Last month, I wrote about how Massachusetts had a secret policy to ban Japanese Kei-class imports. The policy has finally been ironed out and official documents have been created. There’s just one really large problem because Massachusetts has no idea what a Kei car actually is, and in making the policy the state has effectively banned all Japanese imports. The state is already rejecting the registrations of non-Kei vehicles. Don’t worry, it’s only going to get dumber from here.
All of this is a bit of a whirlwind. For more than three years, Maine, Rhode Island, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Georgia all had some sort of issue with over 25-year-old vehicles imported from Japan. Maine is perhaps the most extreme of all as that state banned all imports regardless of country of origin. Michigan recently joined in on the banning party while enthusiasts in Texas were triumphant in getting anti-import policies overturned.
Most of the states targeting Japanese imports are going after Kei vehicles, short for kei-jidōsha, Japan’s smallest class of road-legal cars and trucks. Keis are popular in Japan because they’re smaller vehicles benefiting from lower taxes and overall lower costs of ownership. Plus, they’re easier to live with if you live in a tight environment.
Americans have been falling in love with Keis for a variety of reasons. Personally, I love the engineering involved in scaling real cars down to just barely larger than a carnival fun ride. My Honda Beat and Suzuki Every make my Smart Fortwos look like giants, yet they’re real, practical, funky vehicles. Small business owners also love Kei trucks and Kei vans because they can do real work for not a lot of money.
Based on this and the multiple state bans, you’d think Keis must be rushing through the border at a rate that must be a threat, right? Exact importation numbers for Kei vehicles are not known, but some estimates show that they’re not even a blip on the radar of America’s car sales. If you take the data from the Japan Used Motor Vehicle Export Association for gospel, just 7,594 Kei trucks were imported into America last year.
These states are banning vehicles that don’t make a dent in the insane amount of cars sold in America. Ford, General Motors, Toyota, and Stellantis have no reason to worry about a paltry 7,594 Kei trucks when combined, they sell millions of pickups every year.
Massachusetts Doesn’t Know What A Kei Car Is
I now have the Massachusetts official policy in hand and it’s somehow dumber than the secret policy was. Before we begin, let’s review why this is a problem, from my previous article:
America bans the importation of a vehicle unless it is either converted to EPA and Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards or is at least 25 years old. The EPA rule is a 21-year ban, but it is still effectively a 25-year ban since you’re usually trying to import a whole car. Anyway, once a car is at least 25 years old, the federal government no longer cares how safe the vehicle is.
However, there are two prongs to legalizing an imported vehicle, and pleasing the feds is just one of them. Your second hurdle is the state. The states reserve the right to dictate what vehicles can and cannot drive on their roads and as we’ve been seeing for more than three years, some states do not care if your vehicle got through Customs without a problem.
Enthusiasts have been going to the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles (RMV) offices to register imported vehicles, only to be turned away without any real explanation. Massachusetts, unlike other states, seemingly decided to ban cars without telling anyone about it. Those who did get some information were given vague explanations like the state no longer liked vehicles with short VINs. Others were told it was because the state is banning all vehicles that don’t meet Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS), like Maine did.
I decided to get to the bottom of the issue and what RMV officials told me didn’t make any sense. The state told me that it wasn’t planning on a total import ban, but just Kei vehicles imported from Japan. One problem is that the state has no idea what a Kei vehicle is.
When I wrote my original story, the RMV gave me a list of Kei vehicles that were banned in the state. That list was:
Honda Acty truck/van
Daihatsu Hijet, Daihatsu Atrai
Suzuki Carry, Suzuki Every
Mitsubishi Minicab truck/van
Mazda Porter Cab or Scrum
Subaru Sambar truck/van
Isuzu Mini Truck
Nissan Clipper
Toyota Lite Ace or Town Ace
I was told that this was just a preliminary list and that it could change once the policy is ironed out and published. The RMV also told me that the list isn’t exhaustive, meaning that the state is looking to ban any vehicle it deems to be a Kei.
The official policy has been published and the list of example Kei vehicles hasn’t changed:
The state clearly has no idea what a Kei vehicle is. The “Isuzu Mini Truck” does not exist. Further, Isuzu is not a manufacturer of Kei trucks at all, so it’s not like they got their model names mixed up. Yet, I’ve spoken with RMV officials and they’re adamant that the “Isuzu Mini Truck” is a Kei vehicle.
