Colorado Is Secretly Banning Tiny Japanese Cars And Leaving Enthusiasts With Paperweights

Back in December, the state of Colorado proposed a full assault on oddball enthusiast vehicles. A new DMV rule would have banned not just adorable Kei cars from Japan, but golf carts and all vintage surplus military vehicles from classic Jeeps to Humvees. The proposed ban was a total one, too. If passed, the ban would have not only removed these vehicles from the road, but would have made them illegal to use off-road, too. Enthusiasts successfully beat the proposal, but the state is still trying to ban their cars in secret. Now, enthusiasts are fighting back.

Back in the summer of 2021, the state of Maine launched what is currently the worst car ban in America. The state passed a law to change the classification of what can be considered to be a road vehicle. As of that summer, the state of Maine now says that any vehicle not built to Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) will be barred from public roads. Practically overnight, all sorts of gray-market cars from Euro-spec BMW wagons to big 4×4 Mitsubishi vans were re-classified as off-road vehicles. Legally, anything without an FMVSS sticker cannot be registered for road use in Maine.

Maine passing this as a law has thus far prevented enthusiasts from overturning the ban. As I have reported in the past, Maine did this based on guidance issued by the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators (AAMVA). The organization is a non-governmental, non-profit lobbying organization composed of motor vehicle and law enforcement administrators and executives from all 50 states, Washington D.C., Canada, Mexico, and the Virgin Islands. Its core goal is to motivate the states to standardize driving laws across America.

AAMVA does not have the power to create policy, but the people who run it do. The organization first recommended the banning of mini-trucks speed-limited to 25 mph back in 2011, based partly on crash testing conducted by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. Somewhere along the way, AAMVA decided to attack all gray-market imported cars. Many of those vehicles were Kei vehicles, which are just as small as off-road-only mini trucks, but built for road use. In 2021, AAMVA decided to come down on anything not built to FMVSS specs, but specifically targeted Keis.

Maine’s Director of Vehicle Services co-authored the 2021 guidance that has led to bans stretching the Eastern Seaboard. In the time since Maine announced its ban, Rhode Island, New York, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Massachusetts, Texas, Virginia, and Michigan have each imposed their own restrictions on vehicles imported for road use. However, most of these states only made DMV policy changes that reinterpreted existing laws and targeted only cars in Japan’s smallest class of road-legal cars, the Keis.

Update: According to a Maine reader, while Maine has a ban on its books, apparently the state is quite terrible at enforcing it, which is great. This mirrors what happened in Rhode Island when the state initially banned a bunch of cars and then sort of forgot to keep enforcing its ban.

Since 2021, enthusiasts have successfully overturned bans in Texas, Massachusetts, and Michigan. All three of those wins came in 2024 and suggested that car enthusiasts turning the tides against AAMVA. Then Colorado tried to end the year with a total Kei ban.

Colorado’s Hard Ban

If you’re interested in reading all of the legalese, click here to read my previous coverage. But what you need to know is that Colorado’s proposal was frightening in its scope. Here’s what it said about Kei vehicles:

The Department will not title or register Kei vehicles or mini trucks for on- or off- highway use.

Based on my research, Colorado officially banned historic military vehicles from on-road and OHV use in 2019, but hadn’t fully gotten around to implementing the legislation. In December, the state wanted to make sure that was all tidied up:

The Department will not title or register Military Vehicles built for Foreign Armed Forces or Historical Military Vehicles for on- or off-highway use.

Curiously, Colorado felt the need to clarify for a second time that an old military vehicle cannot be used as an OHV:

Historical Military Vehicles do not qualify as Off-Highway Vehicles, pursuant to 42-6-102(11.5)(b)(I)(C), C.R.S.

However the state did acknowledge that emergency services might operate surplus military vehicles, so Colorado carved out an exception for them. Before the state was finished, it also took a swipe at kit cars:

In order to be titled and registered for on-highway use, a Kit Vehicle must also meet the definition of Motor Vehicle in section 42-6-102 C.R.S.; which means they must be designed primarily for travel on the public highway and are generally and commonly used to transport persons and property over the public highways in the United States.

Then it considered that there might be other weird vehicles that might slip through the cracks of the ban, so it wanted to figure that out, too:

The Unconventional Vehicles Working Group (UVWG) will review Unconventional Vehicles for eligibility for on- and off-highway titles and registration, pursuant to Article 6 of Title 42.

