Kei trucks, though, are still a relative rarity on U.S. roads, thanks in large part to the Imported Vehicle Safety Compliance Act of 1988, which bans the sale of most foreign cars newer than 25 years old. That law is theoretically meant to keep dirty and unsafe vehicles that don’t rise to U.S. safety and emissions standards out of the country, while still allowing car enthusiasts access to collectible vintage models that they’re not likely to drive very much, if at all.
In the case of kei trucks — which usually don’t have things like airbags and must be retrofitted upon arrival to move the steering wheel from the right side of the vehicle to the left — those restrictions make a kind of sense; many states, after all, don’t even allow mini-trucks to be operated on high-speed public roads, and many kei owners operate them exclusively on farms or other private property.
In one critical way, though, kei trucks and other small-format foreign cars actually
exceed U.S. safety standards: because Japanese and European regulators
both factor in the safety of people
outside of vehicles, while Americans don’t. And when it comes to sustainability, most other countries may soon have us beat, too — particularly if U.S. automakers
continue to ditch small-format EVs that make efficient use of scarce battery materials in favor of producing every more hulking E-SUVS and pick-ups that gobble those materials up.
