Yahoo Autos Rhode Island joins Maine in de-registering JDM cars, and its logic is dubious
JDM cars are under further attack in New England. It’s been a couple of months since we reported on the Delica debacle in Maine, and now Rhode Island is taking a similar approach to imported Japanese cars.
Initially brought to light by the Revival Motoring podcast, and further laid out in a report by The Drive, Rhode Island is deregistering kei cars from the Japanese domestic market (JDM) that were previously legally imported and registered in the state. The cars in question are all vehicles that were imported under the federal 25-year rule that allows you to legally register and drive cars from countries outside of the U.S. so long as they’re at least 25 years old. Examples of cars being deregistered in Rhode Island include the Honda Acty, Daihatsu Mira TR-XX Avanzato, Daihatsu Hijet and the Suzuki Carry. Owners of these vehicles say they’ve received letters informing them that their car’s registrations were being suspended.
We received the same Rhode Island DMV memo as The Drive. It's as follows:
“Please be advised that the registration of Mini-Trucks, Microvans and Kei Cars is currently prohibited in the State of Rhode Island.
“Do not process registration transactions for these vehicle types. Refer the customer to the Enforcement Office or the Safety and Emission Control Office for further details.
“Mini-Trucks, Microvans and Kei Cars are miniature motor vehicles manufactured to meet the requirements of the Japanese keijidosha vehicle classification. While street legal in Japan, the keijidosha standards differ significantly from North American Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards applicable to comparable vehicles.
“These vehicles were not designed to be operated on North American roadways. Allowing operation would introduce, into the conventional traffic mix, vehicles with questionable stability and crash protection that pose a known increased crash risk and potential hazard for the vehicle operator as well as other vehicles on the same roadways.
“Attached to this memo are some examples to help with recognizing these vehicles at the time of registration.”
The memo goes on to show examples of kei cars in photo form so that agents can identify those cars and not register them. It was sent by the DMV's Safety & Emission Control Chief, the Enforcement Chief and the Enforcement Deputy Chief.
Of course, you’re probably wondering why this is happening at this point. That’s a question we've been trying to answer for a couple of months now. And finally, after resorting to and making an Access to Public Records Act request to the state of Rhode Island, we have some answers.
The state's official case is made in a vehicle registration hearing for an individual who attempted to register a 1994 Honda V-HH4 minivan on March 21 this year. Within it, the Rhode Island DMV lays out its reasoning for why kei vehicles shouldn't be allowed.
There are two statutes cited here. The first is Rhode Island General Law 31-3-5, which states, “The division of motor vehicles shall refuse registration or any transfer of registration upon any of the following grounds … (2) That the vehicle is mechanically unfit or unsafe to be operated upon the highways.”
Next, we have RIGL 31-38-1. This states: “No person shall sell at retail, drive, or move on any highway any motor vehicle, trailer, semitrailer, or pole trailer or any combination of them unless the equipment is in good working order and adjustment as required in this title, and the vehicle is in such safe mechanical condition as not to endanger the driver or other occupant or any person upon the highway.”
