Please or Register to create posts and topics.

Are some states banning legally imported cars

States along the eastern seaboard are putting the owners of Japanese domestic market cars to hard time. Maine and Rhode Island began revoking the registrations of vehicles that were legally imported and registered without any warning. Two more states, New York and Pennsylvania, are now joining in on the effort. The reason for this is that the states are following guidelines recently published by the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators, a non-governmental non-profit lobbying organization composed of motor vehicle and law enforcement administrators, and executives. AAMVA, it seems have become a bit more aggressive against mini trucks. Explaining the reasons for revoking the registrations is attributed to the changed laws which classify any vehicle not originally designed to meet FMVSS as an off-road vehicle. An internal memo has also allegedly been sent to state DMV offices instructing employees not to process registrations because kei cars are not built to FMVSS standards. AAMVA have been a targeting minitrucks for a long time. When Japanese and Chinese mini trucks flooded the market in the 2000s, the states didn’t really know how to handle them. Some states created their own regulation. But, notably, there was nothing on a national level. Insurance Institute for Highway Safety meanwhile published an opinion that low-speed-vehicles and mini trucks are unsafe and should not be allowed on public roads. AAMVA then modified their regulations to include mini trucks that are 25 years or older as not being exempt from the organization’s definition. It also indirectly says that should the state choose to allow an owner to continue driving their mini truck, they can never sell it to a new owner. This means that if the state can’t get the truck off of the road right now, it will eventually. Lawsuits have been filed against these states questioning the legality of the states canceling registrations. Probably, in the interest of thousands of owners of such trucks, lets hope the new regulations are revisited.

Yeah, New York, Pennsylvania, Maine and Rhode Island have elected not to allow mini trucks to be grandfathered in, instead choosing the recommended practice of recalling all registrations for an outright ban.

Let's hope for the regulations are revisited for the betterment of the people.

I hope this is not true as more population are showing interest in owning a minitruck. I am sure exactly for the same reason, it's giving a tough competition to the medium to heavy trucks. If safety is the issue, I think, minitrucks should be allowed with safety features and speed limitation. I do hope the government will revisit the new regulations and bring in rules in favor of minitrucks.