Do you ever feel like the nebish portrayed in Office Space – brilliant movie – who mutters defeatedly about the cake he thought he was going to get?
Remember those Tiny Cars Trump said we were going to get? Where’d they go? Whatever happened to them?
Nothing. They’re still available for sale – elsewhere. Just not here – and probably never will be.
Trump probably spoke before he knew – as seems to be pretty routine for him. He saw the Tiny Cars while he was in Japan and probably wondered why he hadn’t seen them back home, in the United States. He may have just assumed he could issue one of his presidential directives – executive orders – to bring them to the United States and that was sort of what he did – by decreeing they can built in the United States. 
The thing is, there was no law forbidding the building of them in the United States. The Tiny Cars were not built here for other reasons. The chief one being it’s effectively illegal to sell them in the United States. It would be stupid – from a car company’s point of view – to make Tiny Cars in the United States, where manufacturing costs are higher than they are outside the United States – and then ship them across the ocean to the countries where it is Legal to sell Tiny Cars, such as Japan. It makes more sense to just build them in Japan – or somewhere closer to Japan.
Why is it effectively illegal to sell Tiny Cars in the United States?
Because they aren’t compliant with federal “safety” rigamarole. This doesn’t mean they are unsafe. A car that has a built-in defect that could result in loss of control is unsafe. A car that has a built-in proclivity to spontaneously catch fire – like EVs with lithium-ion battery packs – is unsafe A car with “self driving” tech that has a tendency to drive into things – and run over people – is unsafe
Tiny Cars are noncompliant. Some do not have even a driver’s side air bag, which was once true of every car sold in the United States from the era of the Model T through – roughly – the mid 1990s. It is nonsense to claim that all of those cars were “unsafe.” Everyone who is older than 40 today grew up being ferried around in cars not equipped with any air bags at all and here we are, still alive.
All that’s changed is that air bags are now required – by the government. Along with back-up cameras and lots of other things that Tiny Cars do not have that do not make them “unsafe.”
The chief thing they haven’t got – the reason they’re Tiny – is mass. The cars we’re allowed to buy in the United States are massive because they have to be – in order to be compliant with roof crush and side-impact “standards.” A Tiny Car’s roof might crush if you roll one. You will be less protected in a Tiny Car if it is rear-ended or T-Boned by a red light runner. This does not mean the Tiny Car is “unsafe.”
If it does, then all motorcycles are also “unsafe” and on that basis their sale ought to be forbidden, too.
No doubt, there are ninnies – control freaks who use “safety” as the beard for their lust to control other people – who would love to forbid the sale of motorcycles.
The problem is that Tiny Cars cannot be made “safe” – that is, compliant – without making them into something other than Tiny Cars. To make them compliant with federal roof crush and side-impact “standards” would entail a complete redesign and the hulking up of their size and weight, such that they would no longer have the advantages of a Tiny Car and what then would be the point? They’d be pretty much the same as the Heavy (and Huge) Cars we are currently permitted to buy, because they are compliant. 
They’d then also be just as expensive as the compliant cars we’re allowed to buy – because adding the mass and equipment needed to be compliant costs money – and then what would be the point?
Trump may have thought he could decree exemptions for Tiny Cars from some of these standards – which are in fact legal requirements. He may not have thought that through. Imagine the wailing and gnashing of teeth that would ensue if a dual standard system were put into place that exempted Tiny Cars from having to have air bags and having to be compliant with federal roof crush and side impact “standards” but all the other cars still had to be compliant.
It would upend the apple cart – and that would be a fine thing, if you’re one of those weirdoes who still believes people ought to be free to choose what works for them rather than be told by the government what works for it. No vehicle manufacture ought to labor under any burden to make compliant cars. Defective – actually unsafe – cars could be dealt with as needed by the courts, where such things ought to be handled. 
But until the federal government stops requiring that all new vehicles must be compliant to be considered “safe” – and forbids the sale of vehicles that aren’t compliant but are as safe to drive as any vehicle you could buy in this country that was made before the mid-late 1990s – there will be no Tiny Cars available for sale in this country.
That’s why you haven’t seen any in this country – and aren’t likely to. Just like you’re not likely to see those $5,000 DOGE refund checks Trump used to talk about. Remember that? Probably not.
Just as most people seem to have already forgotten about the Tiny Cars that were supposed to be coming – and never will.
. . .
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I personally don’t care too much about the kei trucks, but there were many things over the years like “cycle cars” which were small, nimble, economical transportation with just one or 2 more wheels than a motorcycle.
I also don’t see any restrictions on their use being legitimate, if they can make a minimum speed limit, there is no real reason to exclude them from public highways. It’s on the owner/driver to make sure they’re used safely, which is only disproven by being the cause of a wreck.
“Trump may have thought he could…”
Stop splainin’ your crackpot Q theroies… Your Honor and he talks like a fag!