The weirdness continues with the inclusion of the Toyota LiteAce.
This is a van roughly the size of an equivalent period-correct Dodge Caravan and not by anyone’s definition a Kei vehicle. The Toyota was even sold in America for a short time as the Toyota Van!
Then there’s the Nissan Clipper, which is a line of Kei trucks and vans but won’t be eligible for importation until 2028.
Worse is how the state plans on identifying Kei vehicles. The preliminary policy involved identifying Kei vehicles by their short chassis codes (which the state calls a VIN) and by referencing the above list. Any vehicle found not in compliance with FMVSS was to be denied title and registration.
The published policy is somehow worse. The state offers four ways for its RMV offices to identify a Kei vehicle. Massachusetts says that Kei vehicles will have VINs shorter than 17 digits, will have model years older than 25 years, and first-time registrants will have documents in Japanese. Finally, RMV offices can reference a list of known Kei vehicles.
The problem is that these identification tactics cast a wide net. Every Japanese market vehicle imported from the country is going to have a short “VIN.” The country doesn’t use our 17-digit VIN system, but shorter chassis numbers. Remember that suspicious Skyline? Here’s its manufacturing plate again and note how there isn’t a VIN, but a chassis number:
That means everything from the Toyota Century V12 and a Toyota Coaster bus to a brand-new JDM Tundra will have a short code. If Massachusetts is looking to identify Kei vehicles through codes or the fact that export documents are in Japanese, then every JDM import is being threatened.
The effects of this are already being felt as enthusiasts are reporting troubles getting non-Keis registered. One person was turned away from the RMV after attempting to register an imported 1996 Honda Civic. Yet, because Massachusetts has no idea what it’s doing, others have reported success in getting non-Keis registered, including a retired large Japanese fire engine.
Why Is Massachusetts Doing This?
The state says it’s doing this because the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says that mini trucks and Kei vehicles do not meet FMVSS and are not endorsed for highway use. For several years, the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators (AAMVA), the organization that started this whole saga, hosted an NHTSA document on its website. In that document, the NHTSA indeed indicated that mini trucks do not meet FMVSS and are not endorsed for road use.
However, the NHTSA gives exceptions to mini-trucks that are over 25 years old, temporarily imported by a tourist, or temporarily imported by foreign military or diplomats. As I noted earlier, the feds just determine whether the vehicle can be legally in the country without restriction, the final determination of registration is up to your state.
Massachusetts appears to be referencing this AAMVA/NHTSA document as well as an NHTSA interpretation where the NHTSA reiterates that mini trucks should not be allowed on the road. Per this document, in the late 2000s, a person attempted to import a 2000 model-year Kei truck, making a case that the vehicle could go 70 mph and had safety equipment.
However, the NHTSA pushed back, stating that the only way an under-25-year-old Kei truck can be legal for road use is if it is modified to comply with U.S. standards and has an FMVSS compliance label to prove it. In the eyes of the NHTSA, mini trucks are either 25 mph speed-limited machines used on farms and colleges or are over 25 years of age.
In regard to the situation, Massachusetts says:
A Kei class mini truck is a motor vehicle meeting the requirements of the Japanese “Kei Jidosha” classification or designation, used or maintained primarily for the transportation of property and having four wheels, an engine displacement of 660cc or less, an overall length of 130 inches or less, an overall height of 78 inches or less, and overall width of 60 inches or less.
These mini trucks and vans are typically imported and are more than 25 years old. Under the 25-year rule, Kei mini trucks and vans can be lawfully imported into the U.S. even if they do not comply with all applicable Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS), which these vehicles do not.
The Massachusetts RMV, under its authority, does not issue registrations and titles for these mini trucks and vans. As the RMV becomes aware that one of these vehicles may have been registered, it will contact the owner and inform them accordingly.
Ultimately, Massachusetts does retain the right to deny registration to vehicles it doesn’t want on its roads. So the state may have taken the wrong route to get there, but it is the technically correct conclusion.
The Damage
Unfortunately, this whole mess is only just beginning. One thing we didn’t know was what Massachusetts was going to do with existing Kei vehicle registrations and titles.
Massachusetts has decided to land on the side of a full ban. The state plans to notify existing owners that their vehicles can no longer be registered for road use. In addition to refusing to register these vehicles, the state will also refuse to title these vehicles.
