Maybe if the manufacturers would make good, affordable small trucks, this wouldn't be an issue.
this post was submitted on 20 May 2024
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I wrote a related reply about lack of small trucks in the US last night on The Autopian.
The large pickup/SUV was not exactly chosen by the people. The 1964 Chicken Tax has limited people’s choices and remains in order to give US domestic automakers an advantage over imported competitors. Combined with CAFE rules (Corporate Average Fuel Economy) of the ’70s small trucks were effectively wiped from the US market.
Why would a US automaker produce a small truck when they could produce a larger truck with more profit?
That's a terrible reason to ban something
Illegally smol cars
The things is they aren't even that small. I visited my friend in Japan on a ski trip and he owns one of these trucks. It fit the two of us in the front seats extremely comfortably, and we put my ski bag and all my gear in the bed with tons of room to spare. It was way more comfortable than traveling with the same gear in a sedan would have been. It feels like we only have a problem with it in America because our roads and our vehicles are so goddamn gigantic.
I think the real issue is the lack of safety features our vehicles are required to have. I want a kei truck so damn bad.
That can be said about almost all classic cars. Like the article pointed out, you can still register and drive a Ford Model T in the state.
That is because those classic models are grandfathered in. Cars without safety features already were registered and existed when the laws were created, and it was easier for the DOT to just allow all vehicles manufactured prior to the law requiring safety equipment to remain the way they were and be allowed on the street.
I believe the issue with these is a lack of crumple zones, and therefore safety ratings. They probably don't have 85 mph highways in Japan.
The DMV had a problem because owners were exploiting a loophole to get these on the road even when they don't meet safety standards.
Are they banning imported cars in general or just k cars? People have been importing Nissan GTRs and other type of cars for years using that same loophole.
If that argument held any water they’d ban motorcycles too.
Exactly or I don't know maybe they'd just try to ban all the 30+ year old cars and trucks that didn't have modern safety features I can't see how a 35 year old samba is more dangerous than a 35 year old s10.
Yea their whole argument is baseless. They’re essentially saying that they have pedestrian safety figured out and not the countries that have the most walkable cities? Wild.
That is a woefully incorrect correlation.
For example, not that it was mentioned in the article, but lots of research and regulation go into hood design to minimize pedestrian injury in an unfortunate collision or reduce additional risks such as being pulled under the hood or exposed sharp point. Except the sharp edges, neither apply for motorcycles, but which have their own, unique safety requirements. And there could be hundreds of other examples I'm unaware of. That's sort of why we have a government organization such as a DMV.
The DMV has zero bearing on vehicle safety. They’re only denying and trying to revoke legally issued registrations. So your makeshift argument is moot. You’re trying to say the registrable F150 is more pedestrian safe than a Daihatsu Hi-Jet……..which is definitely not the case. It’s quite the opposite.
Not to mention they’re making golf carts road legal which don’t even have seat belts or any other crash verified safety equipment.
These reports have been around for years.
I'm not saying a F150 is more or less safe than a Hi-Jet at all.
I'm thinking like a bureaucrat and saying: if it complies with regulations, it can be registered.
Results: ✅ F150 ❌ Kei truck
This isn’t really up for debate. It’s legal to import anything 25 years or older under Federal law. They don’t have to comply with regulations outside of maybe smog. And even then if you import anything 1974 and older you don’t even have to smog that in California.
I could maybe see an argument where they shouldn’t be allowed on roads above 70mph since most kei cars aren’t capable of that, and those that are run such high rpm’s it’s just not practical.
As far as I'm aware the US doesn't have any(or at least not many) pedestrian safety standards. That's actually the reason the Cybertruck isn't sold in Europe, it didn't meet Euro pedestrian standards. I mean just look at the fucking thing, it's all sharp edges and corners lol
Huh, that hood is a head scratcher. I think I have some homework tonight.
I also read that neither the NHTSA nor the IIHS rated the Cybertruck in crash tests, and that all testing was done in-house.