This is an echo back to the 70s, when gas prices were high and there were strict controls over Japanese economy cars. Why didn’t American manufacturers make smaller cars? Well, “no one wanted them” was the line. Miraculously almost as soon as those same Japanese cars started to be allowed on our streets, suddenly Detroit figured out how to make them and dragged them kicking and screaming into the next eras.
Good companies innovate to keep their customers. Bad companies legislate to keep their customers.
Which one do you think is happening more today?
I mean, it’s probably not safe in a crash at highway speeds (if it can even reach those speeds), but then neither are motorbikes and we allow those…
It’s got to be better for the environment and wallet than those stupid Ford monster trucks. Especially since these would only attract people who actually need to carry large amounts of stuff about, rather than those who once needed to transport a fridge four years ago.
They do ok against regular sized cars, just yours are insanely big.
As a five foot tall person, I’ve been in love with Kei trucks since I frist saw one. I don’t have one (I don’t have any car), but I would if I could.
It’s taller than my old mk4, and similar size to a standard 4 door sedan. I think I saw a video comparing the bed of a Kei truck to the bed of a new monster drive.tough.mydickisbig.I can’t see children ahead of my bumber so they become projectiles, type trucks… and the Kei truck holds more cargo.
Isn’t there a sin against vanity? These giant trucks are more dangerous than these smaller ones, and they dont serve a purpose outside of vanity.
Those huge trucks are also not save in any crash. At least for the other person.
Any crash involving an “american sized” car will be worse than two of these small trucks coliding
Getting hit by one of those trucks at 30 MPH has as much force as a Honda civic at 130 MPH.
Fuck modern pickups.
A Honda civic weights ~1100kg. The kinetic energy of a vehicle is proportional to v2. Therefore, a vehicle going at 30MPH delivering the same kinetic energy as a Honda civic at 130MPH needs to weigh in at 1302/302*1100kg or 20tons. Modern American trucks are too big and heavy but not that big and heavy I think
Either my source is wrong or memory. What’s the equivalent speed for a civic going 60? Or the speed of a fully loaded truck vs a 30 civic?
There is a reason the guy in the article bought a 1990. The US has a 25 year rule for importing vehicles that weren’t sold here. These became legal in Utah a few years ago because they made off road side by sides legal as long as you made some modifications (horn, turn signals, mirrors, etc). There’s a particular weight range they need to fall between. They also have to hold the same insurance requirements and registration as any other road vehicle. I don’t think they can be used on any road above 45.
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I don’t know about other country, but this truck rider in my country (Indonesia) are relatively safe.
People usually using this for everything, like portable shop, human transportion on the back (only legal on small village or remote area), etc.
I still remember riding one on the back for scout activities :)
Yeah we have them, and similar vehicles, on the roads here in the UK. They are fine for carrying medium loads, they’re great in busy cities, economical, easy to park.
I live in Japan and drive a kei-car that’s kinda like a van. 660cc engine (my motorbike is 400cc). I plan on probably eventually getting one of the trucks like in the thumbnail for my farm business. Ask me anything, I guess, if you have questions about them.
How common are the EVs versions over there?
I didn’t know about this so I did some searching. Per https://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/20250507/k10014798141000.html
昨年度、国内で最も売れたEVは日産と三菱自動車が共同開発した軽自動車で、会社はそれと同じ水準の260万円程度の販売価格を目指すとしています。
Last year, the most domestically-sold EV was a kei vehicle which I didn’t know.
We citizens need to change the laws to highly tax those oversized vehicles. And we should make them commercial use only. Average people don’t need huge trucks. K-cars are quite cool.
Unfortunately taxes are kinda the reason why we see so many oversized trucks on the market and the reason you don’t see any small trucks anymore. It’s a result of manufacturers and lobbyists gamifying the EPA regulations that came out like 10-15 years ago.