This opens up another headache. The state recognizes that not being able to title these vehicles will cause problems in transferring ownership. Massachusetts offers no real solution, telling owners to sell their vehicles with a bill of sale and to seek legal help to legally transfer ownership without a title.
Remember, this is all happening while the state has no real idea of what a Kei vehicle is. So, I would expect the owners of non-Keis to have to fight this alongside Kei vehicle owners. Until something changes, enthusiasts are about to end up with expensive paperweights.
What Enthusiasts Are Doing
Here’s the part where I sound like a broken record and quote myself from previous articles:
Unfortunately, if you’ve followed my work for long enough, you will know where I’m going with this. It would appear that Massachusetts is following guidance issued by the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators. I’ve written about these folks so much I can almost recite them like poetry, but click here to learn more about the AAMVA and why it’s a problem.
The group has been coming down hard on imported vehicles since the summer of 2021, with the publishing of a document instructing member states to ban any vehicle that doesn’t meet FMVSS. They’re the reason why so many states are suddenly banning vehicles seemingly out of nowhere. The crazy part about all of this is while the AAMVA has an ax to grind against Kei trucks, the group really wants to remove all gray market imports from America. So, if you’re a fan of any once-forbidden fruit from anywhere, not just tiny cars from Japan, you will want to do what you can to stop the spread of these bans.
As of right now, the shining examples of how to fight this are North Carolina and Texas. Enthusiasts in these states banded together and worked with their lawmakers to have anti-import policies overturned. Instead of being adversaries, they educated their lawmakers and DMVs on what Kei vehicles are and why they should be legal. North Carolina’s enthusiasts won the privilege to drive Kei trucks in 2019 while Texas was the first to beat the post-2021 AAMVA recommendations.
That said, this isn’t a surefire way to win. Maine’s enthusiasts and Georgia’s enthusiasts managed to convince lawmakers to write pro-import bills. Both of those bills have since died. Georgia’s bill also contained restrictions that would have limited Kei vehicles to being treated like side-by-sides, limiting them to local and county roads and banning them from state roads or greater.
Georgians and Michiganders are also suing their states, and these enthusiasts can tell you that litigation is expensive, takes practically forever, and does not have a guaranteed result. The Georgia suit is currently stalled out as of the publishing of this article.
Still, the best thing you can do right now is to band together, make some friends in your state government, and push for the legalization of imported vehicles. Residents of Massachusetts are already doing that right now. If you’re a resident of Massachusetts and are interested in helping, join the Massachusetts JDM Imports Advocates group on Facebook. Also, write your local officials and tell them why the state is making a huge mistake.
Topshot rubber stamp element: slayed/stock.adobe.com
I remember reading a while ago about a loophole that people mainly used to avoid sales taxes on high end luxury/supercars, creating an LLC based in Montana (which doesn’t charge sales tax on cars) and registering your cars to the LLC. There were even companies that existed mainly to provide that service to out of state residents, helping them to create the LLC and register their vehicles.
Seems like that loophole is still around… Assuming Montana also doesn’t give a shit about kei cars, not to give anyone any ideas or anything (.ᴖ.)
Let’s just say I very much hope people in the affected states will soon be seeing lots of tiny cars out and about with valid, legal Montana plates.
I was thinking the same…
I think this is still considered illegal tax evasion in the state where you actually live and use the car, but it’s hard to enforce and rarely caught.
On my recent trip to Japan, my wife quickly tired of my excitedly pointing out every single kei truck like I was a child. It was so much fun.
If a Ford Model T is legally allowed to drive on a state road, a kei vehicle should as well. The Kei car is likely far safer to people inside and out and can keep up with modern traffic better.
Great point
I keep seeing this point made, and it’s valid. However, caution yourself and view that post how a legislator would view it.
“Great point! We’re also banning Model T’s”
You might as well go ahead and ban hot dogs and apple pie too.
Wait until you find out how they handle liquor licenses.
tl;dr, it’s bad.
Other vehicles with VIN containing fewer than 17 characters:
Pretty much every car (legally) sold in the US prior to 1981.
I’ve had enough of this damn AAMVA. I went to their website and would you believe on their latest tax form available on their website they listed over $50 million in revenue? They also have a list of 11 executives, all who had base compensation of over $200,000. The president alone has compensation of over $400,000.
