Kei car owners celebrate win after Massachusetts RMV reverses its policy

[Eugene]

Related: ADVISORY: Massachusetts RMV Announces Update to Kei Vehicle Policy (Mass. Dept. of Transportation)

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Source: CBS Boston/WBZ-TV

Kei car owners celebrate win after Massachusetts RMV reverses its policy

By Kristina Rex
September 18, 2024 / 7:14 PM EDT / CBS Boston

-snip-

The small cars from Japan are popular among a group of enthusiasts nationwide. They're called Kei cars, short for kei-jidōsha, which literally means "light automobile." Moy himself has a collection of nearly 10 of them - his most expensive one cost just $10,000.

Why were Kei cars banned in Massachusetts?

However, despite the three he has on the way from Japan, his ability to drive them on the roads was abruptly halted when the Massachusetts RMV announced in June that it would no longer allow the cars to be registered to drive on Massachusetts roads.

Moy and his fellow Kei Car enthusiasts online were confused - was it because the cars are international? Japanese? Small?

-snip-

After much pushback from these car owners, the RMV reversed course this week, announcing that starting September 18, it would again allow the vehicles to be registered. "The RMV intends to register Kei Vehicles while continuing to review safety implications of Kei Vehicles on the public roadways. Plans for conducting a formal study of this subject matter are under development and will be announced once complete," a statement from the RMV read.

-snip-

Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/boston/news/kei-car-massachusetts-rmv-reverses-policy/

[MichMan]

1. Do they meet US emission and safety standards?

[Eugene]

2. Safety is the main point of contention in Mass., as kei vehicles are small and lightweight,

smaller than a Mini Cooper with some as light as 1,100 lbs.

Emissions vary by state. Not the issue at hand in Massachusetts but
they are illegal in some states like California. As kei imports typically
use the 25-year exemption to the chicken tax, they are too old
to have OBD ports, while some states exempt them due to age.
Then again, Japanese emission standards are some of the strictest
in the world.