Michigan has recently joined a growing list of states with a weird obsession for banning tiny vehicles imported from Japan. Maine, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Georgia have each passed laws or enacted policies that limit or ban the use of over 25-year-old legally imported cars in their states. Michigan is following the lead set by Massachusetts as it is now banning vehicles that aren’t Kei trucks like the Suzuki Jimny and larger vehicles like the Mitsubishi Delica. The reason is just as nonsensical as the Massachusetts ban as Michigan is simply showing that it doesn’t even know what a “mini truck” is.
This news comes to us from import vehicle activist Dan McMahon. He’s been putting in a lot of work organizing the enthusiast response in Massachusetts, but he’s also out there advocating for the reversal of bans and restrictions in all states.
The State of Maine was the first to implement then-new recommendations from the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators in June 2021. Maine Director of Vehicle Services Nikki Bachelder authored part of the now-infamous Regulation of Off-Road Vehicles: Best Practices pamphlet, which instructs all AAMVA member states–and that’s all U.S. states, Mexico, Canada, Washington D.C. and the Virgin Islands–to ban any vehicle that was not originally built to Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards. The document also specifically calls out over 25-year-old mini trucks.
Maine went through the work of passing a law that automatically brands any vehicle not built to FMVSS as an off-road vehicle. Maine doesn’t allow off-road vehicles on the road, so it doesn’t matter if you have a Mercedes-Benz A-Class from Europe or a Toyota Century from Japan, Maine has deemed it unfit for road use.
Rhode Island was next but it was a little softer, choosing to ban just Kei vehicles of all types through DMV policy rather than the passage of a new law. Most states with some sort of imported vehicle restriction on their books have specifically targeted Kei trucks, basically to the letter of the AAMVA’s recommendation.
However, in recent times things have been getting confusing. Back in June, the state of Massachusetts began banning vehicles imported from Japan. The state says it’s just banning Kei trucks and Kei vans. However, its method of identifying a Kei truck is not through its size or classification, but the length of its VIN and through a pre-determined list of models the state thinks are Kei trucks.
The problem is that for starters, Japanese market vehicles do not have 17-digit VINs, but unique chassis identifiers. These chassis codes are shorter than the 17-digit VINs that America has been using since 1981. For example, my 1989 Suzuki Every has an 11-digit chassis identifier. Even a Japanese car from the 2000s isn’t going to have a 17-digit VIN, so Massachusetts is effectively banning all Japanese imports even if it’s saying it’s just targeting the Keis.
The other problem is that Massachusetts has no idea how to define a Kei. It’s not hard to find the regulation, either. Keis are the smallest class of road-legal cars in Japan. Kei vehicles cannot be longer than 11.17 feet, cannot be wider than 4.86 feet, taller than 6.56 feet, and cannot have an engine larger than 660cc. You’ll also find Keis making 63 HP or less.
Instead, Massachusetts says that Kei vehicles will have those shorter “VINs,” documents in Japanese, and will be older than 25 years old. Also, the state published a list of example Keis, which include vehicles that either don’t exist or are obviously larger than Kei size.
Michigan’s Pure Confusion
If you’re infuriated by the apparent ineptitude of the Massachusetts government, it would appear that the Bay State isn’t the only one that has no idea what a Kei truck is.
Back in June, reader Dogapult sent me a letter indicating that Michigan has started its own ban on Kei trucks. Unlike Maine, Michigan has not passed a law banning imports. Instead, like many other states, it’s reinterpreting existing laws to make a new DMV policy.
This summer, Michigan has been denying the registration of new Kei trucks while revoking the registrations of Kei trucks that were already titled. Enthusiasts in Michigan are finding themselves in the same situations as Kei owners in other states, basically left with expensive paperweights.
Michigan was citing one law in its documents: That law is MCL – Section 257.217i, Michigan Vehicle Code Act 300 of 1949:
257.217i Issuance of vehicle identification number and certificate of title for assembled vehicles; requirements; safety study; “assembled vehicle” defined.
