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Rural Americans are importing tiny Japanese pickup trucks

economist.com

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Re: Rural Americans are importing tiny Japanese pickup trucks

#441

Post by bombcar »

dcow wrote: post #411
deelowe wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That rule ain't changing unfortunately. Regulatory capture is STRONG with automotive and the US sees it as a matter of national security (car makers would be pivoted to other ares in times of war).

These days you’d think the US would do the same for compute power. I suspect microchip production will play a huge role in the next war.

Microchips for million dollar smart bombs are important but the ability to give every able-bodied person in the country a machine gun or a tank shouldn’t be underestimated. In the end war is about controlling land and infantry are the best at that.

Re: Rural Americans are importing tiny Japanese pickup trucks

#442

Post by HPsquared »

yosito wrote: post #430
ElFitz wrote: post #371

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So American drivers are aggressive towards those they think to be poorer than them? Why do you think that is? (genuinely curious)

As an American who grew up feeling annoyed and aggressive toward people driving motorcycles, but now drives a motorcycle regularly for the past 10 years, it never had anything to do with how poor someone was. Motorcycles aren't the most practical vehicles on American roads, so I always perceived them as a sport, not a necessity. And motorcycle drivers has a reputation for pulling stupid stunts and causing accidents o…

Cyclists are perceived as the opposite: hobbyists who go too slowly and hold everyone up. By the simple act of riding down a busy street, a well-placed cyclist can necessitate hundreds of questionable overtaking maneuvers as each car has to pass them. "Trail of chaos" in other words.

Re: Rural Americans are importing tiny Japanese pickup trucks

#443

Post by bombcar »

nickpeterson wrote: post #326
RJIb8RBYxzAMX9u wrote: post #316

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes and no. Let's say everyone drives compact cars, then my risk level -- completely made up number -- is 20. However, if everyone's driving para-tanks while I keep driving my compact car, then my risk level rises to 60, due to aforementioned physics. Now, if I join everyone, then my risk level falls to 40, so I'm safer. But compare to the initial case, I'm still less safe. Hence the prisoner's dilemma.

I’ve been downvoted over this before but really we just need weight limits on cars. Efficiency is pretty closely aligned and we seem to regulate that just fine.

Very small cars are available in the USA, people just don’t buy many. Mini Cooper, smart, these exist.

Re: Rural Americans are importing tiny Japanese pickup trucks

#444

Post by YokoZar »

nickpeterson wrote: post #326
RJIb8RBYxzAMX9u wrote: post #316

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes and no. Let's say everyone drives compact cars, then my risk level -- completely made up number -- is 20. However, if everyone's driving para-tanks while I keep driving my compact car, then my risk level rises to 60, due to aforementioned physics. Now, if I join everyone, then my risk level falls to 40, so I'm safer. But compare to the initial case, I'm still less safe. Hence the prisoner's dilemma.

I’ve been downvoted over this before but really we just need weight limits on cars. Efficiency is pretty closely aligned and we seem to regulate that just fine.

Japan has vehicle weight taxes. The US has the inverse (trucks and SUV have laxer fuel economy standards)

Re: Rural Americans are importing tiny Japanese pickup trucks

#445

Post by yellowapple »

SkyPuncher wrote: post #434
yellowapple wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While I largely agree with you, AWD/4WD minivans seem to be harder to find than AWD/4WD SUVs - so if you live in a place with both snow and hills, you're probably going to be gravitating toward an SUV.

AWS/4WD drive can't be pulled off with a minivan while maintaining the flat floor that people expect. There's not enough clearance for a rear drive shaft.

I mean, it clearly can be, since AWD (and RWD, for that matter) minivans do exist. It's just less common for minivans than it is for SUVs, likely for the reason you mention.

Re: Rural Americans are importing tiny Japanese pickup trucks

#446

Post by bombcar »

fooker wrote: post #364
KennyBlanken wrote: post #297

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You can import new tiny cars and drive them all you want on a farm or private grounds, you just can’t take them on roads if they don’t meat road safety standards. If they don't pass emissions, they cannot be legally imported. It doesn't matter whether you want to use them on private property; that private property is still within the US, and subject to EPA regs. People think the same thing about not having to regis…

> State environmental cops This is not an issue for most of the states where people actually own ATVs, snowmobiles and land to use those in.

And even so in most rural areas you’d have to piss off all the wrong people to have them even bother.

Re: Rural Americans are importing tiny Japanese pickup trucks

#447

Post by bombcar »

anonymouskimmer wrote: post #123
shawabawa3 wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would foreign vehicles be exempt from safety and emissions regulations?

Because vehicles over a certain age are grandfather-exempted.

The key is often that ALL vehicles are exempt from various regulations past a certain age. CA doesn’t smog check vehicles older than a certain date, for example.

Re: Rural Americans are importing tiny Japanese pickup trucks

#448

Post by elihu »

JKCalhoun wrote: post #225
nyx wrote: post #29

The 25-year import rule here, which bans Americans from importing vehicles from other countries unless they're 25+ years old, is just awful for those of us who would be interested in driving small, efficient foreign cars. It would be great to live completely car-free, but absent major changes to how we plan our cities, it's just a sad reality that cars are a necessary ingredient to life in the vast majority of Americ…

Also, import tax on trucks is 20% (if I recall correctly). Maybe over double the tax on cars. Not sure why trucks get special protection(ism).

The "chicken tax" is 25% actually, unless something changed recently.

Re: Rural Americans are importing tiny Japanese pickup trucks

#449

Post by bombcar »

gramie wrote: post #354
Aeolun wrote: post #307

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If it’s legal for BMW to import it’s cars and sell them, then it should be legal for Toyota to import it’s kei cars and sell them in the US right? You just can’t do it as an individual.

I would suspect that Japanese kei cars would not pass the safety requirements. Road speeds really are much slower over there. IIRC, the warning alarm on my kei car in the 90s would go off if I exceeded 90 km/h (about 55 mph).

They would have to classify them as golf carts or something. There are various tricks, depending on the state.

Re: Rural Americans are importing tiny Japanese pickup trucks

#450

Post by sparrish »

iambateman wrote: post #385
ElFitz wrote: post #371

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So American drivers are aggressive towards those they think to be poorer than them? Why do you think that is? (genuinely curious)

It’s complicated. If you lose your license for drunk driving, you can still drive a moped, so there is a reputation that the person driving the moped has a bad past. Plus, there just aren’t very many on the road so they stick out as unusual. And there is a cultural obsession with big vehicles being tied to masculinity. Which means that many (15%?) drivers would feel happy or even a little justified to blow past a mop…

They're called bikeaholics in Colorado. Easy to spot cause they're wearing jeans and backpacks, usually.
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