Basically trucks under a certain weight have to meet a certain mpg standard otherwise they’d be taxed at a higher rate. However, there was a bypass for heavier “super-duty” trucks, so now most every truck being sold is classified as a super-duty which were originally meant to encompass “working” trucks meant to haul things like equipment.
It’s really just another symptom of our government being a joke and the result of regulatory capture.
I feel like the gas and the monthly cost of the loan they took out against their mortgage is probably tax enough.
I genuinely believe most of these super-truck owners already have one foot in the financial grave and are just in denial about it.
Clearly not, because these dickheads are out there driving vehicles that are way over-specced for their use cases, all because they have tiny penises and need to compensate! Some of these things are that tall that you can’t see an average height adult standing in front of the grill from the drivers seat.
Yeah, and they’re not even needed, except as an emotional support vehicle for their impotent owners. Very few are working vehicles - how often are they seen with the bed loaded up?
I play a game if I’m ever like, waiting at a red light with one. Could I fit my couch in their truck bed? This massive, beefy truck that may have cost nearly a 100k…
I dont think my couch would fit in most of their truck beds. And I laugh at the idiocy of owning such a machine that is useless.
I remember my redneck hick uncles talking so much shit when extended cabs became a thing in the 90s. I don’t know the bigots anymore but I think they called in right with this non practical trucks.
I rarely see anything in the back of these Earth killing things. And where I live, every idiot owns a diesel version. Louder and dirtier.
A coworker was telling me all about how “once you own a truck, you realize all the things you can do with a truck that you couldn’t before”
And like, he’s not wrong but all the things he listed were my non-urgent to-do list that I keep written down and when it has 3-4 items I rent a truck from Uhaul for the day. I spend about $20 while they’re spending thousands on their monthly payment, not to mention gas.
In 2018, i had to talk a roommate out of buying an F150. He wanted to buy it because we were moving… Two miles down the road. We lived in the valley, and he was going to school in Hollywood. Imagine driving 30-40 miles, daily, on the 101, in bumper to bumper traffic, with Los Angeles gas prices. I showed him some napkin math and he ended up getting a Honda Civic and renting a uhaul.
This made me think of the SNL Californians.
Hence the need for a higher level of licensure in order to operate one.
OP is not talking about semi trucks
Most of these new trucks might as well be
Japan basically takes those cars off circulation by taxing the ownership to the point that its better to get rid of them as they age. Its great for us who want them in their sub-par age. But we might also want to think about doing the same.
You’re not allowed to drive those? Why not?
Edit: article touches on it. Low top speed and missing safety features. They aren’t fit for highways but not all roads are highways, so outright bans are stupid.
The other thing to keep in mind is that a lot of US vehicles are missing the same safety features. Where’s the seatbelt and airbag on a motorcycle, for example? A lot of semis also don’t have airbags at all.
Even at 55mph they’re actually not that unsafe in a sane country with sane cars- the driver is so high up that they’re ‘above’ the crash (t’s the same reason semis don’t have air bags- they’re not as needed)
… unless you’re in the US and driving around a dick-measuring contest pavement princess that puts you eye level with a semi truck so you can murder small children easier, that weighs 8000lb.
Yes, they can’t go 70mph, but that basically just limits them to not being able to go on highways and interstates, which is perfectly fine- frankly, we need to have less things being hauled that way, the highways will last longer and our microplastic issue will be largely solved if we stop shipping things in the single dumbest, least efficient manner.
Finally… modern kei trucks DO have a lot of those improvements. They have airbags, seatbelts, all the modern safety features, and can go 60mph. Keep in mind, in most cases semis have to go 5-10 under the speed limit anyway, which means they can basically hit the same speed limits as semis. We just aren’t even currently allowed to import the modern kei trucks.
Motorcycles are a bad example, because safety regulations for them are completely different due to the way they function. Moto gear with a helmet provides better overall protection than an air bag with seatbelts in a car. Also a seatbelt in a motorcycle would be a death sentence.