Sec. 217i.(1) Notwithstanding any other provision of this act, the secretary of state shall, upon an applicant’s payment of the proper fees and submission of all documentation required by the secretary of state, issue a vehicle identification number in the same manner as provided in section 230 and a certificate of title to an assembled vehicle that satisfies all applicable requirements of this act, if the assembled vehicle contains all of the following equipment:
From my previous entry:
The law then goes through a long list of items a vehicle needs to be legal in Michigan. A lot of it makes sense like at least one headlight on each side of the vehicle, at least one taillight, a license plate light, a horn, seatbelts in model year 1965 and newer vehicles, and brakes. One thing that’s a bit odd is that Michigan requires road vehicles to have a differential gear, which seems oddly specific.
The part that we care about is right here, emphasis mine:
(5) As used in this section, “assembled vehicle” does not include either of the following:
(a) A military surplus vehicle designated by the federal government as off-road use only.
(b) A gray market off-road minitruck.
(c) An all-terrain vehicle that has 4 wheels and is equipped with a straddle seat.
Yes, you read that correctly. Michigan appeared to have been confusing road-legal unrestricted Kei trucks with the 25 mph speed-restricted off-road-only mini trucks that are imported for farm or utility use. Sadly, Kei truck owners didn’t even get a chance to fight as the state automatically canceled their titles.
Now, Michigan is technically expanding its ban and now the state is using different logic. Dan sent me two denial letters, one that banned a Honda Acty from the road and another that banned a Suzuki Jimny from the road.
There’s a third letter out there from the owner of a Mitsubishi Delica as well. You’ll note that a Suzuki Jimny is a Kei SUV, not a Kei truck and the Delica is a vehicle far larger than Kei size. That doesn’t matter to the state of Michigan.
This time around, Michigan claims that its ban is based on directions provided by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration regarding mini trucks. There are numerous public-facing documents from the NHTSA on this subject, and one of them was hosted on the AAMVA’s website for years. In it, the NHTSA does indeed indicate that mini trucks do not meet FMVSS and are not endorsed for road use. However, the NHTSA also says that it can’t stop you from importing a mini truck after it’s 25 years old.
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. Alright, so the Kei trucks in Michigan are over 25 years old, so why are they banned?
Michigan recognizes that these vehicles are legal on a federal level, but notes that it has the right to determine what vehicles can and cannot drive on its roads:
MDOS has been approached to title mini trucks as a vehicle that may be registered for road use based upon the fact that a mini truck is imported as a motor vehicle more than 25 years old and exempt from the requirements to meeting Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS). The 25 year or more distinction relates to the importation of the mini truck, and whether it is eligible to be imported under the exemption to meet FMVSS. Based on information available from NHTSA a mini-truck older than 25 years can be imported as either exempt from FMVSS or as an off-road vehicle not subject to FMVSS. For purposes of titling the vehicle in Michigan, the age of the vehicle does not change the determination that the vehicle should be titled as off-road use only.
Once again, there are a couple of problems here. It seems Michigan is not aware that 25 mph mini trucks and unrestricted Kei trucks aren’t the same thing. A Kei truck can safely do the speed limit of most roads, unlike a speed-limited mini truck (below).
For example, my 1989 Suzuki Every tops out at 70 mph and will cruise at 60 mph. That’s not good enough for an Interstate, but should be just fine on most non-Interstate roads in any given state. A Kei truck is more capable and arguably safer than something like a Ford Model T, and the state has no problem titling those.
Like Massachusetts, Michigan is acting as if it has no idea what a Kei truck is, in spite of having a list of actual Kei trucks that includes:
Suzuki Carry
Subaru Sambar
Honda Acty
Mazda Scrum
Daihatsu Hijet
But, it’s also revoking the registrations of vehicles that aren’t Kei trucks or are in an entirely different class of vehicle. As I said earlier, Michigan isn’t even giving enthusiasts a chance to explain. The state is just canceling their titles for road use and sending them titles for off-road use.
Enthusiasts Fight Back
Michigan’s enthusiasts have had enough.
Michigan enthusiast and attorney Kevin Burton intends to take on the state. In June, fellow enthusiast Alec Davies launched a GoFundMe campaign to fund at lawsuit. As of today, that lawsuit fund stands at $9,325 of its $10,000 goal and they expect to file the lawsuit this week.
