# How illegal is sex in a car? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 3, 2013, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-illegal-is-sex-in-a-car/645957 "2013-01-03T15:57:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de053/32.png) [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackknifed_Juggernaut)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2013, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-illegal-is-sex-in-a-car/645957/1 "2013-01-03T15:57:00Z")
Over the holidays, I had family staying at my house. As a result, my GF and I were only able to enjoy each other in my car. We loved it so much that I feel it may become part of our repertoire. We were spotted on several occasions by a few of her neighbors (It was probably real stupid to do these things while being double-parked). One time, a cop drove by just as we were zipping back up. He slowed down, looked at us, and then drove away. But what could the repercussions be if we were caught red-handed? Would it be" you crazy kids need to get a room" or “Hands up! You’re going to jail!” or something in between? For the record, I live in NJ and most of the "crimes’ occurred in the Ironbound section of Newark where she lives. ---
**Author:** ![Lanzy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/74df32/32.png) [@Lanzy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lanzy)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2013, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-illegal-is-sex-in-a-car/645957/2 "2013-01-03T16:07:20Z")
Sex in public is generally a cause to be arrested in most areas of the country. Think of the Children! ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2013, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-illegal-is-sex-in-a-car/645957/3 "2013-01-03T16:08:25Z")
Is the interior of a car considered a public space? ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2013, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-illegal-is-sex-in-a-car/645957/4 "2013-01-03T16:10:37Z")
I got caught as a teenager once. The cops pulled us out of the car and put us in handcuffs. They gave us an earful giving us the impression that we were on our way to jail. Apparently, they just wanted to scar the shit out of us because the eventually let us go. That was nearly 30 years ago. I’m not sure how that would play out these days. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2013, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-illegal-is-sex-in-a-car/645957/5 "2013-01-03T16:12:11Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > Is the interior of a car considered a public space? It has windows. Doesn’t that make it public? Is it illegal to have sex in a windowless van? ---
**Author:** ![destineal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5f9b8f/32.png) [@destineal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/destineal)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2013, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-illegal-is-sex-in-a-car/645957/6 "2013-01-03T16:12:57Z")
I’m thinking that unless you want to risk permanent sex-offender status you’d better be really careful where you do it. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2013, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-illegal-is-sex-in-a-car/645957/7 "2013-01-03T16:13:37Z")
I got caught once too. It scarred me for life and I will never have sex in a car again, ever. Not even if the car is on my own island. We were twenty or so. It was a park, and there really wasn’t anybody around. We had just finished (thank god!!!) when a cop banged on the window. He made both of us get out of the car, without any pants, utterly humiliated us by yelling at us and threatening to call our parents, looked at our IDs, and told us to scoot. He was a sorry son of a bitch and I still remember the shame and the humiliation. That was…seventeen years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2013, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-illegal-is-sex-in-a-car/645957/8 "2013-01-03T16:14:06Z")
_Making Love in a Subaru That’s what I wanna do with you We can always feel around the steering wheel There seems to be so much that we can do…_ ---
**Author:** ![Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de053/32.png) [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackknifed_Juggernaut)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2013, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-illegal-is-sex-in-a-car/645957/9 "2013-01-03T16:14:16Z")
> [@Shakes](#): > > I got caught as a teenager once… Problem is I’m 42 and she’s 30. We should definitely know better. ---
**Author:** ![Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de053/32.png) [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackknifed_Juggernaut)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2013, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-illegal-is-sex-in-a-car/645957/10 "2013-01-03T16:16:44Z")
> [@destineal](#): > > I’m thinking that unless you want to risk permanent sex-offender status you’d better be really careful where you do it. Really? :eek: ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2013, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-illegal-is-sex-in-a-car/645957/11 "2013-01-03T16:23:17Z")
There’s nothing illegal about having sex in a car. Sex in a car in public is a different matter. You’d have to run into major assholes in the justice system to end up with a conviction that would put you on the sex-offender list, but it could happen, so definitely don’t have sex with a judge’s wife or daughter in a car. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2013, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-illegal-is-sex-in-a-car/645957/12 "2013-01-03T16:36:53Z")
> [@Shakes](#): > > I got caught as a teenager once. > > The cops pulled us out of the car and put us in handcuffs. Me, too, but it was in a drivein and the management asked us to come to the office. No handcuffs or police were involved. At the office, they showed us the applicable laws about prostitution, which was pretty silly because nothing of the sort was going on. And they couldn’t claim we were “performing” in public because what tipped them off in the first place was the totally fogged-up windows. :rolleyes: I wonder what law that violated. When I asked to borrow their phone to call the police and report a kidnapping (ours) if they continued to detain us, they thought it best to drop the matter. Ballsy, wasn’t I? Imagine…sex in a drivein!? What an unexpected concept! Nevertheless, we didn’t go to driveins much after that. Motels were so much better. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2013, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-illegal-is-sex-in-a-car/645957/13 "2013-01-03T16:41:14Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > Is it illegal to have sex in a windowless van? Depends how old the kid is. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2013, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-illegal-is-sex-in-a-car/645957/14 "2013-01-03T17:38:33Z")
_You pull into a drive-in And find a place to park You hop into the backseat Where you know it’s nice and dark You’re just about to move in, Thinkin’ it’s a breeze There’s a light in your eyes And then a guy says “Out of the car, Longhair”_ ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2013, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-illegal-is-sex-in-a-car/645957/15 "2013-01-03T18:00:41Z")
It’s a misdemeanor. The more you miss, da meaner you get. ---
**Author:** ![markdash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@markdash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markdash)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2013, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-illegal-is-sex-in-a-car/645957/16 "2013-01-03T19:13:44Z")
I’d rather just spend $40 once or twice during the holidays to rent a cheap hotel room to take care of business. Who cares if you only use it for an hour or two, it beats getting arrested, and you certainly would have more room to operate. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2013, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-illegal-is-sex-in-a-car/645957/17 "2013-01-03T19:21:46Z")
A bf and I were caught back in college (in the late '60s). We were in a very remote area where nobody could have seen us, except for a cop car that just happened to be passing by. We got ourselves “presentable” damn fast, so he didn’t literally see anything. He checked all our ID, then let us go with a warning. Sex between two males was a punishable crime back then, so we were lucky. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2013, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-illegal-is-sex-in-a-car/645957/18 "2013-01-03T19:27:41Z")
> [@markdash](#): > > I’d rather just spend $40 once or twice during the holidays to rent a cheap hotel room to take care of business. Who cares if you only use it for an hour or two, it beats getting arrested, and you certainly would have more room to operate. When you are young, you might not have $40. And to be honest, it’s hard to find a hotel room that cheap these days without being completely skeevy. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2013, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-illegal-is-sex-in-a-car/645957/19 "2013-01-03T19:29:08Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > _Making Love in a Subaru > That’s what I wanna do with you > We can always feel around the steering wheel > There seems to be so much that we can do…_ Haven’t heard that since the Dr. Demento days… ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2013, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-illegal-is-sex-in-a-car/645957/20 "2013-01-03T19:34:27Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > He made both of us get out of the car, without any pants, .. I have no idea why I found this incredibly funny, but I did. I’m sure it wasn’t funny at the time! Anyway, if this is illegal then I probably broke the law about 200 times as a teenager. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-illegal-is-sex-in-a-car/645957.md?page=2)