The National Park Service Threatens to FINE You If You Drive THESE Cars Off-Road!

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#offroad #news #4x4

[kirklins]

Maybe they need to create a large mound of dirt/rocks at the beginning of the trail with a sign. "If you can't make it over this your vehicle is not qualified to go any further."

[terryclarence]

Hilarious that the Park Service vehicle is an AWD Ford Explorer with low ground clearance

[rafterwhomestead]

If you have to ask yourself the question: "is my vehicle considered a high clearance 4x4" ...it probably isn't.

[jimblair]

How about a sign that says, "if you get stuck, it's your ass!"

[ksucats]

According to the National Park Service, a high clearance vehicle is defined as a SUV or truck type vehicle, with at least 15” tire rims or more, with a low gear transfer case, designed for heavier type use than a standard passenger vehicle, with at least 8” of clearance or more from the lowest point of the frame, body, suspension, or differential, to the ground, also including means of mechanically powering both front and rear wheels at the same time.

[michaelsielian]

Dumping motor and gear oil or antifreeze all over the countryside after ripping the bottom of your unprotected undercarriage with a big rock isn’t cool for the environment.

[nelsonvanvickle]

I didn’t buy my Outback XT for climbing steep, rocky trails in Moab. I bought it to track confidently on snowy roads in Maryland winters and get me through muddy sections of back country roads after the snow melts. People forget what a “purpose built” vehicle constitutes and what a true 4x4 system with lockers is designed for as opposed to an AWD system.

[mikeolbrisch]

Texas big bend in early may. 10am, temperature was already 107° and rising. We were traveling a the River Road East to West, following the Rio Grande parallel to the Mexican Border. We were in a very well-built JEEP 4-Door wrangler. I'm a retired soldier and experienced off-road from small M-151s to hummers to cargo trucks to medium tracked vehicles. The JEEP A/C was working well. We always carry an extra 10-gallon fuel pod on the rear tire carrier and an emergency 5-gallons of water in a tank built into the rear bumper. For me, I only used 4X4-high on this road for the increased traction affording less damage to the terrain. On 12.5 x 35 tires at 14-PSI - 2X4 would have worked 90% of the time. The high clearance and deep sand were the only issues. I do not recall needing the F and R lockers at all.

There are HUGE 4' x 8' signs at every point where the pavement ends stating HIGH-CLEARANCE 4X4 ONLY. This is very desolate terrain and forget about cell phones. About 10 miles in we discovered a black Pontiac Solstice with NY license plates. The vehicle had two flat tires from spinning the wheels trying to get unstuck. Inside we discovered a woman, delirious from dehydration.

Fortunately, the ham radio VHF was able to get over the mountains to another operator about 60 miles away. He called the rangers on the phone and they dispatched an emergency crew to the Lat/Lon location I provided. It took them nearly 2 hours to get there. Having plenty of water, we kept this woman in the back seat of our rig to cool her and let her slowly drink water.... and when the ranger crew arrived we handed her off and let them deal with the situation. Once they saved her life, I hope they impounded her vehicle and fined the shit out of her. Another Darwin near-miss.

This is a prime example of what the park service is talking about. This woman had gotten stuck about noon the day before, she was nearly gone. 22 hours in the West Texas desert with little water and no food. Had we not come across her I feel certain she would have died that day, becoming another page in the book named Death In Big Bend. Yes, that is a real book, and interesting reading of you visit West Texas in the summer.... as an example of things not to do.

I don't know what the selection criteria should be for deciding what vehicles on what trails. But I see the need. To be clear, my 2015 JKU-R Hard Rock rates a Hard-7. But my butt-hole is only rated for a Moderate-5. That keeps me out of trouble, I long ago quit wondering if I could "make it over there"?

[sokratzmmf]

Many parks have very strict guidance for off-road driving. They don't want to be busy rescuing people for being poorly prepared.

[psd]

Regardless of 4WD or AWD, the biggest reason people tend to get stuck is because they don't understand how these systems work. This is especially true for the Traction Control systems in modern vehicles, and that by momentarily turning off Traction Control, it will allow most vehicle to be driven out of a stuck situation.

[quixomega]

Some brands make this even more confusing by labeling AWD cars 4WD.

[gamergeek]

I like the idea I saw from another offroad account. If it is 4wd only, put in a gate keeper. You cant pass the gate keeper, you don’t belong on the trail. Easy as that.

[adreaux]

Ford calls the Bronco Sport a 4x4 and “4 wheel drive” vehicle all over in its marketing and manual, despite being technically a AWD.

That being said, the badlands has the rear locking differential, and it’s defiantly marketed to go off road. I can see why people would be confused and this rule isn’t clearly defined.

[edwardnelson]

As someone who drives a Subaru, this warning must be inforced given Subaru's market share with first time outdoors adventure vehicle owners don't understand the difference between AWD vs 4x4. I would never take my Subaru down anything other than a forest road. Just because you have a "wilderness" badge on the side of your Subaru doesn't mean it can do what a Jeep Wrangler can go.

[SenhorSus]

I drove a stock Crosstrek up the trail to Loch Lomond a bunch of years ago...and it made it up there! But the car did NOT like the ride up and I count myself lucky nothing happened. I would never make the trip again.

This law would prevent dummies like me from making this mistake and causing a whole mess on a very narrow trail, ruining both my day and everyone else's. Im all for it!

Mandatory equipment should be off-road tires that can withstand punctures well and are above a certain minimum profile/thickness, minimum ground clearance, and a low range box.

But what do i know, im just a dummy taking subarus where they should never go 😅

[PTRRanger]

Good. They should. Having worked law enforcement in a large rural county in Nevada, 90% of our search and rescue calls were involving people stuck in cars. They think AWD is 4x4.

When we have 1 or two deputies on duty per shift in a 3, 500 sq mile county and we have to drive off road for an hour or longer to get somewhere, it takes us away from being able to respond to an actual emergency.

If something was to happen more serious, we would have to call someone from their house, or try to respond and may have to take and hour or 2 of dirt roads just to get back to pavement.

These people would think that they could drive anywhere in their AWD car.

Their decision to issue fines stems from having to waste resource after resource for something that should have never happened.

Tow companies won’t even respond until law enforcement gets there first so they know it’s an actual stuck vehicle and they know where the location is and it’s verified.

National Parks and Forest Service don’t have a ton of resources to send to a stuck vehicle either.

[letourrr]

Per the NPS Website: "A high clearance 4WD vehicle is defined as a SUV or truck type vehicle, with at least 15 inch tire rims or more, with a low gear transfer case, designed for heavier type use than a standard passenger vehicle, with at least 8 inches of clearance or more from the lowest point of the frame, body, suspension, or differential, to the ground, also including a means to mechanically power both, front and real wheels at the same time."

So by this definition, The only Crossover that would fit this would be a Cherokee Trailhawk. Guess next time I go to Moab, I can't take my Jeep Patriot, dang.

[EB-ssor]

If trails are to be restricted, that should be based on actual capabilty, NOT nomenclature. The term "AWD" entered the mainstream U.S. vernacular roughly four decades ago with the increading popularity of full-time four wheel drive SUVs that weren't derived from pickup trucks.

[duggydo]

If you use the low range test, then a lot of GM pickups won't pass. They have been cheaping out and putting transfer cases without low range for a while.

[nonde.script]

“What are you in for?”

“Took the crosstrek off road” 💀