While Colorado wasn’t changing any laws like Maine did, if enacted, it somehow found a harsher way to implement its ban. Maine at least lets you drive your Subaru Sambar off-road. Colorado is essentially saying, “Too bad, you now own a paperweight.”

Thankfully, enthusiasts in Colorado banded together and used the winning strategies pioneered by enthusiasts in Texas, Massachusetts, and Michigan. They educated their lawmakers and successfully convinced the Colorado DMV to reverse its course. The state officially canceled the changes to its policy, technically allowing the registration of these vehicles. But it’s not over yet; according to a recent report by Colorado Public Radio (CPR), the state hasn’t stopped trying to do its ban. Instead, it’s just doing it quietly.

Colorado Won’t Leave The Keis Alone

According to CPR, enthusiasts are still reporting that they’re not being allowed to register or emissions test their vehicles. The effect of this is that the state is running out the clock on the registrations of Kei vehicles. This makes the cars illegal to drive since the owners cannot renew their registrations without a valid emissions test. The state also refuses to give these vehicles OHV registration, so they’re effectively banned from roads – again, car-sized paperweights.

CPR spoke with one Colorado JDM owner, Ryan Albarelli, who told a frustrating story about being able to register a 1990 Honda Acty, but the state subsequently refused to emissions test it. Other folks online report similar stories.

Sadly, this strategy of a quiet ban isn’t anything new with Colorado. Enthusiasts in some counties haven’t been able to register Kei vehicles for a long time. Others who did get registrations haven’t been able to emissions test their vehicles, which meant they eventually became illegal to drive even if registered. Enthusiasts have been calling this a “shadow ban” since the state doesn’t have anything official noting the ban.

This huge headache is actually the very reason I got a 2005 Smart Fortwo (above) entirely for free in 2017. The 2005 Smart Fortwo is technically one of the cars exempt from the infamous “25-Year-Rule” because some importers went through the work to federalize the first-generation Smart Fortwo. However, some first-generation Smart owners have issues with emissions tests in their state. The previous owner of my car got fed up with Colorado’s system and just gave the car away.

The problem, CPR notes, is that all of these vehicles are neither explicitly illegal nor legal in Colorado. Instead, they sit in a sort of legal limbo where individual DMV offices are making the decision whether to register a car or not.

In an effort to solve this once and for all, HB25-1281 Title Register & Drive Kei Vehicles was introduced into the Colorado house on February 20. The prime sponsors of the bill are Rep. William Lindstedt – D, Rep. Larry Don Suckla – R, Sen. Nick Hinrichsen – D, and Sen. Byron Pelton – R. This bill, which has passed HOU Transportation, Housing & Local Government committee, is one of those rare glorious moments of bipartisanship.

You can click here to read the bill in full if you want, but the legislators have provided a handy summary:

Kei vehicles are small, imported cars that are at least 25 years old and have a top speed of approximately 55 miles per hour (mph). Starting July 1, 2027, the bill adds kei vehicles to the definition of a motor vehicle, requiring them to be registered, titled, and to follow traffic laws. They must undergo emissions testing, but cannot be tested using a dynamometer; instead, they must pass a two-speed idle test based on the emissions standards of their manufacturing year. The bill also prevents the Department of Revenue (DOR) and the Colorado State Patrol (CSP) from requiring additional inspections solely because a vehicle is a kei vehicle or from deeming them not roadworthy based on design alone.

The bill prohibits kei vehicles from operating on roads with speed limits above 55 mph or on limited-access highways. The bill creates a new class B traffic infraction of driving a kei vehicle on a road with speed limits above 55 mph or on a limited-access highway.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) ensures that vehicles meet minimum federal safety and equipment standards. Under federal law, any vehicle designed to exceed 20 mph is classified as a motor vehicle. However, NHTSA does not currently certify kei vehicles for road use because they do not meet these federal safety and equipment requirements.

The Imported Vehicle Safety Compliance Act of 1988 allows vehicles over 25 years old to be imported even if they do not meet NHTSA’s safety standards. These vehicles are classified as “classic” and are exempt from the federal safety regulations that apply to newer imported vehicles. Imported kei vehicles that are over 21 years old and have their original engines are also exempt from current federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) motor vehicle emissions standards under the Clean Air Act.

