Is It Illegal To Drive With Tailgate Down In California, Texas, North Carolina, Florida & Illinois?

If you reside in California and you frequently transport lengthy materials, it’s normal to want to enquire if it’s illegal to drive with the tailgate down. In this article, we’ve given an answer to that your question, Is It Illegal To Drive With Tailgate Down California? Not just does it give a response to those in California, but it also tells the residents of Texas, North Carolina, Florida, and Illinois — if they’re allowed to drive with the tailgate down.

With that being said, let’s proceed.

Is It Illegal To Drive With Tailgate Down California?

In California, it’s not illegal to drive with your tailgate down. If you have an item that sticks out of your truck bed through the tailgate, what you have to do is: get a red flag or something bright — use either of those to mark it. This is done when the items are lengthy.

Will Driving With Tailgate Down Damage Your Truck?

You can perform the act of driving with your tailgate down without the fear of a negative outcome. The time it’s likely to cause damage is when the other drivers on the road are not aware of the tailgate being open — and this can easily lead to an unexpected occurrence. Also, don’t fail to carry out a check on the content of your truck bed, in order to prevent any cargo from falling out while you’re driving with the tailgate down.

Furthermore, there are tailgates out there that are designed in a way that they’re likely to fall off when down, so when you’re driving with the tailgate down, there’s a high tendency that it can shake and fall off. That, obviously, may be an expensive error. When you give little attention to the tailgate of your truck, it could be stolen. For stolen tailgates, California and Texas are dramatically worse. These two states have the highest number of trucks.

If you love sitting on your tailgate, you can check in one of our articles — Is Sitting On A Tailgate Bad? — where we gave a response that revolved around that area.

Moving on…

What Is A Tailgate?

Is It Illegal To Drive With Tailgate Down California
Truck Tailgate

A tailgate is a board or door located at the back of a truck that one can bring down in order to fit in items, goods.

Is It Illegal To Drive With Tailgate Down In Texas?

In the city of Texas, if you have in your possession “loose material(s)” — materials that are not secured, such as trash, rocks, tires, sand, etc — then it’s recommended that you keep the tailgate up and secure. Something you should know is, if the truck bed is completely empty, without any material, you’re allowed to have the tailgate down while driving around. So, the next time someone asks — Is It Illegal To Drive With Tailgate Down In Texas? — you’d have a straightforward response.

Is It Illegal To Drive With Your Tailgate Down in North Carolina?

If you’re among those asking the question — is it illegal to drive with your tailgate down in North Carolina? — here’s a response for you:

The answer is a huge NO. It’s 100% not illegal, against the law, to drive around the streets of North Carolina with your tailgate down.

Is It Illegal To Drive With Your Tailgate Down In Florida?

In Florida, it’s illegal for anyone to drive a pickup truck on the road having the tailgate down. There can be an exception: when you are transporting a load that doesn’t allow the tailgate to close properly. This gives the answer for “Is it illegal to drive with your tailgate down in Florida?

Is It Illegal To Drive With Tailgate Down In Illinois?

In a few states, the tailgate has to be fastened or secured so it really can’t move while the truck is in motion. It’s illegal to drive with your tailgate down in Illinois.

Four Tailgate Options And New Ways To Operate Them

The different tailgates you’d find out there are, depending on the equipment of your truck, created to suit the several ways you can access your cargo box.

How It Works

In this section, we’ll show you how you can easily open and close the four types of tailgates. Also, we will make sure we cover a few other special functions that can assist you in accessing the cargo box and shifting goods. You should know that vehicles are equipped differently, and because of this, your tailgate’s operation may vary. Your tailgate may come with either an available EZ Lift & Lower function, a standard operation, an available power lock and release function, or the six unique functions with the GMC MultiPro™ Tailgate. There are vehicles out there that come with the MultiPro Tailgate; vehicles equipped with such also include the EZ Lift & Lower and power lock and release functions.

