Illinois Wants To Ban Legally Imported Cars, Here’s How I Plan To Stop It

For the past several years, fans of cute little cars imported from Japan have been under threat. States across the nation have decided to ban their legally imported cars, effectively turning them into paperweights. Now, the wave of car bans has hit home as my state of Illinois is revoking the license plates of cars it previously registered. I live here and I’m not going to let the state do this without a fight. Here’s how I plan to save the imported cars in Illinois.

This news comes to us from David McChristian, the founder of Lone Star Kei. David led the charge that resulted in Texas being the first state to overturn an imported car ban since the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators recommended a nationwide Kei ban in 2021. Since then, David has been helping enthusiasts across America keep their Keis legal.

A few days ago, David sent me a message that has haunted me ever since. In it, he warned me that my home state of Illinois has seemingly decided to crack down on the registration of JDM vehicles. I’ve since confirmed that, unfortunately, this is very real and my home state has decided to join the ban-wagon. Illinois is also clamping down on Keis and others harder than some other states. JDM owners aren’t just having their license plates revoked, but their titles are also being branded as “Not Eligible For Registration,” which could cause more nightmares for those wanting to sell their cars.

I have not received a letter from Illinois yet, but there are now at least a few recorded instances of the state revoking registration over the past week. Understandably, enthusiasts in Illinois are concerned. I am, too. I currently own a 1989 Suzuki Every van and a 1991 Honda Beat. Plus, I have a 1997 Honda Life sitting at a Japanese port and ready to get onto a boat for America. I would love to be able to keep driving these vehicles with Illinois license plates.

However, it appears that my state has other ideas, and the terrifying thing is that the state had effectively “shadow-banned” JDM cars some time ago, and few people noticed until now.

Illinois Revokes JDM Registrations

Let’s start by discussing the legality of mini-trucks and Kei trucks as they were until recently.

A Kei truck like the one above is a small truck within Japan’s smallest class of road-legal vehicle, the kei-jidōsha. Japan imposes strict limits on the size and performance of Keis. A modern Kei will often have a top speed of about 83 mph, while vintage Kei vehicles may not even be able to surpass 70 mph. However, these were designed as road vehicles, just tiny ones.

The “mini-truck,” as American authorities identify them, is different. A mini-truck may have the body of a Kei vehicle, but it is modified. A mini-truck is limited to speeds no faster than 25 mph and is imported specifically for off-road use. Mini-trucks like the one below are popular on farms and are used as off-road toys.

Back in the 2000s, Americans began importing enough mini-trucks that states didn’t really know how to handle them. Many states reacted by passing laws or policies to ban these mini-trucks from the road. Illinois was one of them. On December 31, 2009, then Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White issued a memo:

Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White is reminding owners of low speed vehicles that a new law effective January 1, 2010 will require such vehicles, if they are to be driven on the road, to be titled and registered with the Secretary of State’s office.

Uniquely designed low speed vehicle license plates will contain the suffix LS on the plates. The cost to title a low speed vehicle is $30.00. The registration cost is $19. Public Act 96-653 permits low speed vehicles to be driven on roads with posted speed limits of 30 miles per hour or less. Prior to this law, municipalities were required to enact a local ordinance allowing such low speed vehicles to travel on their local roads. The new law does allow municipalities to enact a local ordinance prohibiting low speed vehicles on their roads.

In order to be considered road worthy, low-speed vehicles must be certified by the U.S. Department of Transportation. USDOT defines a low speed vehicle as: “Any 4-wheeled motor vehicle or a self-propelled gasoline powered 4-wheeled motor vehicle with an engine displacement under 1200cc which is capable of more than 20 miles per hour but not more than 25 miles per hour and which conforms to federal regulations under title 49 Code of Federal Regulations part 571.500.”