These definitions seem more than fair to me. If passed, this would create a law that would treat Keis mostly similar to regular cars. They just wouldn’t be able to access an Interstate or similar. That’s pretty much how 125cc motorcycles are treated in most jurisdictions.

The bill would also create a new class B traffic infraction for driving a Kei vehicle on a road faster than 55 mph. Proponents of the bill say that allowing Kei vehicles to use the road would add $25,000 to the state coffers in tax revenue in 2027 and another $68,000 in 2028, so officially legalizing Keis would be a good thing for the state’s budget. Proponents also say that the funds from allowing Keis can be used to fix roads. Likewise, the ticket revenue from catching Keis on Interstates can also be used to pad the budget as well.

Proponents of the bill do note that legalizing Keis will cost the state a one-time expenditure of $101,000. These costs will largely be incurred when reprogramming the state’s DMV and Department of Revenue computer systems to explicitly allow Keis. Other costs will be incurred because the DOR will want to issue every Kei vehicle a new 17-digit VIN so that the computers won’t freak out.

Sadly, this effort does not appear to change the uncertainty about classic military vehicles. Officially, the state says if you have a vintage Jeep you’re not supposed to be able to register it. If you happen to have an old military vehicle with plates, the state is instructing its offices not to renew those plates. That being said, it does appear that the harsher restrictions on kit cars would not be going forward.

This is an issue that the state has attempted to solve in the past. In 2015 and 2016, bills were filed that, if passed, would have codified Kei vehicles into law. However, both bills failed. CPR reports that the Colorado Automobile Dealers Association and the Colorado State Patrol strongly opposed both bills. From CPR:

Both groups declined to comment on the coming bill from Hinrichsen. But Tim Jackson, former president and CEO of the Colorado Automobile Dealers Association, said the arguments against legalizing kei vehicles at the state level boil down to two issues: pollution and safety.

“It does set up a two-tier system on both emissions and safety, and I think it contradicts everything that Colorado as a state has been trying to do,” Jackson said, referencing Colorado’s various efforts to improve road safety and clean up the state’s dirty air. Older kei trucks, including Albarelli’s Honda, lack modern systems like fuel injection that lower emissions.

Yep, in this case, it wasn’t the expected UTV lobby fighting Keis, but car dealerships and cops. The state’s official stance is that the proposed rules from December weren’t necessary in the first place, from CPR:

Asked why the DMV proposed and then pulled the rule explicitly banning kei trucks, spokeswoman Jennifer Giambi said in an email that the rule “aimed to clarify existing state laws regarding vehicle classifications to ensure consistency and better understanding.”

“Kei Vehicles have never been eligible for on-highway title and registration in Colorado,” Giambi wrote, adding that the rule was pulled because it “was already covered by existing statutes.”

If you took this at face value, it’s basically the state admitting it wasted everyone’s time back in December. It also doesn’t explain why the state doesn’t have a public-facing policy regarding Kei vehicles.

The CPR report pointed out something else interesting in all of this. AAMVA rarely returns media requests. The organization has never returned correspondence from The Autopian and it looks like AAMVA has done the same to CPR.

So all of this remains incredibly messy. But there are hopes about this latest bill. In addition to bipartisan support, the bill has gotten a thumbs up from Colorado Governor Jared Polis. According to CPR, Gov. Polis says he is “excited to expand consumer choice to affordable vehicles and looks forward to supporting kei freedom.” So it sounds like the bill just needs to get through the legislature to secure the rights of imported cars in Colorado.

If you want to support Colorado’s bid to legalize imports, you can send comments to the state DMV by clicking here. You can also contact Colorado representatives and voice your support for more vehicle choice. Kei enthusiast Ryan Albarelli, one of the people who helped kick the proposed rules to the curb in December, has also founded an advocacy group, the Colorado Kei Advocates. At this time, the organization exists only on paper, but Albarelli is considering taking it further.

For now, Colorado enthusiasts are trying to educate any lawmaker who will listen about why Keis should be legal. Hopefully, they are successful. This bill joins one filed in Texas and if one or both of these pass, they will signal that AAMVA has gone too far. That would be good for every lover of former forbidden fruit cars.