Feel free to leave any other fun facts from the financial forms available here:
https://www.aamva.org/about/association-information/financial-information
At the bottom you can view the entire organization’s documents or regional documents.
Gotta do something to justify the dues that pay those salaries.
So lets enable cranky DMV workers to refuse service to taxpaying citizens.
Per their financial statements, they designated $10 million for modernization of the National Motor Vehicle Title Information System. The work on that project began some time in 2019 and probably lines up pretty well with when they started encouraging the bans on kei vehicles. Getting states to eliminate a bunch of non-standard title data would be in their best interest as a database administrator.
Their website also lists upcoming conferences & meetings!
You all live in the wrong places. In Florida you can register anything. We even have a dealer in my city with about 10 Kei cars trucks and vans on the lot for sale.
Amusingly, I’m currently monitoring a situation in Florida involving Kei trucks. Allegedly, the DMV out there may be discovering that it has been accidentally registering Kei trucks as regular pickup trucks when they should be registered as limited mini trucks.
Florida’s had a mini truck law on the books for well over a decade, but apparently it’s not really enforced. But that may be changing.
There’s some more states out there that don’t make the list of “full bans” on keis, but who have been pulling some more subtle stuff here and there. Delaware is another one -I know of someone who has two Cappuccinos and was recently able to renew the registration on one, but had the other one rejected for being noncompliant with FMVSS, with no real explanation as to why one was OK and the other isn’t. Seems to depend on which administrator reviews the paperwork
Here in hoosier land, we too don’t care what it is with wheels and will slap a plate on basically anything from ufos to Kei trucks to f1 cars.
They have a miniature cult following and keep gaining speed even if our pot holes will swallow em
Interesting, since I am repeatedly told by my governor that I live in the “free state” of Florida. /s
DeSantis overheard someone talking about their Kei truck saying it had a trans, so he’s having his people look into an all-out ban.
You can do it both ways in Florida. Register as a normal car/truck or as a low speed vehicle. You aren’t supposed to take a LSV on roads with speed limits over 35 but being Florida, enforcement is non-existant. I see LSV registered Kei trucks and LSV plated golf carts with high speed motors flying down 55 mph county roads here all the time. Nobody cares. Nobody will ever care.
Oh this is definetly the work of Kawasaki, Polaris, Can Am, John Deere, kubota and their dealer networks. They have lobbyists fighting tooth and nail to make old kei trucks from Japan illegal.
The thing is those old 4wd kei trucks are way better farm trucks than their way overpriced mules, gators, side by sides. Bigger beds, fully enclosed cabs that seal well with GOOD heat, seat belts, enough power to cruise at 70+mph(just make sure its flat and the wind isnt blowing) Also real brakes, the kei trucks had to meet some safety standards unlike side by sides
They have the utv/side by side makers scared shitless cause you can buy 3 or 4 kei trucks for the price of one new enclosed cab utv. I think perceptions(real or imagined) about parts/service for old kei trucks have kept a lot of thrifty farmers from buying them. Also concerns about registration/road legal status, which sadly have become legit in some states like MA
All fodder for the rebuttal.
This makes a lot of sense. Most states, Massachusetts included, don’t allow side-by-sides on public roads and don’t issue registrations to them, and UTVs are insanely expensive for something with such a narrow use case.
If somebody with a large property can buy a 25 year old Honda Acty that’s just as capable as a UTV in off-road utility use, but that can also be registered for the road and used as an extra vehicle in the household, and is also cheaper to start with, well, then Polaris or Kubota or whoever probably did just lose a sale or two.
Restricting kei trucks to off-road use on private property as unregistered vehicles puts them on a closer to even footing with UTVs in terms of competition. UTV manufacturers should be fighting to for more states to allow them to be plated for use on most roads aside from limited access highways, but knocking out the competition is probably better than trying to expand the market.
And coating everything in a veneer of “safety” or “think of the children” makes your position unassailable, since nobody wants to get caught appearing to oppose that, and the arguments against are too nuanced for an easily understood sound bite.
The problem with the argument against is that it brings old cars into the mix with the risk there being, if this anti-“kei” car argument flies, then maybe they have to turn their attention to old cars, too. Sure, that’s a much bigger fight, but I wonder if that’s one they want to tackle next. If they force nearly everyone into speed-controlled, connected, monitored, data-mining boredom wagons, they’ll have much more control over a more complacent population.