As anyone who has gone through the headache of a lawsuit can tell you, suits don’t work in real life like they do on television. They can drag out for a year or more, drain you mentally and financially, and there’s no guarantee that you’ll win. As my wife and attorney Sheryl will tell you, the state effectively has unlimited resources whereas you do not. The state could just run out the clock until you run out of cash.
To give you an example of this, the Georgia JDM enthusiasts have been suing their state since last year, but the best they were able to get thus far was proposed legislation that would have treated Kei trucks like side-by-sides. As of writing, not even that has passed and the lawsuit is in a holding pattern.
Enthusiasts in Texas and North Carolina have been successful in overturning their Kei bans by educating and collaborating with their state officials. Massachusetts enthusiasts also succeeded in getting their state to review its policy, but we don’t know what will happen just yet. Hopefully, Michigan enthusiasts will be victorious in its lawsuit.
As always, you can get involved by joining advocacy groups on Facebook, calling up lawmakers, and maybe donating to funds if that’s your kind of jam. Hopefully, one day you can import a car and not have to worry about if it’s going to be randomly singled out by your state.
(Images: Manufacturers, unless otherwise noted.)
Time for Florida, Nevada or Montana plates
Incredible (ironic? that the state known for Motor City doesn’t know how to properly identify vehicle. Sad, just sad all of this ignorance and nonsense…
Cool – now pay everyone back all of the money the vehicle, importing the vehicle, and all the registration costs for the vehicles you took money for and then you’re good.
No? Feel free to fuck all the way off then.
For the lawyer side, I wonder if any of them reached out to the Institute for Justice? They are a non-profit that works to fight these kind of gov’t overreach cases where normal people can’t realistically afford to work through the courts. They’ve had good success even at the US Supreme Court level.
Auto enthusiast and writer/creator Steve Lehto does a lot of stories about them, usually in the context of civil asset forfeiture but they handle a wide range of cases.
Just move to Wisconsin, you’ll like it here!
As a resident Michigander, this sucks to see happening – but I am not surprised. The OEMs, maybe even some suppliers, loom large in Michigan, including in politics. While I really see little threat to their turf, nonetheless they don’t like anything and are rather paranoid something *might* cost them a sale.
Plot twist, two very large oems have a “competitive test fleet” they often drive around, which yeah include kei cars (or at least did as of 10 years ago). Ironic huh? We need to all figure out a way to have that magic “M” manufacturer plate which gives you a lot of leeway on reg here in MI.
What I find even more ironic is we have no state inspections, emissions or really much enforcement other than some cities getting mad about exhaust noise. Roll coal? Sure… Delete your catalytic converters, ok fine. Bro dozer it, whatever… Kei car! No way!!! Not that I want more inspection hassle, etc but seems like some call of some high level auto exec made a call to Benson or someone in the DMV who didn’t like the kei cars they saw on Woodward…
This isn’t about crash safety – it is about emissions. Old cars make up a huge portion of total vehicle emissions as they were made to older and less stringent emission standards and the emission controls become less effective over time. For example – looking at data from Colorado and Virginia the 16% of vehicles that are 13 years or older are responsible for 50% of total light duty NOx emissions.
In most cases the plan is to allow the population of old cars to slowing decline as they wear out and are scraped which slowing increases the cleanliness of the total fleet a decreases local air pollutions However, this breaks down if we are actively importing old gross polluting vehicles from other countries and allowing them to be registered and driven on public roads.
California is taking a more active role by paying people up to $12,000 to scrap their old car. In this case it makes absolutely no sense to pay on person to scrap an old car and then allow someone to import an old car to replace it.
As someone who cares about emissions, I still find it tough to make the case that a couple thousand enthusiast imports that are mostly driven a low number of miles makes much difference. This is an especially tough argument to make considering that many of these states such as Michigan don’t require emissions testing for ANY vehicle. If they care about emissions, there’s a whole lot of <25yo cars that you could bring into compliance without focusing on a very small number of 3 cylinder cars that actually run fairly clean.
