Having a little fun out in the country with no one around isn’t the problem.

Before diesel performance became main stream and electronic tuning made making power easy, a truck that could “roll coal” was cool. It was like a badge of honor. Only a few could do it and it indicated that you can put a lot of time and money into your rig.

Political statements like this, have gone too far and have resulted in new laws.

Today, “rolling coal” has gotten out of control. Too many people are doing it because they think smoking people out is funny or it is a way of rebelling. Well, do you remember what happened when you were a little kid and you rebelled against your parents?

That’s right, you were punished. Someone decided to smoke out an Assemblyman in New Jersey while he was driving his Nissan Leaf. A few days later, that Assemblyman, Tim Eustace proposed a bill that could change everything across the country. Our entire industry could be affected if other states join.

New Jersey has officially, approved a bill to ban “coal rolling.” Isn’t that just great. The Bill S2418 was sponsored by Sen. Linda Greenstein and passed by a vote of 36-0. The Senate bill states that it would ban, “retrofitting any diesel-powered vehicle with any devise, smoke stack or other equipment which enhances the vehicle’s capacity to emit soot, smoke or other particulate emissions, as well as purposely releasing significant quantities of soot, smoke or other particulate emissions into the air and onto the roadways and other vehicles while operating the vehicle.”

Linda Greenstein just changed everything. With her backing, we may no longer be able to legally modify our trucks. Photo courtesy of NJ.com

Violations would result in a fine set by the State Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). DEP regulations say vehicles “shall not emit visible smoke, whether from crankcase emissions or from tailpipe exhaust, for a period in excess of three consecutive seconds.” NJ officials claim that the “coal rolling” practice violates federal law. They are looking to make the ban explicit.

Generally, California leads the way in emissions regulations and other states follow. So, it will be interesting to see if California adopts this new regulation.

We recently purchased a 2006 Dodge Mega Cab for a project vehicle. In stock form, this truck will violate this new law. It is actually written that any modifications to the vehicle could be illegal. The words “equipment which enhances the vehicle’s capacity to emit soot,” could pertain to programmers, turbochargers, injectors, fuel system upgrades, exhaust upgrades (these are explicit called out), and basically anything that changes how the engine operates (even intakes for that matter).

So, now ask yourself, how cool is it to smoke people out? Tell us your thoughts on this? Do you think it will be a trend that sweeps the country?