It very well could, there’s some huge industry trade groups that base their livelihoods on the classic car hobby that would have a vested interest in fighting back on that (part of the issue is that kei cars are still very niche, there’s no American company manufacturing replacement dash covers for Suzuki Altos, no American company selling lift kits for Jimneys, there’s no JDM trade show as big as SEMA in Las Vegas, etc, so all the big money is on the anti-kei/anti-JDM side).
But, yeah, the logical extension of “this vehicle is not as safe as new vehicles and does not meet FMVSS” is that anything made before 1968 also doesn’t meet FMVSS because it didn’t exist yet, and, since safety standards are constantly improving, even cars from just 10 years ago would be noticeably less safe than new ones, so if they win in one area, they could continue picking away at the next lowest hanging fruit.
To be clear, I’m not stating that I think there is a giant conspiracy even if there are straight roads that lead to that conclusion, but I do think we need to be vigilant.
A lot of the old cars still on the roads were taken out by cash for clunkers.
People would sell their grandma’s old car with her in it for that sweet clunker cash.
I meant old cars as in pre-81 with shortened VINs or pre-FMVSS, which is pre-68, which the argument here could also be used to outlaw.
That’s what I suggested on the last article—follow the money. AAMVA scumbags aren’t doing this out of concern for safety or whatever other BS excuse they’re using, they’re protecting someone parasite’s pocketbook. What’s funny in the case of MA is that those overpriced POS are fairly rare here as they can’t register that junk for the reasons they’re claiming against the imported real cars. I see those gocarts being towed a lot more often in NH, and in Hudson, NH, there’s what seems to be a well known a dealer specializing in 25 year+ JDM cars (I’ve seen their listings on here, even).
I have at least 4 Kei cars within a half mile of me. On isn’t a truck, but is a Subaru hatchback of some sort.
I also was out in my Miata tonight and was approached by a guy who has a kei car. Wish I could remember what it was, but it was a purple 3 door hatchback in the picture he showed me. He said he’d bring it by to show me the next time he ran through, but I suspect he may just be hiding it now.
I see a fair number of small pickups and pre-“SUV” style 4WDs, so there would be a good deal of people affected and with all this talk about the environment, the former are being used to do the work full sized pickups are rarely used for anymore and what’s better for the environment? Sure, the newer truck puts out lower emissions in terms of PPMs, but in overall terms when it’s burning twice the amount of fuel, not to mention the tire and brake dust and real estate if parking where parking is tight? The big trucks are also a far more dangerous vehicle to have in an urban environment than a small, low powered cabover with good visibility that looks like a squadron of frat boys could carry away as a prank.
I’ve seen them used by a few local businesses.
I’m in a relatively rural area, and these things are useful on a small / hobby farm. Compared to anything else you’d buy, they’re cheap as can be. The price of a Kei truck does not buy much tractor at the John Deere dealer.
Heck, if people have to dump them cheaply I may scoop one up to plow my driveway. I can’t think they’d be able to push anything more than a 4′ blade, but it would be fun.
Also, I can guarantee I’d be able to drive it on the street with a snow plow and a yellow flashing light.
Now THIS is interesting! It makes sense too!
UTV side-by-sides are definitely overpriced! They cost more than many cars lol
In fact, they’re so profitable that Honda stopped making lawn mowers to free up space to make more UTVs!
So it’s actually not the Detroit Lobby of Big Trucks
I am building on a large property and am planning to buy a Kei truck for all the reasons you listed. As I live in Pennsylvania I do plan to get it registered as it would be convenient to have it be road legal, which is something you definitely can not do with a side by side.
The enclosed cab with heat and AC make it very enticing to me as a work horse, and I plan to set mine up for mowing and plowing snow.
You think the a/c would actually work after all these years?? I thought most of those kei trucks were cheap work horses that didnt come with a/c anyways.
Also some of these kei trucks have dump beds. Very handy, but of course Im sure the price is a premium for one so equipped
Wonder when insurers are gonna get behind this and refuse to insure vehicles with VIN# shorter than 17 digits? My 68 Dodge has 13.
Why would they? Insurers are clearly OK with those cars knowing better than you how safe or unsafe they are. Denying you insurance only denys themselves your premium.
For some reason lots of people seem to think that insurers are hell bent on having as few customers as possible. Can’t figure it out. Same logic applied to the self-driving car boosters who argued that insurers would “refuse to insure” human-driven cars once safer ones were available, forgetting that the risk of a given car/driver pairing is already priced into the insurance you pay.