Re: emissions, there’s the trucking industry, school buses, locomotives etc. Compared to all of that, the entirety of older-than-25-years cars is not even a rounding error when it comes to emissions.
Re: the safety angle, last I checked motorcycles are still legal, so anything with 4 wheels and metal all around is infinitely more safe than those.
The trucking industry has seen MASSIVE reductions in allowed emission over the last 25 years. Allowed NOx has dropped by 95% and allowed PM by 90%. In 2027 allowed NOx drops by another 75% and PM by 50%.
Locomotives also have steadily tightening emission standards,
That’s nice and all, but it doesn’t address what I said. Sure, they did implement some emission controls on the transportation industry, but considering they came from almosty none at all, they’re still an order of magnitude more timid than what we have for passenger vehicles (hint: regular people don’t have lobbying power to get laws written for them).
What I said was basically there’re a lot more trucks than kei cars, and any of those trucks is polluting more than 50 kei cars per mile, and they drive 1000x more miles than kei cars. And then you can start adding the school buses, trains etc.
That might make sense if they were banning all imported cars, but they are only targeting Japanese imports
See, that would make sense if we weren’t talking about 660cc cars that produce very little emissions.
Local emissions (HC, CO, NOx, PM) are not related to engine size or fuel economy. They are directly related to the design and maintenance of the emission systems on the vehicle.
If emissions are the concern – then why aren’t all cars from the 1960’s banned?
For that matter – why are gas lawn mowers and leaf blowers not banned too?
There is a difference between allowing people to keep driving their old vehicles that were purchased in the USA and met the standards of the time and importing more gross polluting vehicles into the state / country. That said – California has banned medium and heavy duty diesels manufactured before 2010 – so banning old vehicles can happen. In other parts of the world cities have bans on old cars. Is that what you are looking for?
Gas lawn mowers and leaf blowers have steadily tightening emission regulations and the federal level. At the state and city level some areas have banned ICE lawn equipment.
As part of the whole ‘fighting back’ thing, someone needs to investigate the AAMVA and their true motivations behind this… as well as how these unelected non-government people got states to institute these bans in the first place
Utter R-I-C-O in the sentence: AAMVA would break in sweats…
Most industries have non-government organizations that come up with standards. It makes a lot of sense since it’s easier on everyone to have uniformity across states. Obviously many of us disagree with this set of policy recommendations but as a whole standardization is a good thing. Why do you think Stop signs look the same in every state? It’s not the federal government that made an edict.
Stop signs look the same in every state because the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices says they have to be. Federal law requires that all stop signs meet MUTCD standards, so yes it is literally a federal edict.
The MUTCD is not written by the federal government, but it is written by engineers from all the state transportation departments. Definitely an example of government standardization.
My point is that it the stop sign wasn’t developed under some government mandate. It was federally adopted 15 years after it’s invention and only after private organizations such as the American Association of State Highway Officials promoted it’s use across states.
Another example would be intersection and pedestrian design standards developed by NACTO or International Fire Code – both of which are developed privately but broadly adopted as standards across municipalities.
The overarching point is that nobody needs to investigate anybody. It’s not some grand conspiracy and we don’t need tinfoil hats. If you don’t like something reach out to your elected officials.
Get ready, this is just the beginning. As soon as they get the laws passed that require ALL new cars be electric, they’ll come after all of the old ICE vehicles. I expect a complete ban of all gasoline/diesel engines within the next 20 years.
Lmao
You might want to loosen up that tinfoil hat.
I don’t know that they’ll actually pull it off, but I definitely expect real efforts to ban gasoline engines within the next 20 years.
The Green New Deal already proposes to completely phase out fossil fuels and prohibit cars in general.
They better start today then because it takes 20 years to turn over the vehicle fleet in the USA. We don’t have the manufacturing capacity to do it faster.
Oh, and the “Green New Deal” does not propose banning cars in general. In fact the proposal had $2.7 trillion in incentives to buy NEW cars. That is 7x more funding for cars than transit. The goal was to increase transit ridership by 65% – which would still be less than 10% of trips. I recommend you actually read the document.