That’s one of the laughable things in the article. They keep talking about the emissions and safety but they’re talking about the older vehicles that are being used in the US because the older vehicles are the only ones that are allowed to be used in the US. They don’t even come close to mentioning the new vehicles that are being made that have all those safety features and better emissions.
It’s a plain and simple fact is that these vehicles threaten profit margins of the dealerships that sell the unnecessary monster trucks that are primarily sold in America.
P.S. The emissions thing is especially stupid since trucks tend to be exempt from a lot of emissions regulations anyhow.
My electric golf cart goes up to 33 mph max. I had to put lights on it but I got it titled, insured, and plated. I have to keep it on 35 and under roads but I take it all over the place instead of driving my car. Seems silly these trucks couldn’t be approved for at minimum 45 and under roadways.
Can you go from coast to coast without getting on a highway?
How often is the average driver going coast to coast?
This is the part I always chuckle about when someone talks smack about EVs as well. What does the average driver commute these days? Doesn’t seem like much - I’m figuring roughly 30 minutes could be anywhere from 5 to 30 miles depending on where you live.
Sounds like a perfect solution for most people.
Regardless of your daily commute, charging can still be a pain if you are unable to charge at home. Though with non-Teslas being able to use superchargers, that does help close some of the gap.
I think they make an excellent 2nd vehicle for households that have 2 (or more) cars though.
Yes.
They banned fucking tuktuks?!
How the hell am I supposed to be Cruisin’ USA without my Sardine Supreme?
Are you Parker Posey in White Lotus
@dwazou
I live in Japan and I have driven trucks like this a lot. They are common work trucks. I also rented one a few years ago when I moved. They are much safer than American vehicles. First thing is they are lighter and smaller. Getting hit by a pebble going 60mph or a bowling ball going 60mph is much different. The driver is all the way to the front which means if someone or something is in front of the truck, they can see it. They have big vehicles here too. Kei cars are fine. #FuckCarsdeleted by creator
Tell me, where’s the crunch zone in a Smart car? How about on a motorcycle? Have you ever been in a minivan? Have you seen how small the “crunch zone” is on one of those?
Not to mention if you get into an accident with a fucking SUV in any car that is not another SUV you’re fucked. It’s the SUVs that should be fucking banned. Not the cars that would be completely destroyed by them.
These are all over the place in Victoria. It’s still idiots in big pickups that are smoking all the pedestrians. Weird huh?
This is what is so dumb. Safety is only ever considered for the people INSIDE the vehicle. It’s insane.
Pedestrian fatalities have been increasing in the last few years, even as vehicle (i.e. inside the vehicle) fatalities have been trending down.
That’s America for you. It’s also the reason American cars can’t be sold in Japan without modifications.
I mean, also because American cars have the steering wheel on the wrong side.
A lot of today’s safety standards are based on pedestrian protection, that’s why pop up headlights aren’t a thing anymore for example.
Pop-up headlights = bad
Vehicle that sits up high enough to strike you in the fucking head = OK
Not all vehicles are truck
Manufacturers intentionally make trucks bigger in the US to dodge restrictions, they also don’t sell them in Europe so they can do whatever they want on that front
So you think a mini truck with the front completely flat is any better?
Dude. You can’t look at modern American vehicles and tell me they are designed with pedestrian protection in mind.
I mean… It’s regulations that are in place, I don’t make the rules, all I know is that the shape of cars need to respect certain criterias to help pedestrian safety in case they get hit, including making sure they’re deflected on the hood and not under the car for example. Crash avoidance systems, obstacle warnings will be mandatory in 2029 and that’s a US regulation…
It really feels like people on here only think about trucks that are exempted from certain regulations when talking about cars, well I look at the roads around me and not all vehicles are trucks.
The US has no ped safety rules for the front end of cars/trucks. Europe on the other hand…
And most cars are built to sell in both markets, crazy right?
