If you want to drive it legally on the roads yes. Then again that goes for any car thats 25 or older At least here in Texas anyway. Now certain states won't let you drive a Kei truck on the road no matter how old they are

they're trying to ban it out right

This video is not entirely accurate because you can most certainly buy a 2024 Daihatsu Hijet Jumbo for around $25K and legally drive it in some states, like Idaho for example…..just sayin’

@@silverfish126 Yea some states you can. Texas you can't, Although there is a petition going on down here to try and legalize them

some states you can't at all

They do that with guns, too. Look up the GCA of 1968 and 922r compliance... to defend the poopy domestic cheap guns over amazing affordable imports... NFA is like the chicken tax for guns with the Skyline outcome.

That's what I was thinking!

The Japanese have similar laws.

All countries do it - some applies it on vegetable, some on cars, etc I can understand they want try to keep exports>imports but still, what a shame

@@cd3949i dont think them big trucks are gonna be fitting on tight streets of tokyo or even the country side😅

Man I’d love to do that with a Barbados yellow crx

Land of the fee, home of the slave.

the land of the fee

More people incarcerated than China, North Korea, Russia & all of Western Europe COMBINED. Home of the Free indeed. 😢

@@Eduardo_Espinozalol yep

It hasn’t been free for a while but it is what it is

yeah, it's a good thing that the Japanese really take good care of their cars :)

@@Eduardo_Espinoza usually they’re required to by law, most Japanese cars get written off in 4-5 years

A quarter of a century old is nowhere near new.

​@@ClexiI'm glad you read how they said it was to their standards that they would consider it practically new.

@@DevinHeida No problem man 👍

And they advertise the Colorado and Tacoma as “small trucks” but they’re still huge. A small truck doesn’t have a 2nd cab, a small truck doesn’t have a sub-6 foot bed

​@MrChilili Tacoma is huge. In NZ, even the Hilux is getting pretty big alongside the Ford Ranger and Nissan Navara.

​@@MrChililiGod the tiny bed size is the most insulting part of all these huge trucks. I don't need a truck to pull enormous trailers, I need a truck purely to haul things with the bed. All these new trucks are incredibly oversized for that purpose and don't even fit as much as my dad's ancient Toyota truck.

EPA helped them do it.

​​@@MrChililiThe 1st gen Tacoma was a small truck and it was available as a crew cab. Outside the US these small trucks are very popular, almost every major manufacturer has something to offer in this segment. VW and Fiat have even smaller, car-based, FWD pickups.

most used cars here are 5-15 years old in poor condition, high miles, and most people have to choose between the payment or maintenance, and rent on top.... so the cars just slide down a valley of negelct, i think reducing the import law to 15 years to match the life span of most domestic cars would be honetsly a good thing

​@@ObsidianB8 A beautiful pipe dream. Do you know how quickly the Detroit-3 lobbyists would be sent to Washington to kill such a dream?? Hell, NTHSA is chock full of em'.

Why do Import laws exist anyway? Edit: oh yeah I remembered someone said, that American car manufacturers hated JDM because they are affordable, making Americans buy Japanese vehicles rather than American.

@@botandrew1American cars suck compared to Japanese and European cars basically. Low quality for a high price.

Free market they said

Yeah but unlike the F-150 I can’t go 90mph in a school zone running over pedestrians

​@@brysonkuervers2570at least you're honest in what you're gonna use your F150 for lol

@@moonage_ I only drive a f150 with lifted tiers so I don't have to look at the kids as i drive 90 in a school zone.

Young blood for the ford truck gods. ​@moonage_

The bed is much bigger than it looks because the wheel wells don't cut into it. 4.5 ft x 6 ft flat bed is bigger than the usable space on a Tacoma or f150

Because other countries do have more freedom, the land of the free shtick is just propaganda at this point

Yeah, but if ya look closer, they don’t.

Yeah and plus japanese rarely use it on off road so the undercarriage and suspension is basically clean AF little to no scratches

Japan's standards are much stricter than US for sure. All vehicles are required to keep maintenance up to date.

Off road use only, can't be registered. They will be sold to farms.

@@evognayr they can be registered under 25 year rule here in Texas there are lots of people down here running them with plates and registrations. Anything newer than 25 years old is off road use only.

nice :) it's refreshing that it's enabling ppl to venture out there again :)

@@evognayrglad this changed

Leave that to Texans to stiff everything up

I imported a kei truck, but the auction site lists 25 year old kei cars that are US import eligible as well.

And to force Americans to pay a high price for a ‘normal’ car. So essentially this law is a legalized monopoly.

Oh, I'm pretty sure the labor unions don't want these either.

If it wasn't for bullshit laws we could still get jeep cjs for like 12k out of India as road legal vehicles

that's why they put a hit piece on Suzuki's Jimny.

Yea its mostly epa and safety laws that keep them out of us hands unless there 25 years old or older

It was spearheaded by Mercedes, they were importing lackluster spec'd models to the United States so the gray market for the European spec Mercedes was hot in 70's. So instead of giving the US customer what they wanted which was the European spec cars Mercedes along with a few other manufacturers lobbied Congress to kill the gray market trade.

