna be in a bigger world of hurt if you don't comply robo-cop style.

Last time i got pulled over was 3 months ago in knox right infront of the cop shop. was stopping at the red light saw a persuit car waiting to exit the cop station and low and behold the pulled up right behind me..ha didnt make it 50m lol. They were good about it, i got out of the car as I always do and complied with their requests. Wasn't the typical muzza with attitude that they normally encounter and that was that. Was expecting an exhaust epa in the mail....still have yet to receive it so i guess they gave me the benefit of the doubt?

[SKYL1N]

happens to me all the time as i cant drive a turbo.

i normally point out the 4 stud wheel pattern.

[Shadz]

pfttt cops in the northern suburbs seem to be carrying tools and removing kick panels to discover aftermarket ecu's as experineced by one of my customers

They sure do! I got pulled over in my 33 (by Gibson) and he moved the kick panel to have a look and looked for a controller behind the dash and in the glovebox. Which company do you work for mate?

[BR32_GTR]

mate there is no way i would be letting them remove any part of my car they aren't mechanics and i would rather got to court then let them touch my car