Enthusiasts In Georgia Are Trying To Sue The State DMV Over Kei Car Ban

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The State of Georgia isn’t proving to be a great friend of the car enthusiast of late. Various states have turned against the humble Kei car in recent years, with Georgia among them. It’s been quite active on the matter, with the Department of Revenue in Georgia issuing bulletins to remind staffers that Kei vehicles cannot be legally titled in the state. In these darkest of days, though, a beacon of hope shines through, as a small group of enthusiasts have banded together to seek justice.

Leading the charge is Tatsu Kazuya, a licensed dealer in Georgia, and a registered importer. He’s behind a group effort to bring a legal challenge to the harsh rules laid down by the Department of Transportation and the Department of Revenue, which are now frustrating kei car owners at their local DMVs. With his business, Jora Imports, directly impacted by the Kei car ban, and seeing many fellow Georgians suffering under the same rules, he decided action had to be taken.

“The crackdown has affected us in the sense of not just not being able to easily import or register kei cars but also even normal import cars,” Kazuya told The Autopian. “It’s caused a lot of fear in the enthusiast market in general where people are more unwilling to take an even bigger gamble of buying even a regular JDM car because they worry that anything unique will have it’s title revoked.”

As covered expertly by Mercedes Streeter, the matter in Georgia has come down to a frustrating collision of federal and state laws. When it comes to importing a vehicle from overseas, the  Imported Vehicle Safety Compliance Act of 1988, colloquially known as the “25 Year Rule,” is the key piece of legislation. The problem is that just because you can get a foreign car into the country, that doesn’t mean you can register it, because that’s handled by the states. The full explanation is well worth the read, but the long and the short of it is that a non-governmental lobbying association called the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators has been agitating for kei cars to be classified as off-road vehicles and for states to deny them registration. Georgia has gladly followed this recommendation, citing the fact that kei cars aren’t compliant with the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards as a supporting reason.

[Mercedes’ Note: To be clear, Georgia did not change its laws like Maine did. Georgia is taking laws that haven’t changed in 15 years and has decided to interpret them differently.]

As part of his efforts, after initial consultations with several firms, Kazuya engaged local firm Lefkoff Law regarding the matter. He has since set up a GoFundMe page to crowdsource funds to pursue legal action. Over the past two months, his efforts have netted $7,035 from donations chipped in from 57 donors eager to fight back against the state’s legislation. On the fundraising page, Kazuya doesn’t mince words. “I am TIRED of constantly being downtrodden by arbitrary rule making that not only affects me personally but everyone else I share this passion with,” he says, expressing his exasperation at the current state of affairs. He implores his fellow enthusiasts to get behind the cause, and it’s hard not to feel the call to justice. “It’s time to hold accountable public servants who should be focused on more important matters rather than stomping out every harmless thing that we participate in!”

At this stage, Kazuya has reported that the legal effort has already encountered some early roadblocks. According to a post on GoFundMe, he states that they have made little progress in contacting individuals in Georgia’s Department of Transportation, reportedly due to staff being on extended vacation. “Right now we are attempting to make diplomatic contact with the heads of the department of transportation who oversee the DOR,” he says, but notes the “convenient” delays have been a frustration thus far.

Suzuki Carry 405
Are vehicles like this really doing so much harm that they have to be legislated off the roads?

For now, the strategy for the legal effort is a work in progress, but Kazuya notes that cracks have appeared in the way the kei ban is being effectively implemented. Official guidance has previously instructed staff to identify imported Japanese vehicles by the length of their VIN numbers in a crude attempt to stop kei-class vehicles from slipping by clerks who are unfamiliar with such models.

According to Kazuya, the scattergun approach by Georgia’s DMVs has been a total farce. “At the beginning of this ruling we couldn’t even get new titles for a Toyota Land Cruiser… The DMV clerk looked me in the eye and said a gigantic J80 Land Cruiser was a Kei car,” he says. “We have since, through the efforts of Lefkoff Law, made the DOR back off [on] mass blanketing all JDM cars but the fight is obviously not going to stop there.”

In itself, it’s not a gotcha, but it suggests that clerks may have falsely discriminated against certain vehicles in a broad attempt to keep kei cars from getting a title. Kazuya has called for anyone that has been denied a Georgia title for an imported vehicle, kei or otherwise, to contact him with details to help support the case.