While this law did legalize the use of a low-speed vehicle on some streets in Illinois, it had the impact of banning 25 mph speed-limited mini-trucks. Under federal law, a mini-truck that is younger than 25 years old can be imported for off-road use only. When done so, the mini-truck doesn’t need to comply with federal safety regulations. The “catch-22” here is that if you have a mini-truck that doesn’t have any DOT-compliant equipment, then it cannot be classified as a low-speed vehicle in Illinois.

However, there has long been a solution to this. If you import a Kei truck that’s over 25 years old, then you don’t have to worry about complying with federal regulations. But, even better, a Kei truck is not limited in speed, rides on regular street tires, and can be used just like a normal car, provided you’re okay with getting to places slowly.

For years, Illinois has largely treated Kei cars, vans, and trucks like any other car, issuing regular, unrestricted license plates to these vehicles. I’ve been able to register Kei cars like a normal car, as have a few of my friends. But even then, I say “largely” because Illinois hasn’t been clear on its stance about Kei vehicles.

Some people have reported registering their vehicles and getting license plates, but also getting a title marked as “Not Eligible For Registration.” Weirdly, some of these people are able to continue renewing their registration stickers as normal, but they were otherwise stuck with a title that branded their vehicles as off-road-only. This is similar to how other states like Pennsylvania have handled Kei trucks. But this isn’t universal. Some folks get regular titles.

At any rate, it appears that Illinois might be ramping up efforts to remove Kei vehicles from its roads. Last year, someone on Reddit reported having their license plates revoked. Now, as of about a week ago, more reports are flooding in. One of those people is Johnathan, and he published the letter he received from the state of Illinois:

In the letter, the state fully acknowledges that an imported vehicle that’s over 25 years old is legal to import into the country without restriction. However, the state follows it up by saying it controls whether you can drive your imported vehicle on a public road. Unfortunately, this is true. Federal law only determines that the vehicle can be legally in the country, not where you can drive it.

Surprisingly, the subject vehicle in that letter is not a Kei vehicle, but a 1998 Toyota Crown. Illinois appears to be targeting Keis, but other cars are getting caught up in this.

At any rate, Illinois has deemed JDM vehicles unworthy of driving on public roads of any kind, so it’s sending out these letters. But worse than that, Illinois is also sending out corrected titles with off-road-only brands on them and then commanding the owners of those vehicles to surrender their license plates.

Several Illinois Kei owners are just like me, and they live either in a city or in the suburbs. We live hours away from any off-road park. By doing this, Illinois is just giving us pretty paperweights. The title brand could also complicate selling our vehicles to people living in more Kei-friendly states.

No Official Statements

All of this is enough to bring a person to tears, but there’s still more bad news. Many of the states that have banned Keis thus far have published some sort of official statement or something along those lines. Illinois has not. If you crawl through the Illinois Secretary of State website (our equivalent of the DMV) you will find no mention of mini-trucks or Kei trucks, yet the state clearly doesn’t approve of these vehicles.

Likewise, you will not find any mention of mini-trucks or Keis in the Illinois Compiled Statutes. After hours of digging, the best I’ve been able to come up with is 625 ILCS 5/3-401(c-1)(1), which states:

(c-1) A vehicle may not be registered by the Secretary of State unless that vehicle:
(1) was originally manufactured for operation on highways;
(2) is a modification of a vehicle that was originally manufactured for operation on highways; or
(3) was assembled from component parts designed for use in vehicles to be operated on highways.

If you go through the Illinois Vehicle Code (you can click here if you want to read it), you’ll note that Illinois says that the equipment installed in a road-going vehicle has to comply with Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards. States have argued that since Kei vehicles were not originally designed to comply with FMVSS, they were not manufactured for operation on public highways.

However, as I said before, Illinois has not given anyone any firm interpretation. Instead, enthusiasts may find that they successfully register their cars and then, some indeterminate amount of time later, the state sends them a branded title and demands the surrender of license plates.