1. Standard Gate

If you have a standard Gate, you’d have to go about operating your tailgate by hand, with a traditional handle.

2. Standard Gate + EZ Lift & Lower

If the tailgate you have at the bed of your truck is a Standard Gate that consists of EZ Lifts and Lower, you can achieve it by hand — using a traditional handle. To add to that, it’s equipped with something called a lift assist. This helps to bring ease to the tailgate’s weight when you’re trying to close it by lifting it, and it serves as a support for the tailgate while it is opening. The gate will get to a point where it opens, so you don’t have any reason to support it when it is opening, with the EZ Lift & Lower option.

3. Standard Gate + EZ Lift & Lower + Power Lock and Release

If the Power Lock and Release are present in your tailgate, your tailgate will consist of every single thing described in the Standard Gate with EZ Lift and Lower. In addition, you will have the ability to open the tailgate and lock it, too, by pressing a key fob button twice, using a switch right on the instrument panel inside the cab of your truck or pressing the button you’d find on your tailgate.

4. GMC MultiPro™ Tailgate

To add to the EZ Lift & Lower and Power Lock and Release functions, if the tailgate your vehicle has is the MultiPro Tailgate, you can use your hand to open the tailgate by simply going inside the vehicle or with the help of the key fob. Depending on your needs, you will have six very unique functions from which you can choose:

Six Functions:

  • 1. Primary Gate: The tailgate of your truck closes and opens just like a traditional gate. Use the power release of the key fob to open it. Alternatively, you can open it from the dashboard at the inside of your truck or from the tailgate — the lower button on the gate.
  • 2. Primary Gate Load Stop: At times when you need to carry long items, this function helps to ensure that they’re prevented from sliding out of the bed of your truck when the primary gate is down. In order to make use of this feature, when your primary gate is already open, release the step to create a load stop.
  • 3. Easy Access: To bring ease into the act of reaching for items at the bed of your truck, especially when it involves taking items that you kept close to the cab, fold down the inner gate using the upper button.
  • 4. Full-Width Step: Having the primary gate down makes it easy for you to fold the inner gate down to form a sturdy step. There’s also available a handle, a convenient handle you can fold out and grab onto to provide you with the needed stability as you are entering and exiting the cargo box of your truck.
  • 5. Inner Gate Load Stop: If you’re making use of the second tier of the truck bed for storage, you’d appreciate this load stop, because it helps in preventing items from sliding out of the bed and also, provides a width of 48 inches. The width of 48 inches could be of great benefit for those who want to or are transporting 4×8-foot lumber or drywall.
  • 6. Inner Gate With Work Surface: Use this to achieve the purpose of loading long items into the second tier storage area while freeing up space below. This can serve as a standing-height work surface. For you to gain access, and while the primary gate is closed, open the inner gate. If you have a vehicle that is equipped, you may also have a 120-volt outlet right in the truck box near the work surface.

MultiPro Tips:

  • If there’s something attached, something like hitch ball or trailer, make sure you don’t open the inner gate with the primary gate open. This is much likely to damage the tailgate.
  • If you desire to get both gates to open just in one motion, press the lower button and then the upper button.

Is It Illegal To Drive With Tailgate Down California – Conclusion

To recap, we gave a response to the question — Is It Illegal To Drive With Tailgate Down California? — that entails:

In California, it’s not illegal to drive with your tailgate down. If you have an item that sticks out of your truck bed through the tailgate, what you have to do is: get a red flag or something bright — use either of those to mark it. This is done when the items are lengthy.

We as well answered other similar questions such as Is It Illegal To Drive With Tailgate Down In Texas? Is It Illegal To Drive With Your Tailgate Down in North Carolina? Is It Illegal To Drive With Your Tailgate Down In Florida? Is It Illegal To Drive With Tailgate Down In Illinois?

So, the next time you’re asked either of these questions, you’ll have an answer to give, confidently.

Thanks for reading.

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