Massachusetts Bill Could Fully Legalize Kei Cars and Override RMV Ban

Earlier this year, Massachusetts became the latest battleground against the shadowy organization that’s trying to get kei cars banned from U.S. roads. The state’s Registry of Motor Vehicles suddenly began denying registration to JDM car owners, even for cars that aren’t keis. But JDM owners from around the country combined their strength, and have wound up what could be the finishing blow by getting legislation introduced to protect their cars—and take the matter out of the RMV’s hands entirely.

As we covered earlier this year, Massachusetts’ RMV began denying JDM car registrations at the behest of a private interest, the American Administration of Motor Vehicle Administrators. This non-governmental industry group of DMV employees is campaigning against kei cars, which it claims pose a threat to American drivers. But the RMV didn’t bother figuring out what a kei car even is before advancing the AAMVA’s agenda, and began swatting down registrations of JDM cars wholesale. (Even an R34 Nissan Skyline was recently denied, having been misidentified as a kei car.)

This angered a far wider demographic, drawing pushback from JDM car owners around the country who are dealing with similar situations. Massachusetts is only one of several states to try banning kei cars, one of which was Texas. There, kei truck owners banded together to pressure the DMV to allow kei trucks to drive on public roads, and compelled state legislature to draft a bill to formally legalize them. The Texans handed their playbook to their comrades in Massachusetts, where dozens of owners solicited members of Massachusetts’ General Court (its state senate) for their support.

At last, lawmakers are coming though with Bill HD.5357. This measure would establish a legal definition of a kei car in Massachusetts that aligns with Japan’s original regulations on body dimensions and engine displacement. It’d order the RMV to develop a legal framework for inspecting and registering cars imported under the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards’ 25-year exemption that allows foreign-market cars’ importation to begin with. Crucially, it would formally approve the registration of those cars as long as they met safety standards in their country of origin when they were new—which kei cars do.

“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,'” states the bill.

HD5357

Remember that this bill has not yet been passed, and there’s no guarantee it’ll become law. However, the bill came about due to public pressure on a large number of state legislators, who are now well-educated enough on the definition of kei cars and their federal legality that they may sway their peers to side with JDM car owners. It also proves two important things; one is that JDM car owners in states around the nation have a path toward winning their battles against corrupted DMVs. The other is that as daunting as our influential, big-money-backed opponents may seem, grassroots politics are still worth a damn in the United States.

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