Move over, Ford and Chevy: Kei trucks are pulling up as customers opt for smaller, cheaper vehicles
The Japanese-made trucks have gained a cultlike following, attracting small-business owners seeking affordable alternatives to traditional pickup trucks.
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Reminder that due to the chicken tax, these vehicles have to be 25 years old before they can be imported.
The big problem is, these vehicles were built to 30 year old safety standards - no vehicle from the 1990's (except maybe a SAAB, and even then they're not strong enough anymore and will fail a small offset frontal) can compete with a modern car in safety requirements.
There is also the fact that these vehicles have been around for 25 years, and have that amount of age and wear on their platform - they won't be as strong as they originally were off the production line.
no vehicle from the 1990’s (except maybe a SAAB, and even then they’re not strong enough anymore and will fail a small offset frontal) can compete with a modern car in safety requirements.
Americans keep building bigger trucks and raising speed limits, then bemoaning how small vehicles aren't safe enough to survive an 80mph impact with a 10,000 pound vehicle.
You think these Keis are dangerous? Try riding a bike.
I'd love to ride a train to work. Play on my steam deck on the way home and not have to worry about getting stuck in traffic for hours. Visiting Washington DC and riding the metro everywhere ruined me, now I look at a five lane at road and say "This is bullshit!".
Even if you could get a new one, I don't think they'd meet US safety standards. Not even close.
Mind you, the US has to have stringent safety standards because we have gigantic vehicles in the first place.
Kei vehicles are exempt from most Japanese safety standards, because they're meant for city driving with max speeds of 40-60 kph and everyone driving them knows and acknowledges that you're just fucked if you get into an accident at speeds higher than that (and not doing great even at 40kph). It's an explicit trade of safety for lower cost
I call bs, a motorcycle provides way less protection. And which states are they illegal in? Lobbying and another money grab from corporations in our "free market" society. I would love one of these BTW.
Motorcycles have different licensing requirements, and come with caveat emptor that they are inherently unsafe in a motor vehicle accident.
That's not to say bikes don't have any safety at all... there is R&D that goes into making them safe in a collision... as safe as they can be.
Why can't we just accept that the KEI is less safe then?
Anyone who buys a Kei car already knows this just by looking at it.
That's not to say bikes don't have any safety at all... there is R&D that goes into making them safe in a collision... as safe as they can be.
Yup. I survived a high-side collision after being sideswiped by an SUV. Thanks to modern safety gear, I only had minor injuries with little long-term beyond an ankle to lets me sense slight changes in atmospheric pressure.
I'm always shocked by this. In a world with seatbelt laws, crumple zones, backup cameras, pinch protection, etc we allow people to ride motorcycles that consistently get injured or killed. How they haven't gotten banned or stupidly restricted is beyond me. Even with a motorcycle lane, getting in a wreck at 75mph would be seriously bad.
In my state, I'm pretty sure you can ride a motorcycle legally with a helmet and a tshirt on, but get pulled over and fined for not wearing a seatbelt, lol.
The seat belt is to prevent you from being thrown through the glass and body/frame of the vehicle. Because that's generally what kills unseatbelted people in a wreck. A motorcyclist will be thrown from their vehicle if hit but is much less likely to hit that vehicle at 70mph. That's why you dress for the slide so to speak. It's about how you land as much as anything. And when you're inside a vehicle and being tossed around you are basically a reverse pinata.
And if you get it from Japan it's right hand drive so visibility of the incoming lane is crap as well...
Also, for Kei trucks specifically, cab over engine vehicles are unsafe in frontal collisions no matter what, even modern ones, that's why there's no regular passenger vehicle built like that anymore and it's only heavier vehicles (like moving trucks) that have this setup, they don't fall under the same safety regulations.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24499113/
Conclusions: Although we are generally concerned that drivers of small vehicles suffer more severe injuries, our results suggest that, for real-world accidents, K-cars provide similar safety for drivers involved in frontal collisions as standard vehicles in low delta V impact conditions.
Not all Kei cars are Kei trucks with cab over wheels.
"Low delta V impact". I'm sure a car from the 50s deals with front collisions at 30kph fairly well, but go watch a crash test at highway speeds and tell me you would feel safe.
Freaking lol
Thank god someone said it. This comment makes the most sense of any of the comments I've read so far.