There is no American regulation against pop-up headlights.
https://blog.betterautomotivelighting.com/why-dont-cars-have-pop-up-headlights-anymore
Guess what, manufacturers want to be able to sell their vehicles in multiple markets so they follow European regulations for cars made to sell in the US.
why aren’t they allowed now?
us auto industry has reletively higher crash saftey requirements. part of the reason why everythings so damn big.
the kei trucks are basically rear end death traps if you hit US sized vehicles.
its why the only ones you can legally drive in some states are the ones that pass the 25 year car import law.
some areas explicitly ban it (e.g NYC i believe)
EU: Your truck is unsafe because it is unusually large and has razor sharp edges at head height.
US: Your truck is unsafe because it is too small to withstand a direct hit from one of our super safe giant axe head shaped cars.
“The only way to protect yourself from a giant truck is to have your own giant truck”
Now where have I heard of this logic before? 🤔
No pre installed firearms… Very unsafe…
Reminds me of an old NES game: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RoadBlasters
Yessss, what a blast from the past!
Yeah, I swapped the third cupholders for the pistol holster on my dodge.
I’m thinking of buying a ford F1-9001 for my next truck. They have quick-access assault rifle holsters.
the good, the bad, and the dodge ram.
I understand now allowing them on the freeways, but they’re perfect for cities with their smaller footprint and lower driving speeds. These aren’t allowed in NYC, but Escalades are?
I don’t understand how states can ban an otherwise legal vehicle
They don’t make inflated profits for US companies. That’s what this is about
Cause they’re not really safe to drive. Older US made cars are technically grandfathered in because as time progresses, there will naturally be less and less of them to the point where they won’t be much of an issue on public roads (when was the last time you saw a model t driving down your road other than for a parade or something?). However, a lot of kei trucks were really meant to just be farm vehicles with more utility, so safety wasn’t ever a real hallmark of their design. I considered buying one a while ago, but came to the conclusion that they might actually be less safe than an old S10 which wasn’t really that much bigger.
Safety standards for family vehicles: ok, sure
Safety standards for non-family vehicles: fascist overreach
The Mini, Yaris, and many other modern cars pass crash -test standards. I do not consider them big.
Kei trucks have basically no crumple zone or front bumper. They are cab over designs, so if you hit something, you’re basically the first thing that takes the impact.
The newer ones have all the modern safety features (crumple zone, bumper, ABS, etc). But of course we aren’t allowed to import the modern ones.
If something goes max 5 kph, shouldn’t it do fine on all the crash tests?
You don’t have to make something bigger. Sometimes just making it slower works too.
Maybe they could tweak the design a little. Make it like a Chevy Spark with a rear bed.
A compact car ute
Because they used emissions standards in the 80s to remove light trucks from the market. Which is why everything is bigger now, blowback: unintended consequences of shitty legislation.
They used the “Chicken Tax” to remove light trucks on the 80s, not emissions issues.
Ford used to skirt the law by having Transits made in Europe shipped to the US as passenger vehicles. Once in the states they would recycle the seats and replace the rear windows with panels.
They generally don’t meet safety requirements.
How do they do in crash tests? Are there blind spots?
Cars a death machines. We need to regulate them.
Low speeds isnt a risk. But if it’s a danger to its occupants or pedestrians/cyclists, it shouldn’t be on the road
They do fine in crashes… Against normal sized cars. They get absolutely obliterated by trucks and SUVs.
Most of them don’t go over 55, and aren’t highway legal because of that.
I am definitely going to die if I get hit by an SUV on my motorbike, but I’m free to drive that to work all the time. I fail to see how a mini-car is materially different while we allow other dangerous vehicles on the road by the same definition.
Can’t your motorbike go over 100kmph?
Right, but your motor bike isn’t a threat to the companies that line lawmakers pockets to provide us with only large expensive and mostly useless trucks.
Thank you Colorado
These trucks work pretty great up here in Seattle and the surrounding areas. They hold very close to as much as a full size American 8ft truck, plus a lot of em have sides which fully fold down.
Is this common the the Seattle area? I see one dude driving one all the time near me. Always give him a wave and he waves back. Are they legal in King county only? Or whole state?
