341–350 of 409 posts
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I think it might be a little more nuanced than that. I have a friend who's still alive today because he was driving a Lexus SUV when a Honda Accord blew through a red light and collided with him at speed. Should he downgrade his car so he's more vulnerable next time?
If you reversed the vehicles the outcome would be the same. The size differential has to be massive for it to matter. Modern safety requirements are stringent and you wouldn't believe how much a small sedan can take in a crash. The most important safety feature in a vehicle is performance, and SUVs (especially mid and full size) are outright worse, regardless of what your average American thinks.
Do you have a source for this? I'm honestly curious. In every near-miss I've had in traffic, the only performance that would have helped is braking performance. And I drive a Kei car as a sole family car. On long highway road trips.
I went back and forth on the idea of sharing such a negative take here, but... here goes. > You'll need to find a truck that is at least 25 years old. In the US, cars more youthful than that must comply with FMVSS (safety standards). > No air bags, [...] power steering, or crumple zones. I feel like this sort of thing is a fantastic illustration of the irresponsible level which most drivers (in the US at least; can't…
> But a 30mph head-on collision with another vehicle will almost certainly kill you in one of these trucks. A 30mph collision in the average American SUV will kill all the occupants too, because they have absolutely no safety features.
The difficulties inherent in this and the simplicity of the product itself make me wonder if there's some car equivalent of the "80% lower" of the weapons industry. Some kind of partially assembled new Kei truck that counts as "car parts" during import, and can then be assembled to create a "kit car". The kit car process is almost equally onerous, but at least you could get a new car on the other end.
US restrictions on vehicle imports seem very odd from a British perspective. Over here, we can freely import pretty much anything. If it's more than 10 years old, you just register it. If it's less than 10 years old, you can still bring it in as a personal import, but it'll need to pass a slightly enhanced version of the normal annual inspection. It's a point of principle that any vehicle that passes inspection shoul…
As is typical with US regulation, it's a "worst of all worlds" hodgepodge that makes no logical sense.
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Not an expert on Oregonian law, but my theory is that Oregon's motor vehicle law references the federal NHTSA regulations, and Kei vehicles laughably don't meet them (exterior lighting, crash performance, theft resistance, emissions, and so on). An owner might be able to use it as an off-road vehicle only (no title, no tag, with maybe only comprehensive insurance), but that's not the point of buying one for a lot of…
That's such bullshit when motorcycles are allowed on the road.
Also motorcycles are a part of Americana history (there's no "Easy Rider" where two guys ride a Kei truck cross-country). I'm not at all sure motorcycles would be allowed if they just started popping up 10 years ago in the US, we've gotten risk averse in recent times.
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That's such bullshit when motorcycles are allowed on the road.
Dark take with just enough data to make it a talking point: motorcycles allow the rider to fly off and die from a traumatic brain injury, while preserving their organs. If you’re crushed in a Kei car they probably won’t be able to salvage much. https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/01/health/organ-donation-motorcy...
This truck seems to have most of the desirable Kei truck qualities (besides price) but it’s an EV with modern features. https://www.telotrucks.com/
Ditch the crew cab and lower the height of the bed and you’re starting to enter the same territory.
I live near a Big Ten university in the Midwest, and they use these little trucks and vans for their maintenance crews. I imagine that for an institutional user with multiple of them, things like getting approval and spare parts is easier. One thing they probably help with is that a major university typically has horrific parking, but you can cram one of those little trucks into a place that a car won't fit into.
In Japan there are usually a couple of "Kei-only" parking spots which are usually on some corner or side where a normal car wouldn't fit. A great use of space!
In the PNW these are absolutely everywhere and for good reason - they're exactly what most people need when they need a truck bed for hauling capacity. Plus, many are 4/AWD and have relatively high clearance so they're great adventure wagons for forest roads and getting out there. If a manufacturer made a truck similar (or slightly larger - not much room for people 6' and over in them) available for the market here,…
Another advantage for off-road kei trucks is they are narrow, allowing you to drive around obstacles that you would need a lot of clearance (big tires/lift kits.) A lot of trails in the PNW get overgrown and a narrow vehicle that weighs less causes less trail erosion and can squeeze past obstacles rather then going over them. My understanding is that in Japan insurance cost is based on your odometer, and there are st…
If we allow motorcycles to drive on roads I don't see why we couldn't have some sort of limited road use exemption for these simple vehicles. At the very least you should be able to just buy them for farm use.
There is a strong push at the state level to disallow the registration of kei trucks, being lead by the AAMVA (American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators) [0] As others have noted, these are fantastic utility vehicles, which have an important place in many rural areas. They can come with many important features like 4x4, diff-lock, dump beds, etc, all with a very reasonable 660cc serviceable engine. I perso…