Kazuya estimates that affected owners with stripped or denied titles could range into the thousands. “The main negative impacts beyond the obvious… is that the value of people’s personal properties have substantially lowered,” he explains, adding “If you spent any amount of money on a kei car only for it to no longer be road legal, the car will suffer a very heavy value loss.”

For now, it’s early in proceedings, and Kazuya is playing his cards close to his chest when it comes to legal strategy. It appears Kazuya has the support and backing of a small but proud group of Georgia enthusiasts. “The fundraising from the crowd has been humbling and extremely effective and I thank them truly,” he says, noting that he has the utmost concern that the effort is handled appropriately. “We personally paid multiple consultation fees to multiple law firms before we landed on Lefkoff Law and had a strong policy that we wouldn’t touch any of the GoFundMe money until we had a firm direction of where we are taking this fight.”

What happens next is anyone’s guess. We could see long and protracted legal wrangling with an eventual victory, or we could see Georgia crush the kei car movement under heel with new legislation or a win on some obscure technicality. It’s clear though, speaking to Kazuya, that he strongly believes in this cause, and will push as hard as he can to right what he sees as a serious wrong against the car community.

As a car fan myself, I’ve got to back the efforts of those trying to free the kei car. They may not be built to modern standards, but nor is any other vehicle—domestic or foreign—at the age of 25. If there was grand evidence that kei cars were hurting people, it would be a different story, but I’m yet to see evidence supporting that assertion. Indeed, many deaths on our roads can be put down to oversized modern vehicles with poor visibility and pedestrian protection, and those keep getting titled. If you’re interested in helping JDM enthusiasts in Georgia fight the state, click here to view the GoFundMe page.

One hopes that sanity will reign and that the enthusiasts will get their day in court. These little vehicles aren’t hurting anyone, and they deserve their place on the road.

Image credits: Mercedes Streeter, Tennen-Gas – CC BY SA 3.0

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144 thoughts on “Enthusiasts In Georgia Are Trying To Sue The State DMV Over Kei Car Ban”

  1. Land of the free (to force others to be like you). Anyone driving these is well aware that they aren’t as safe as a modern large vehicle, so let them live their lives as they want—enjoying it instead of revolving every decision around fear like the cowards who are so afraid of getting killed that they forget to live. Certainly, they’re no threat to anyone else—less even in an incident of a pedestrian impact, which is less likely to happen with much better sight lines, better maneuverability, and taking up less space. And what of safety? Crashes are impossible to predict the outcome of, but maybe the odds are in favor of being killed in a serious crash in a kei car vs potentially being permanently injured, disfigured, or left in constant pain in something larger. Some of us would prefer just being killed instantly.

  2. If the number of characters in the VIN is the only factor for making the Y/N decision, a Georgian won’t be able to register any car prior to 1981, when the standardized 17-digit VIN was established under FMVSS 115, Part 565.

    Kei car/truck enthusiasts are probably a small bunch in Georgia, but just you wait. When folks are told they can’t register their 1957 F-100 or 1966 Mustang (because the VIN doesn’t have enough characters), there’s gonna be problems.

    1. This is a good idea for them to try for more support—call it an attack on classic and specialty cars. Sure, it’s based on a slippery slope argument, but that seems to work for just about every other lobby and the stretch isn’t so far that Armstrong couldn’t make it.

      2. That doesn’t matter under the Georgia rule. It simply says that if the VIN doesn’t have 17 characters, a Georgia resident may not register it. Period. Full stop. Those cars don’t have 17-digit VIN, regardless of where they were sold.

  3. Bicycles are considered vehicles and can be ridden on the road legally… Kei cars need to be considered legal too. There’s no safety argument that can ignore bikes on the road without coming across as hypocritical or ignorant.

    1. How bicycles are regulated as road users varies somewhat from state to state, but they are not considered vehicles for vehicle regulatory purposes in any state. As users they are considered vehicles, but are often classified under different terms, which wording I cannot recall, that essentially say that they are permitted but do not have the same rights as motor vehicles. This can sometimes be problematic when a motorist hits a cyclist.