Typical government regulator: We don’t know what that is, but we want to ban it!
FYI Massachusetts is #5 on Forbes list of states with net out migration.
Time for the AAMVA to be exposed.
That’s largely due to very high housing costs, definitely not the recent capitulation to special interests in denying “kei” car registrations (though dealing with the RMV in general is certainly something to make one think of moving to NH, but then southern NH is getting to be northern MA without as many benefits and with higher property taxes, particularly if you’re anywhere scenic as there’s an unofficial view tax. No income tax, but there are a lot more jobs in MA, so you’re likely to be working there and still paying it.).
Agreed. I moved from Illinois to the South, and there were definitely multiple reasons to leave. Overall it’s much nicer down here.
From throwing tea to banning keis: Massachusetts, you used to be cool.
Massachusetts was founded by Puritans We were never cool.
Fair
“But the adminstrative state and government agencies can’t make laws!”
Exactly, the Supreme Court just said so!
The absolute fury of my many (largely liberal/progressive leaning, living in Massachusetts but not car people) friends who insist up and down that federal and state agencies aren’t lawmakers and aren’t regularly making rules up on the fly and enforcing them would say otherwise.
Oh, yeah, they’re not gun people either. How can you tell? Because the decision to ban bump stocks by the ATF was also a unilateral agency decision but they thought it was a law.
This seems like a point you’re trying to make pertaining to something outside this article as this isn’t really a law, it’s an administrative thing and the RMV is kind of free to do WTF they want. Like, I could have my license revoked, have a judge reinstate it, and the RMV can just go, “nope”. AFAIK, there is no legal reason they have to allow these vehicles even if the reasons for refusal appear to be arbitrary.
You made my point for me, thanks!
(though I forgot the /s in the OP)
Government agencies have “policies” which then become directives that everyone has to follow, because it’s a “policy”. I retired at the first possible moment from a good gubmint position in part because the policies were getting too ridiculous.
Another way to look at the absurdity of the “safety” issue for some states: Texas, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Maine do not require motorcycle helmets for people over 21, but don’t allow Kei cars.
Texas also just removed the state vehicle safety inspection requirements for anyone outside its 6 most populous counties. They’re still gonna collect the inspection fee though. They get their money, the rest of us get to be less safe because of the shitboxes on the road.
Add that to the rebuttal.
States like PA rescinded existing helmet laws after lobbying by motorcyclists.
Those motorcyclists value their own lives to the same degree as gun owners, who are statistically more likely to kill themselves or a family member than anyone else.
But if they have that gun they could just maybe take out an armed gang of sex starved toothless meth head psycho thieves busting in through the windows in the wee hours of the morning and that’s what REALLY matters.
I don’t know what the rules are, but in Maine I have seen many side-by-sides blowing down Main Street past the cops, who wave to the drivers.
I lived in Michigan, compared to CT where I grew up, it seemed people could register almost anything for road use there. Safety was not a priority of any sort. This “safety” concern is a total farce. Follow the money…
Even with a helmet on, a motorcycle is orders of magnitude less safe than any kei car
From wind and rain if from anything.
Step 1 is submitting a public records request (whatever MA calls FOIA) for all communications between government officials and the AAMVA. If they refuse or drag their feet, see you in court. It’s important to make a big, public deal about this
They would have an aneurism about my Isetta, BMW 700 or Willys M38.
None of this makes any sense. So many totally legal vehicles have non standard vins from all over the world, not to mention US manufacturers. Lots of cars also predate the FMVSS so that excuse doesn’t hold water.
This whole thing is just a massive waste of everyone’s time.
This is a call to arms. The AAMVA is our enemy, and must be eradicated.
Don’t forget their cohorts the NPDA (National Powersports Dealer Association) and the SVIA (Specialty Vehicle Institute of America “non-profit”).
Well in that case call for a ban on those too. Lets see how fast the AAMVA backpedals when the same arguments are used to demand a ban on those products.
I’m assuming Canada Post’s pretty official use of JDM imports as fleet cars means our imports aren’t going anywhere.
https://www.classic-jdm.com/threads/canada-post-rhd-honda-crv.176/
I think the USPS has been using JDM models itself, often Subarus.
But Canada is its own beast, with pretty different rules, so I can’t imagine this being applicable.
