Japanese Kei Truck Enthusiasts Are Winning in America
After various setbacks amid frustrating legislation, American kei truck owners are finally making headway.
It's not every day that American politics goes the way of the little guy, but 2024 could be considered the year the tide turned for mini truck owners and enthusiasts. Advocates in Texas and Massachusetts have successfully changed their state policies to allow registering Japanese Kei trucks 25 years and older as permitted by the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS).
Under federal law, any foreign vehicle 25 years and older is allowed to be imported and registered in the United States. However, the state is responsible for recognizing and certifying the vehicles, and some states have deviated from that.
Massachusetts attempted to ignore federal law, with the state's Registry of Motor Vehicles (RMV) announcing earlier this year that it would no longer register Kei trucks. Backlash forced the agency to put the decision under review, leaving owners unsure about the legality of their vehicles.
Mini truck enthusiasts quickly organized, taking cues from Texas advocates by petitioning the RMV to change its policy position while reaching out to state legislators. Enthusiast Andrew Zinc reached out to his local representative, Brian Murray, who is vice chair of the state's Joint Committee on Transportation.
"He responded back that he had heard from at least a couple of people who prompted him to approach the RMV and find out what the story is," Zinc said. But even legislators couldn't get all the answers from the agency.
"I've reached out to both my representatives a couple of times and the latest one was basically, ‘We're not getting much back from the RMV. The best bet is to show up to the board of directors meeting,’” said Benjamin Warren.
Kei truck advocates planned to swarm the next RMV meeting, scheduled for September 18. But the organizing and agonizing paid off before the advocates could even stand before the board of directors to present their arguments.
In early September, Massachusetts state rep Steven S. Howitt introduced a bipartisan bill to align the state's law with federal law regarding mini trucks.
The proposed law states, in part, "The Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles shall honor the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards and shall register all vehicles 25 years or older as of the date of manufacture that were imported in compliance with 49 C.F.R. § 591, including vehicles classified as ‘Kei cars.’"
But on September 17, one day before the directors meeting, the RMV issued a statement:
"The Registry of Motor Vehicles has completed its preliminary assessment of industry standards related to Kei trucks, cars, and vans (Kei Vehicles). At this time, owners of Kei Vehicles will be able to register these vehicles effective September 18, 2024. Kei Vehicles that are already registered may continue their existing registration and renewals, without interruption."
A message to Howitt's office asking about the future of the bill after the RMV's policy change wasn't returned. The bill was referred to the Committee on House Rules on September 19.
The change is a victory for owners but one that's not guaranteed to remain in place. The RMV went on to say in its statement that it will continue to "review safety implications of Kei Vehicles on the public roadways" and plans to conduct a formal study on the vehicles.
The lack of legislation to codify mini-truck protections into law could see the new, accepting policy reversed for another ban. That's the step Texas advocates are working toward now after the Lone Star State changed its policy in April, hoping for a new bill to be introduced in the upcoming legislative session in January.
David McChristian, founder of Lone Star Kei, a Texas-based advocacy group dedicated to protecting Kei truck ownership across the country, took a proactive approach to safeguarding mini trucks in his state after becoming an owner and learning that Georgia had begun to revoke mini truck titles in 2023. He formed the advocacy group and quickly learned that other Texas mini truck owners hadn't been as lucky as him at registering their Kei trucks with the state's Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV).
"And I was like, well, how is that possible? I have my truck, I have a license plate registration inspection, so what's up with that? How am I able to do that if you're saying they're banned?" said McChristian.
The lack of legislation to codify mini-truck protections into law could see the new, accepting policy reversed for another ban.
He met hundreds of people denied by the Texas DMV and learned the state had enacted a policy around 2010 banning them. However, outside of major metropolitan areas, smaller rural counties didn't know or enforce it.
"They really didn't even know the policy, so they're issuing titles against official DMD policy," said McChristian. "So that kind of made me concerned a little bit. If we have all these titles that are issued in error, they are definitely subject to revocation."
David initially contacted the Texas DMV, but they stopped responding to his emails, so he decided to call every single state legislator.