      1. My comment wasn’t a reference to the regulations surrounding bicycles/Kei cars. But, since you mentioned it, in my state bicycles have the same rights as motor vehicles and must follow the same road laws.

        https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/driver-education-and-safety/special-interest-driver-guides/bicyclists-pedestrians

        I’m just pointing out the flaw in their argument regarding safety, as bicycles (and by extension, motorcycles) are legally allowed on roads and offer less protection than a Kei car.

      2. STFU Bryan, “conservatives” have spent the last 50 years riding Republican knobs while simultaneously calling them RHINOS. Republican politicians are anti freedom all the time. Democrat politicians are anti freedom most of the time. “Liberal and woke” aren’t running Georgia’s legislature.

  5. I have to say that from over here in the UK it’s seems very strange that you have a branch of the government trying to ban a thing on the grounds that it’s unsafe, and the thing they’ve decided to pick out of all the potentially unsafe things is little Japanese cars, and not guns.

        1. That’s another thing that varies by state. In Rhode Island where I live, helmets are not required for the operator. However, in neighboring Massachusetts, helmets ARE required.

          I really wish things could be standardized from state to state, SO many different rules/regulations.

    4. UK has ridiculous eBike laws (and literal sting operations, police operations, crackdowns) which to me seems even sillier than cracking down on Kei cars.

      1. At least with ebikes in the UK the law is straightforward and applied equally (ie it doesn’t matter if the bike is imported from Japan or made in your shed): If it has more than 250W (about 0.3HP) and/or goes faster than 15mph then it’s classed the same as a motorbike and has to comply with a bunch more regulations. Personally I think those limits could be higher, but the rational behind them makes sense.
        Electric scooters on the other hand, those laws are bollocks. Effectively, all electric scooters are illegal on the road and the pavement (sidewalk). Except there’s an exemption carved out for companies that hire scooters. So basically anyone can hire a scooter and drive it on public roads, but if you bought your own scooter, that would be illegal.

      2. There is much about the UK that is extremely silly, and often stupid and evil. We’d all be better off scraping the whole thing and starting again.

  6. I’m guessing most of these DMV people aren’t enthusiasts (of anything) and somehow heard of Kei cars, since it’s a memorable and precise category. I guarantee they haven’t heard of, or thought about, weird old British roadsters.

    Also I’m guessing a decent population of normies basically thinks “Japan? Drift!! Fast and/or furious!!” and acts accordingly.

    When you have a bureaucratic hammer everything looks like a nail…

  8. Wait, Americans arguing to be allowed to have smaller, sensibly sized, fuel efficient vehicles (that don’t rely on Rube Goldbergian advanced tech for fuel efficiency, just light curb weight and small displacement)? Yeah, good luck finding a sympathetic jury on that one, most of the jury pool probably considers a new Ford Ranger to be a tiny econobox

  9. I have to believe the AAMVA is being advised by a special interest group made up of SXS and ATV and golf cart manufacturers. I doubt the big automakers even care. I’m glad I live in NC and could register my Suzuki Every van for road use.

    1. The big automakers do not care in the slightest about someone owning a 25-30 year old classic car as a weekend toy. Or the handful of committed enthusiasts with limited daily travel who might attempt to daily one

      They would care if the FMVSS age exception was a lot lower, like 10 years, but we have the 25 year rule in the first place because that seems to be the age that made the auto industry comfortable enough not to challenge it.

      Also, if this was automaker driven, they’d be petitioning Congress and NHTSA to just repeal the 25 year exemption entirely, not going state by state and only targeting one specific class of vehicle.

      I’m also not sure it’s driven by SxS/UTV manufacturers either, because none of this is going to make kei trucks illegal to import for off-road use on private property, so they’ll still be cheaper and more capable SxS alternatives for those applications, and none of the states doing this are ones that license side by sides for off-highway use on public roads. You could argue that a go anywhere/do anything vehicle that can be used both on road and off might be cutting into their sales, since someone can use one kei for the same stuff they would normally need both a truck and a UTV for, but it also seems to me that those manufacturers would be really afraid to force this issue – since it could snowball to states that do allow you to put a license plate on a UTV and ultimately cost them sales

    2. It is. I’ve checked their sites. They literally are funded by UTV and ATV companies, and the threat they fear is people buying road-legal Kei trucks instead of UTVs and ATVs.

