Austin Murray (murrsgarage) is a proud Lamborghini Huracán owner, but his car just gave him a moment of great frustration. Not because the car malfunctioned, but because, he says, the officer who pulled him over didn’t understand how the car works, which got him a ticket he believes was unfair. In an Instagram and TikTok post that already has over 1.6 million views, he asked in the overlay text, “Is a stock Lamborghini Huracan exhaust illegal?”
Murray’s video begins after his initial conversation with the officer, first providing context, often with overlay text over the actual conversation. He told his viewers, “I’m pulled over right now because the Lamborghini is making some popping sounds (When I downshifted for a red light), and the cop’s saying that it’s illegal. And I’m trying to explain to him that it’s factory. It’s a Lamborghini, and it just makes that noise. But he doesn’t really seem like he wants to reason with me.”
As the officer comes back to the car, Murray notes that he is holding a ticket. The officer then explains why he believes the stop was justified, saying, “Okay, so I just googled it. It’s just due to exhaust in your tailpipe, so you have to either take it to a mechanic and clean it out, use a different fuel mixture, um, or to change the spark plug.” Murray tries to explain again that his car is factory standard and not modified, but the officer shuts him down.
The cop even suggests Murray is making the noise on purpose
The officer tells Murray, “So I’ve had four Mustangs, I’ve had Volkswagen Golfs, and they can adjust things, whether it’s taking it to a mechanic and stuff like that. You can drive safer and slower and better to not create these pops, or you take it to a mechanic to make it so it doesn’t make those.”
In the overlay text, Murray indicates shock that the officer compares those cars to his supercar. His version of events, which can’t be verified, highlights his belief that he shouldn’t be held responsible for something he can’t control. Lamborghini traffic stops have left drivers and officers talking past each other before, as one Dubai tourist found when an Oregon trooper pulled over his Lamborghini for having no U.S. plates.
The officer then hands Murray a $215 ticket, stating it is for “creating your car’s loud and unnecessary noise.” Throughout the exchange, the officer insists that drivers choose to make the popping noise, noting that he has been a cop for 18 years and in traffic for eight. “They drive like that because they like the attention. I’m not saying you have to admit that, but these are not common. You do it on purpose,” the officer claims.
According to AutoBlog, when you decelerate, fuel stops flowing to the engine. In a racing car, it results in a lag that affects inertia and performance. Anti-lag systems fix this by rigging the engine to keep injecting fuel, even when the cylinders throttle off.
This keeps a continuous combustion going, creating the angry sounds commonly associated with a rally car. A street car, even a supercar, doesn’t need the continuous performance of a rally car, but its engine is more aggressive.
As a Reddit user explained, “The popping and crackling is the sound of fuel igniting in the exhaust. It happens when any unburned fuel mixture enters the exhaust. It happens during downshifting and engine braking because you’re creating a very lean mixture in the cylinders during that event. This is too lean for the compressed mixture to be ignited by the spark plugs, so when it goes through the exhaust, it ignites there.”
AutoBlog noted that outside of fuel injection, some high-performance vehicles build in managed misfires or delayed timing to create a more aggressive sound profile during deceleration. Other vehicles get the effect through aftermarket ECU tunes, known as “burble” or “pop-and-bang” tunes, which change fueling and ignition timing to produce the same crackle on deceleration. However, sometimes, specific sounds can indicate a problem.
Murray’s audience was just as confused. One Instagrammer commented, “Spark plugs?! fuel mixture?! That cop is a literal bonehead.” Another criticized, “Bros been a traffic cop for 8 years and doesn’t know how cars work.”
A third wrote, “Sue the officer in the department and say using Google’s AI overview is foul misrepresentation of the law.” On TikTok, a user stated, “Officer giving tickets based on a Google search is wild work,” while another wrote, “cop are mechanics now ??”
Murray ended his post by asking if he should fight the ticket, and potentially spend more money on an inspection to prove his point. He also mentioned he still had one concern: “I want to enjoy my car. I don’t want to be driving around worrying that I’m going to be pulled over again getting a ticket for just doing things that my car does.”
Published: Oct 11, 2026 08:00 am