"I contacted 180 legislators by phone and my email—over and over and over. We had probably 30 to 40 different legislators that actually reached out to the DMV." It took the state six months to reconsider its ban on mini trucks, conferring with the Department of Public Safety before issuing new policy guidance on April 4. But much like Massachusetts, it's only a policy change reliant on who's in charge of the DMV, and the advocates might have just gotten lucky in timing.
The state replaced many of its administrators three to four years ago, and everyone was pretty brand new, according to McChristian. "Had we done this, you know, five or six years ago, I don't think we would have been successful."
He initially talked to lawyers who dissuaded him from suing the state, which has endless resources to fight a legal battle. However, sometimes lawyers are needed, like in Georgia, where there are two state statutes that mini trucks could fall under. The state has picked the one that bans them, according to Steven Lefkoff, an attorney who was representing some Kei car owners in their battle with the state.
"It's kind of like all bourbon is whiskey, but not all whiskey is bourbon," said Lefkoff. "If you fit it into one, it's an exception and should be titled. But if you fit it into the other one, then it is not eligible to have a title, to have a registration in Georgia, and so what the Georgia Department of Revenue (GDOR) is saying is that the non-titling code section trumps the other. And that's where the attorneys come in because that's an interpretation of conflicting laws."
The Official Code of Georgia Annotated Section 40-3-30 states that the state can't title cars not manufactured to comply with the FMVSS, which provides the exception for cars 25 years or older applying for a title.
"That's how you can title a Ford Model T, or you know some kind of 1930s or 40s motorcycle," said Lefkoff. "Or any host of 40, 50, 60, 70 years, cars that were made even before they even had any standards."
However, there's also 40-3-30.13A, subsection 2 for "unconventional motor vehicles" that doesn't give an exception for the 25-year rule, and that's what the state is classifying them under.
In May of last year, the state issued a bulletin to county tag officials, saying, "You may share with customers who insist on a legal basis for excluding Kei Vehicles from titling and registration that OCGA § 40-3-30.1(f) prohibits titling or registering unconventional motor vehicles. Kei Vehicles are manufactured for the Japanese domestic vehicle market and are not manufactured to be compliant with FMVSS, so under Georgia law, they are unconventional motor vehicles and cannot be titled and registered."
"What is the government's interest in regulating these mini trucks?" said Lefkoff. "And that's a Constitutional question. If their interest is safety, then there are hundreds of other vehicles that they should also be regulating, if not thousands, if that's the interest. And so it seems to me that they're unfairly picking on a particular market or a particular vehicle type and disregarding others that would meet the same government interest, and I do believe that's a problem."
The first step to determining which law applies to mini trucks is to appeal to an administrative judge through the state's Office of Administrative Hearings, which has happened, but the judge sided with the state. Now, it's being appealed to the Cobb County Superior Court, which is an ongoing case.
Advocates in the state successfully found a legislator to introduce a bill to protect mini trucks, but the bill failed to advance. The sponsoring politician retired, so it'll take time to find a new legislator, craft a bill, and introduce it, which likely means the Cobb County Superior Court Case will finish ahead of a new law.
"What is the government's interest in regulating these mini trucks? And that's a Constitutional question. If their interest is safety, then there are hundreds of other vehicles that they should also be regulating, if not thousands, if that's the interest."
It's unclear which way the court will go, and the recent Supreme Court ruling in the Chevron Deference could upend federal and state laws even more, according to Lefkoff, but attorneys across the country are still waiting for guidance on the decision.
"We're still trying to unpack that and figure out, now that the Supreme Court of the United States is ruling that these unelected bureaucrats can't create laws, all they can do is interpret, then what legal authority do they have under Georgia law to now determine these vehicles can't be titled?
With 50 states in the union, each independent of each other, making mini trucks legal across the entire country will take time. Owners in Michigan, Rhode Island, and other states are also fighting for their right to import and register mini trucks that comply with the FMVSS, and there is hope. Advocates across the country are starting to win by doing the hard work of reaching out to their representatives, making public comments and commotion, and working with their governments to find a solution.
And the victories in Texas and Massachusetts are small reminders that a few dedicated people can make big changes. It reminds me of a quote from Kim Stanley Robinson’s, The Ministry for the Future.
“One-eight-billionth wasn’t a very big fraction, but then again there were poisons that worked in the parts-per-billion range, so it wasn’t entirely unprecedented for such a small agent to change things.”
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