  10. Since a kei car is a specific category from a specific country, can they make a specific case why those shouldn’t be allowed while other models are? Would a Bedford Rascal be fine while a Suzuki Carry would not? Same car, but one is a Japanese model – and thus a kei van – while the other is British – and thus not.

    Are there dimensional restrictions? Height would probably be the main one – something short is a lot harder to see than something tall, a Honda Beat sits well below the window line of a lot of taller cars. But then you get into tricky territory again – that Suzuki Carry I mentioned is taller than a Hyundai Sonata.

    Are there power restrictions? A Honda Beat has more power than a same year Geo Metro.

    I can understand the justification for idea – even if I disagree completely – but there’s no concrete definition of a kei car that doesn’t also take out a bunch of other cars. Since this only seems to apply to Japanese imports, it is – dare I say it – a touch racist.

    1. Not only motorcycles, but vintage cars in general. A model T is probably more dangerous in an accident than a kei car, and we’ve all seen the Malibu vs Malibu crash test. None of this should be banned.

  12. New york recently banned all kei cars as well- used to be just trucks. The DMV page now reads ‘Kei class vehicles are not legal to be registered in new york state’.

    1. It was in July 2022, IIRC. I was sweating bullets because my kei car’s NY registration expired two months later. I’ve renewed it twice since, so it seems that they are (so far) not purging the rolls.

        1. Yep – I am hoping for a big enough Christmas bonus to be able to afford an LLC, in case I won’t be able to renew my plates next year. Should I tell my wife it’s for tax reasons?

  13. Georgia DMV literally has no clue what makes something a kei car. What about a European-market Daihatsu Cuore from 1986, with a lusty 612cc engine? It exceeds kei car regulations at the time. What about a 1992 Suzuki Jimny with overfenders? If it’s wider than 1395mm, it’s not a kei car. Does the Georgia DMV go read the Japanese legal code or do they check the Japanese registration? Lots of classic mini cars, Lloyds and Messerschmitts and the like, meet the kei dimension regulations – does that make them kei cars?
    If you want to get legalistic, a kei car is a specific registration category which only exists in Japan – once it is no longer registered in Japan, it is no longer a kei car. Voilà!

  14. A lot of this is determined by the political lean of the states- Some have a clear agenda to push us all into self driving EVs protected by womb like airbags all around. Some like South Dakota allow anything from ATVs (no helmet required) to 90 ton 78 wheel 100+ foot long road trains on the same roads!

      1. Occasionally we get an independent thinker in government, for better or worse- For example, my state of Minnesota is light blue, but the DMV has been pretty reasonable and lets us register all kinds of strange wheeled vehicles.

        1. I’m from the reddest state in the country, and the JDM scene is HUGE, with tons of kei trucks owned by every imaginable demographic. I think people here would get their guns out if the state tried banning kei trucks…

          1. It feels like we get the worst of all worlds: it’s a breath of free air from outside the border (bureaucrats hate that), it’s not uniform and boring (Democrats seem to dislike that), they’re small and fuel efficient (Republicans not on board), and they’re Asian (cue all the rice rocket hate).

            1. Yeah the republicans here are more the “let me buy what I want and get off my back” type, which happens to be conducive to lots of freedom of choice for imported vehicles. There aren’t even emissions tests here, it was decided that was too much of an intrusion. There are the typical huge trucks everywhere, but outside of that there’s a surprising amount of diversity.

    2. I’m not entirely convinced political lean has a ton to do with this. There’s gotta be a reason it’s happening only on the East Coast thus far, despite the AAMVA’s guidance for all DMVs to do this. Washington and California allow Kei cars, as do Midwestern blue states. You’d think California would have been the first to axe these little rides, but so long as it meets smog, Cali will let you have it.

      1. I think it’s just that state DOT employees within a certain region tend to move within the same professional circles – they’re going to the same regional conferences at the same hotel airports, attending the same continuing education classes from the same outside vendors, they’re exchanging business cards with each other and getting on the same mailing lists, etc. A California DMV administrator probably isn’t going to fly out to Indianapolis for a conference on vehicle registration policies, they’ll wait for something similar to come up in Reno or Spokane, but someone from Georgia or Maine might go to that one

  16. Curious.. What about an Isetta? Some sh-tty kit car that your uncle Buck slapped together over a case of PBR? A 50 year old british p.o.s. with a wood frame and no seatbelts?