You may be referring to rural postal carriers who are required to furnish their own vehicles, so RHD imports are popular. I’d bet damn near anything that there aren’t any RHD JDM vehicles officially in the USPS fleet.
That’s correct. A few manufacturers have made new US-spec RHD vehicles available here and there specifically to sell to rural mail carriers, but the economics of the situation means that a used 25+ year old JDM import is often a better financial move for them, and several JDM importers have been specifically targeting sales to rural carriers.
You can still special order a Jeep Wrangler in RHD, in the past, I believe the XK Cherokee was available that way, as were the Saturn S-Series and Ford Taurus.
A new rhd wrangler is around the 50k mark now, way out of the range of any carriers except table 1, 15+ year veterans. I use a rhd xj. They also made liberties, Saturn’s, and at least one prototype f150 in rhd. My small route could easily be served with a kei van saving a ton of carbon emissions over my 14 mpg jeep, but kansas says I can’t do that because foreign built vehicles are the devil. (Fun fact, the county I live in has never voted blue for president, ever.)
But apparently we can drive the shit out of side-by-sides on the roads here in Kansas. I haven’t been here long enough to figure out the law on these (not that I care, I don’t own one), but wow they are everywhere out here in the sticks. And I get it, low population density, and I’ve been surprised by the sheer number of gravel roads out here, West Virginia paved almost every road up the hollers (I lived there for almost a quarter century, hell I lived on top of an actual mountain and my road was paved) what’s up with Kansas, high taxes and gravel roads galore.
And yes, a Kei van would be great for a rural postal route.
Yes! I’m dodging sxs that cost more than my first house all day, but god forbid I drive a small Japanese car. And yes, the roads are absolute crap. I wish we could share pix, I took one of a large washout I sent my postmaster today because I complained about it last week and it’s still there, but roads in front of wealthy farmers have been bladed by the county twice this week!
I drive a lot for work, and part of that is driving to peoples’ homes, some of whom live out these crap gravel roads. I am seriosuly considering trading in my Mazda 3 for a truck or Jeep Wrangler, not that I want a truck or Jeep as a daily with the much worse gas mileage but man these back roads beat the hell out of my Mazda and it hurts my soul to do that to her lol.
These roads will destroy anything without straight axles. Another carrier in our office stubbornly uses f150s and sits in the middle. She has gone through 3 while I’m still on one xj, currently up to 413k miles.
Hi, ex rural mail carrier, bought a 2003 jeep wrangler rhd 2 door hardtop new, was the ‘export’ model you could special order from the jeep dealer for use in the USA. Other rural carriers bought the Subaru rhd loyale wagons which were built at the Indiana Subaru factory, circumventing being classified as an import from Japan.
As others have mentioned Saturn did a rhd wagon that was pretty good.
It was fun having people come up and ask where I got my wrangler modified’ at, explaining it was all factory done.
Subaru used to sell RHD Outbacks as well.
Not Outbacks, just Legacy wagons
For the longest time the mail vehicle in my (now, a lot less) rural Texas town was an imported RHD Toyota Hilux Surf. The SUV version of the Hilux. It’s still around in my neighborhood, still has the USPS cling on the back window, but unfortunately is slowly sinking into the ground next to someone’s house and hasn’t moved in years. Now we have an “official” USPS Mercedes mail van, one of those Metris things where they replaced the Mercedes logo on the grill with the USPS Eagle logo so people wouldn’t whine about the mail carriers being “pampered” in a “luxury” vehicle that dares to have air conditioning.
Haven’t certain provinces of Canada made registration of JDM imports quite difficult?
Not that I’ve heard of, but possible?
Not from my understanding?
Maybe the Montana LLC registration folks can add Kei registrations to their business plans.
People do. Unfortunately, that doesn’t actually solve the issue. That just means that less people resist the state banning stuff. Until Montana decides to follow suit.
Kalifornia willnticket and fine you if they notice (I.e. plate readers in widespread use) an out of state plate showing up for more than 10 days. If you are living in the state, the law requires that you register your vehicles in the state. Of course, I believe that they taught the AAMVA how to discriminate against anything that doesn’t meet the much tougher emissions laws of the state (thx CARB).
I’d wager it is illegal in every state. States want their registration money and taxes paid by the residents using the roads.
Yup. It would not be at all surprising.
Montana already started cracking down on this.