I have reached out to the Illinois Secretary of State for any sort of statement. At first, I was put on hold, and then I was told I would get a call back. As of publishing, this has not happened. I reached out a second time, and as of publishing, my contact has not been returned.

Why This Is Happening

Now it’s time for my least favorite part about these articles. These bans did not come out of nowhere. Instead, they were the recommendation of the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators, or AAMVA. If you’ve read my previous coverage, please skip ahead. If you’re new here, click here to read my previous stories. Otherwise, here’s a short version:

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.

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 that have spread across the nation. In the time since summer 2021, Rhode Island, New York, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Massachusetts, Texas, and Michigan have each imposed their own restrictions on imported vehicles. Colorado has also banned Keis, but is doing so quietly, sort of how Illinois is doing right now.

Most of these states have made DMV policy changes that reinterpreted existing laws, and these policies can be implemented quickly. Confusingly, most of these states have targeted only Kei cars from Japan. Technically, you can buy a Suzuki Jimny from Europe, and most of these states wouldn’t care. But the same vehicle from Japan would be a problem.

Even more confusing is that enforcement of these bans has been shoddy at best. In 2021, Rhode Island and Maine banned a bunch of cars, then, as some readers have pointed out to me, both states have sort of just forgotten about their bans. Rhode Island suddenly reignited its Kei ban enforcement last year, while I’ve been told that you can still find all sorts of imports driving around Maine.

This is infuriating because it means registering your import in any of these states is a dice roll. Either it’ll go through just fine, or you’ll find yourself with a cool car that can’t be driven on a road.

It’s Time To Fight Back

Sadly, all of this means that enthusiasts are sort of just out of luck right now. As it currently stands, I likely cannot register my 1997 Honda Life in Illinois when it arrives. Some enthusiasts have gotten around bans by registering their vehicles in friendlier states, but this is not a good long-term solution.

Several enthusiasts have already reached out to me. One of them is Robert, who says he submitted a request for a formal hearing regarding the legality of Keis. He hopes to walk into the hearing and to be able to educate the state on why Keis should be legal and to illustrate how many people the state would be hurting if it continues to revoke registrations.

Other Illinois Kei owners, including myself, have even bigger plans. Through all of these struggles, enthusiasts have learned that their states don’t really know the difference between a mini-truck and a Kei truck, though the AAMVA’s handbooks and recommendations certainly have not helped.

The folks of Lone Star Kei have proven that grassroots organizing can work. The enthusiast-run organization contacted at least 180 Texas state representatives and officials and educated them on what Kei vehicles are and why they should be legal. I’m thinking that all of us here in Illinois should do the same. I will be collaborating with our Texas friends on the next steps here, but it looks like I’m going to be spending the indefinite future trying to cozy up to any politician I can, even if I did not vote for them.

Some may wonder why I am not choosing to sue the state. After all, I am married to an attorney with lots of experience suing the state. Since Illinois was very late to the ban cars party, we have some idea of what does and doesn’t work. Enthusiasts in Georgia went in kicking down doors with a lawsuit, and the state has thus far not shown them any mercy. Yet, enthusiasts in North Carolina, Texas, and Massachusetts were able to get bans reversed without lawsuits. Enthusiasts in Michigan did file a suit, but it was a companion to the same kind of educational work inspired by the Texas effort.

So, for now, I want a lawsuit to be closer to our last resort rather than the default option. States do not like being sued, and you cannot predict how the state would react to litigation. Some states may just dig in their heels and force you into a courtroom war. If you’re as unlucky as the enthusiasts in Georgia, you end up burning through cash, and you still get stuck.

If you’re in Illinois and want to help your fellow enthusiasts win this fight, join the Illinois Kei TRUCK/VAN/CAR Facebook group, where we will be discussing our plans. I may also be starting a nonprofit organization called Prairie State Kei. But for now, it seems all of us are just trying to get a plan together. Either way, all of us are determined not to let Illinois just ban our vehicles, at least not without a huge fight.