    Or are they just some angry old guys with an axe to grind against kei cars?

    1. Those are fine! Officially, the AAMVA recommends banning any vehicle that doesn’t meet FMVSS from the road.

      Since FMVSS wasn’t really applied until the 1968 model year, that’s a lot of cars that shouldn’t be legal anymore. Technically, this should also mean that every 25+ year old import, regardless of size or country of origin, should be banned from the road. But, you don’t see these states going after the Renault Twingo or Doug DeMuro’s Mercedes A-Class. It’s stuff like the Mitsubishi Delica (not a Kei) and Kei cars getting the axe.

      1. Much of FMVSS still doesn’t apply to trucks over 10,000 pounds GVW- Air bags still aren’t required. I was driving an ’86 Freightliner for a while and asked the mechanics if the could install a 3 point seat belt and they told me there were no mounting points. Didn’t get 3 point belts until we got some Freightliners with Mercedes cabs a year later, they rode a lot better too. The cab of the legendary R model Mack and many other trucks were so flimsy that when they had to be lifted off the chassis several points of support were to be used, and that cab remained in production through 2006.

      2. At that point you could argue the banning of Kei cars specifically, while allowing all other vehicles that don’t meet FMVSS, is racist as it targets Japan only.

        1. Can’t you say that about anyone who drives anything that doesn’t meet current model year safety standards? What about the guy driving a 1970 Volkswagen Beetle or a 1991 Toyota Camry? All the kei vehicles on the road in the United States are antiques (25+ years old)

          1. The financial risk of needing to support someone with devastating injuries after a crash through higher auto insurance rates or Medicare/Medicaid expenditures.

            You know, the exact same risk from people who operate any type of vehicle that has little or no crash protection regardless of where it came from. The cost to society argument can’t apply to kei cars unless it also applies to motorcycles, bicycles, and any older car that has woefully inadequate crash protection compared to current standards.

          1. Actually, you have it backwards. I have vehicles (76 Jeep and 69 Mustang) that firmly put me in the passing it onto other people camp.) I’m just aware of it.

        4. I would rather people be driving around in very small vehicles posing a risk primarily to themselves if they do something stupid, than big vehicles that will likely harm somebody else if they do something stupid.

  18. The other thing not often mentioned that makes me even more frustrated with Kei Car bans is that they make excellent vehicles for medium to large sized developments are maintenance vehicles or for small businesses in cities to use for delivery and pickup. It’s one thing to say they’re too dangerous to be fully street legal, but yet most if not all states have low speed vehicle exemptions that Kei cars fit perfectly into. They’re more practical that a golf car or a side-by-side for errands or small tasks, yet are cheaper and tiny enough to be hugely practical when space constrained.

    1. Even low speed exemptions would be a problem, my 95 Alto Works can easily keep up with traffic and go highway speeds. It’s faster than the Nissan Be-1 that I used to have, which isn’t a kei car, and also probably faster than a lot of cars sold in the US from decades past that are still on the road.

      2. That’s absolutely fair. I should’ve clarified that newer than 25 y/o kei vans/trucks are in the US under that low speed exemption with some modifications. My favorite way these things get in legally is the manual ones are “converted” to be single speed. This means they literally weld a plate over the shifter that gives you first and reverse. That’s it, just a tack welded plate, but it works, and yet THAT is fine in so many places, despite being reversible with a Dremel in 10 minutes, but a an honest to goodness 25 year old import is somehow unacceptable.

  20. I think this has less to do with the technical specifications and safety features of kei cars, and is mostly just a goober “I ain’t never heard of that” kind of thing.

  21. To be honest, most of Georgia has no idea what Kei car is. Sure, there is more familiarity with them in places like Chamblee or Buford, but go to places like LaFayette, Elijay, Tiger, Hiawassee, Hahira, etc, and people will look at you and say “what are you talking about?”

      2. My cousin laughed at me for my correct pronunciation as for the Marquis de Lafayette…being a history nerd, I actually know who they named the town for. French pronunciation is La-Fee-Et.