You’ll know you need to ban it if you feel a twinge of xenophobia when you read the manufacturer and model name.
I hate how this exact issue has been brought up and addressed by other states but instead each state goes it’s own way. NC has a solution! Nope, we’re gonna punt and ban all those Isuzu and Kawasaki and Suzukis and anything else that sounds Japanese! Even Hyundais!
After the 4th of July holiday, we’re reminded of the freedom of choice we enjoy as citizens of the USA…as long as that choice is to shut up and give Big SxS your money.
So please remind us, exactly who is funding AAMVA?
Not People who have any interest in selling you a brand new car nope not at all
Specifics would help. Especially contact information.
I went to their site to look for the info on members and they have a searchable database…for members only. The financials list 49 contributors putting in 5k or more…without info on those contributors. And I don’t think those contributions include the paid memberships (I don’t see a membership type that would cost that much).
As for memberships, they suggest law enforcement agencies, businesses, government entities, and non-profits buy memberships at various rates. It looks like a whole racket.
It’s time for the Autopian to buy a seat on the board.
Give me the winning Powerball numbers and I vow to destroy them from within.
Most of their rank-and-file membership would be state level DOT and DMV employees in managerial roles, the funding comes in part from their dues and fees, but obviously there’s got to be bigger money behind this as well, eg powersports manufacturers and dealers
I’m just relaying what their financials say. I suspect that there are a lot of dealers paying the business membership, perhaps once for each employee. I also assume there are a fair number of donations below the 5k reporting threshold that come from them, split up across their employees to allow them to donate a lot without it making it onto the financial statements.
Probably not a brand new car – they accomplished that when the 25 year rule was implemented.
However, the people who want to sell you a new side-by-side are not fans of kei trucks specifically. Lots of people who want a little farm runabout inevitably notice that an old Honda Acty is going to be a hell of a lot compelling and useful than a John Deere Gator.
True that but I feel like this really could lead to something extreme where they start saying cars made before X year or that are X amount of years old are not allowed on the road anymore.
The problem with that is there are some very wealthy people that own and collect classic cars. And those people have politicians’ personal cell numbers in their phones. These are not the people the DMV wants to piss off.
If it is a farm runabout though, who cares if you can register it? Just don’t drive it on the street. Or some states still have “Farm Use” exemptions.
It nabs someone like me, who’d like a Acty for going down to the lumber yard or landscaping nursery instead of buying a Silverado with rust holes and 200k miles for the same money.
I’m not the power sports industry, just saying why they hate a kei truck. They view them as competition for their product, so they want to get rid of them, and will do what they can to discourage imports. Never mind that a lot of kei vehicles aren’t trucks, and aren’t really competition anyway.
But being able to register a kei truck and drive it on public roads is a huge advantage over a side-by-side. They’re also cheaper.
Definitely the NPDA (National Powersports Dealer Association) in collaboration with the SVIA (Specialty Vehicle Institute of America “non-profit”).
Yeah but if anyone were to write them a complaint it’s gonna take more than an educated guess.
So I can legally drive a Model A on the expressway but not a car designed with actual seat belts and proper brakes. That makes all the sense in the world.
Government that protects your freedoms by taking them away.
Yeah this isn’t about safety at all. My conspiracy is that this is about keeping cheaper cars off the road.
Then they’ll have to ban used LEAFS too.
Don’t give them ideas
With the 18 miles that David’s goes on a good day, those are banning themselves.
Most I see claim at least 40 miles. That’s enough to get to work or run weekend errands for a lot of folks.
Kinda ironic given that very same government isn’t taking away your expressway lovin’ Model A or motorcycle though.
Not to mention the ability to attain modern highway speeds instead of moving slightly faster than a farm tractor.
I’m not O-Kei with this
This has imported some sour feelings for me
I loved that previous headline!
“Bunch of MASSHOLES!”
https://www.theautopian.com/massachusetts-is-banning-cars-from-japan-without-telling-enthusiasts-why/
I also just have to say that these DMV fools have no idea what the hell they are doing, can’t even identify vehicles right, and make up whatever bullshit laws they want…all of this should have never happened in any state, it should be repealed and they should be sued into oblivion…I say take it to the Supreme Court “Give me Kei cars or give me death!”
Also, “FREEDOM!!!” -Braveheart
P.S. Fuck the AAMVA! They should cease to fucking exist