And Toyota Landcruisers.

i hope the lobbyists wont extend the law lol

First of all you can buy new kei trucks right now, but they are not legal or suitable for our roads. They are far too slow and if you ever got hit, they just bury you in it. Too hard to separate you from the wreck.

make sure you get a diesel, (h)I think, they're like hummers on gas

Then go buy one.

You can also bring in newer vehicles, you just can’t license them, or drive them on public roads. For display purposes only, I think they say.

Actually you can blame Europe, ie the chicken tax

God forbit you're a law abiding citizen. Costs way less to be an illegal alien nowadays.

wow Hyundai & Kia are dropping the ball all over the world

Would you explain that?

explain how the chicken tax was made?

government's whole point of existence is to provide safety and public services

​@@erkinalpuntill it dont

Different laws and consumers. It’s accepted that motorcycle riders know the risks and accept them. But a vehicle, the people here will want it to protect them like a real truck and it simply won’t. The lawsuits will fly:

@@erkinalp ...for their corporate overlords.

Have you seen the videos by Mike Festiva and his brother Olympic Overland? Kei camper heaven.

Buy an old VW van and restore it. The 36 horsepower engine will give you the same driving experience and you will have more room.

Completely illegal? So if someone drove their kei truck thru Georgia from or to their home state of record... they'd get arrested, ticketed...etc???

@@mr.perfect1er933 Good question but unfortunately I don't have an answer, if i had to guess you would have to talk your way out of it otherwise it will be seized

@@mr.perfect1er933Most likely neither if it has legal plates. Unlike California, I don’t believe those states regulate out of state registered vehicles.

@@mr.perfect1er933 States honor the registrations of other states even if their regulations differ. They would stop you, check your registration, and then let you go. Kei trucks were street legal in Georgia up until a few months ago. It is ridiculous that they don't allow them. I doubt the new law would survive any legal challenges.

Communist state.

Imagine having the government tell you how often you can drive the car you own.

Only in your messed up state. Most of us can do as we please.

Legal in NC for road usage !!!

Yup I just brought one from Japan

BREAKING NEWS! JAPAN'S TINY, MICRO "KEI" CARS ARE NOW LEGAL & CERTIFIED FOR SALE IN THE US & CANADA! AutomotivePress Apr 1, 2023 BREAKING NEWS THAT YOU WON'T BELIEVE! Micro "Kei" cars from Japan are finally legal and certified for sale in North America for the first time in history, a result of 41 years of lobbying by the Japanese automotive industry association (JAMA). Now, both Americans and Canadians can buy brand new, 2023 or newer model year Kei cars as soon as the Japanese automakers decide which ones to import here. Equipped with tiny 660cc (0.66L) engines, the Kei cars did not meet federal safety and emission standards for the past 41 years but finally, both the US and the Canadian government simultaneously approved new regulations that allow these micro cars to pass the federal requirements. The official announcement will be released within the 24 hours - but David Chao was able to obtain the breaking news early and he's letting all the viewers know before anyone else. Are you excited about this breaking news? We can't wait to buy brand new Suzuki Jimny or Daihatsu Copen. Automotive Press is owned and managed by David Koichi Chao, a global expert in the field of automotive evaluation, engineering, and strategy. With over 35 years of engineering experience, David is able to review vehicles from unique perspectives utilizing technical and specialized methods. Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association David is a board member and a director at AJAC (Automobile Journalist Association of Canada). David is known around the world as an authentic specialist of Lean/Agile Thinking, and travels all around the world to review vehicles and teach latest engineering methods. Born and raised in Japan, David has an engineering degree from University of British Columbia and post-graduate education from MIT and Harvard Business School in Boston.

Yes, but you can't register it unless it's 25 years old. Watch the video before commenting.

in South America like normal, yeah

just can't drive it...

Thought the video looked familiar and was wondering if that was your truck. Guess you're coment confirms my suspicion.

They are classified for special purposes and are listed as not street legal, off road or racing purposes only.

I suspect that you are right. Also they are usually used only in certain areas where their size makes them handy and traffic is so slow that they can keep up.

Send them to the Bahamas, Barbados, and some Caribbean countries.

Check out boeki

Depends on the state, but most likely no. Even if you register it as a classic vehicle, once the DMV figures out it's a kei truck they demand the plates back.

@@5ch3nk thank you. Appreciate it. It's really silly. They claim global warming and that we need to conserve. But don't want to give us the tools to do so. I don't the mpg of a kei. But I imagine it's very good

⁠​⁠​⁠@@5ch3nkThey’re not legally allowed to operate on freeways because of their lack of crumple zones and inability to maintain high speed safely, which is why most states do that. If you register it for CAUV (in my state), you won’t need to get it plated or registered with the DMV. It will operate legally as if it’s a tractor, which you can drive on most roads besides freeways or certain cities if they have ordinances against tractors.

Some states allow 25 year old kei trucks on the road without restrictions, some allow them on roads below a certain speed limit, and some don't allow kei trucks at all.

@@cincinnati4391 is that in California? Do you have to register it? And how much?

You’d have to weld two of them together to handle that V-8

All of the government left hand drive kei trucks I've seen are rusted worn out garbage, but there are very nice and well maintained 25+ year old kei trucks exporting from Japan with very low mileage.

can you register it back when it's time?

@@Eduardo_Espinoza not sure what you're talking about.