          2. To dive off the cliff of name pronunciation, a transcript of a conversation with my boss about the town of St. Brieux, Saskatchewan.

            Boss: “They’re located in St. BREE-i-ous”
            Me: “It’s St. BROO”
            Boss: “That’s some terrible mangled Saskatchewan pronunciation.”
            Me: “Well that’s what they call themselves.”

    1. Correct, and none of those people answer phone calls or emails. I’m unsurprised they’re not answering the lawyer that’s suing them. We’re still looking into getting past that barrier, even if it means showing up to one of their meetings.

        1. Seems wrong, but it’s legal. Officially, the AAMVA does no actual rulemaking. But, since the AAMVA consists of DMV administrators, they just take off the AAMVA hat, put on their DMV hat, and go cause a ruckus.

          I’m somewhat curious why this has stayed on the east coast. I’ve been waiting for my state (Illinois) to follow suit, but it hasn’t. Admittedly, I’m not in a rush to ask why.

  23. I’m still struggling with the logic and reasoning on this ban, and have concerns on where this will stop. Will motorcycles be banned next? Or classic cars that don’t have modern safety features or emissions controls? People take a risk when driving these kinds of vehicles, but the risk is really only to the people that CHOOSE to drive them or ride in them. It’s not like a kei car poses a higher risk of hurting someone in another vehicle. This is where I can at least understand the squatted truck ban argument more… that can have an impact on the safety of other drivers.

    I know when I drive my MGB that I’m taking a higher risk than if I hop in one of my modern cars. So I stick to secondary roads, rarely take it on roads with speed limits above 55 mph, and drive very defensively.

    My philosophy has always been one of, if it doesn’t harm others, let people do what they want.

  24.  Indeed, many deaths on our roads can be put down to oversized modern vehicles with poor visibility

    If the other vehicle is a kei car, a midsize sedan fits this description.

    I oppose most bans, including this one, but I do understand the reasoning.

    1. And yet, motorcycles are still allowed. Sure, Georgia actually does have a helmet law, but it just seems odd to me that they can say kei cars are too dangerous, but motorcycles aren’t? I say this as an avid motorcyclist. Plus, how many potential kei cars are we even talking here? My state also bans kei cars, which I find ridiculous.

      It’s also funny because I can legally drive my ’65 in my state, and it’s got no air bags, no seat belts (well, I just added some), no safety anything, it can easily go over 100 mph… that’s allowed.

      1. To play devil’s advocate, a potential difference is that you can’t put a kid on a motorcycle (or not easily). In a very real sense, you take only your own life, and potentially the life of a fellow consenting adult, in your hands on a motorcycle.

        Banning old cars is not practically done and would create an outcry.

        Again, I oppose this ban. Just kicking around some reasons why it feels different to me.

        1. I’ve seen entire families on a scooter including 1-2yo kids.

          You can do it. In reality it’s not done often but neither is a kei car full of kids.

        3. People put kids on motorcycles all the time, at least where I live. The scary thing is that I often see parents putting bicycle helmets on kids before putting them on the back of a Road Glide. That helmet is a nice gesture, but will do little more than ensure the kid’s brain has a bucket when a texting driver mows you down…

          There’s just so much low-hanging fruit out there that’s worse than a Kei car. Ford Model Ts are legal to drive down the road, even though they cannot even achieve state highway speed limits, and were built during a time when safety standards did not exist.

          Even worse are states like Maine, where the state is attacking any JDM import, not just the Keis. Buy a Toyota Century? Maine isn’t cool with that. Buy a Renault Twingo? Sure, that’s ok.

          Hopefully, the further down the rabbit hole we fall, we might find someone at the AAMVA to help this make sense. Why only JDM imports? Why not all pre-FMVSS cars, as their proposed legislation clearly says? I think we already have an answer to that last one. Classic car owners would riot if it were illegal to drive a Tri-Five or other old iron.

    2. Not necessarily, a lot of the kei vans are relatively tall so it would be easier to see one of those verses something short. Hell a Honda Beat us actually taller than a first-gen Viper RT/10 (going by Wikipedia numbers, at least).

      I mean, the average woman is shorter than a Suzuki Carry but I should hope that you can see one when driving an F350 (though I don’t think she would be going highway speeds we’re talking visibility.)

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