The answer is simple. We all saw him put that on the head of the DOT to just make it happen. The nessicary pieces are slowly falling into place. I doubt any domestic manufacturers are going to bite given the odds of the rules coming back hard and fast. Maybe if all goes well we’ll have some imports that are competitive against our sloth cars dispite tarriffs sell before the rules come back. For us to start making them here we’d have to have total domination by pro-liberty candidates – victory on orders of magnitude about as likely as arrests from the Epstein files or DOGE coming back and us getting the 1T cuts. The kind of thing that would burn the Dems as a party so hard for long enough for mfg’s to think there will be 4-8 years to sell the small cars we want if they open a plant after the midterms.
I’m hoping we get a good year of imports that will have to be grandfathered in. Maybe 2 model years before the party’s over.
you’re not unscannable are you? why come you don’t have a tattoo??
You will never see any tiny cars that clown has a list 10 feet long if things he was going to do and was lying about why is government dictating what kind of car you can buy anyway completely ridiculous.
The fundamental problem is that there is no consideration of the economic impact of the FVMSS rules. There should be someone on the decision chain considering the cost-benefit relationship between safety rules and the cost to implement the rule, and there obviously is not.
The safety rules, fuel efficiency rules, and emission rules have collectively made motor vehicles increasingly unobtainable through the pursuit of their respective goals with absolutely no regard for the economic impact or technical feasibility of these rules.
Imposing (economically) impossible mandates is an act of insanity.
I’m a bit surprised they haven’t mandated that vehicles produce more gasoline than they consume, solving our energy problems forever, presumably.
Morning, AC!
I’ll take it a step further: The federal government has no legitimate (moral or constitutional) basis for imposing “safety” on us, via decrees that new vehicles must have things such as air bags or meet roof crush standards, etc. This is properly a matter between vehicle manufacturers and vehicle buyers. If a car is defective, then that can be handled as a tort, in the courts. But it is specious to say a car is not “safe” because it does not have air bags or meet roof crush standards, etc. The VW Beetle I drove back in the ’90s was not “unsafe.” Just as a circa 2000 model year Mercedes S-Class is not “unsafe.” But neither car is compliant.
The difference is important.
Actually NHTSA wrote its own report on the cost and weight impacts of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety standards. According to it’s own study, FMVSS added $1900 to the cost of a 2012 vehicle and added 171 #. I believe that both are vast understatements of the real costs, however, it’s a start. The problem is that the report is virtually unsearchable.
I have it in my home computer and hope that I can link to it soon.
I looked it up, here is the link, if anyone is interested:
https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/#!/PublicationList/142
As of 2019, they claim the FMVSS rules add 207.2 lbs in weight to a vehicle, and $2269.21 to the vehicle price. Which, I agree with you, is probably a serious understatement of both.
I like small cars with high fuel economy because it gives me freedom to drive all day long for little expense. Why in the hell do I want a truck < 20mpg, when I can go to the same place for 40-60 mpg? I like tall skinny tires inflated to the max pressure. I like to coast, hypermiling, pulse and glide. Makes a huge difference, and I do it ever day. Just last week I made a loop out to the mountains, did some hiking, and got 46 mpg out of 8th gen Honda Civic with stock fat assed tires (@45psi).
I can imagine getting much higher fuel economy with a Mitsubishi Mirage, little 3 cyl 1.2 liter, a replacement for the Geo Metro in weight, but more hp. I've got this marvelous OBD2 plug in Scan Gauge 3 (SG3), touchscreen mpg reader and everything else. Tells me every kind of thing the engine is doing, including instantenous fuel flow, tank mpg, etc.
Why I drive slow is shown on this chart:
https://mirageforum.com/imgs/graph-speed-mpg-mirage2.jpg
About displacement – with the SG3 you can monitor fuel flow and fuel/air ratio. The smaller the displacement = less fuel flow in idle, which means when you coast your gph (gallons/hour) is decreased. Makes a difference having less displacement during coasting, and starting cold, the engine burns 3x fuel cold compared to warm.
the call this scan gauge electronic crack for mpg fanatics
https://www.scangauge.com/products/productsscangauge-iii/
the first thing you learn using it, pushing on the accelerator kills fuel economy, never rev the engine, never push the accelerator past half way
“ the first thing you learn using it, pushing on the accelerator kills fuel economy, never rev the engine, never push the accelerator past half way ”
Please stay out of the way of the rest of us that actually want to get somewhere or to get more than three cars through an intersection before the light changes red again.
https://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/500/MT_constant-speed-chart.jpg
That’s nice. Its interesting how all of those charts show some big fall off in gas mileage at speedy, yet on a macro level things like the 55 mph speed limit were an absolute failure in terms of overall gas savings despite an overall 7-8 mph reduction in prevailing and average speeds on rural interstate and other types of highways.
The fleet fuel economy of all vehicles in the United States fluctuated from 12.0 to 12.6 mpg from 1970 to 1976 (the 55 mph limit was imposed in 1974). There was little overall change in fuel consumption and in fact, the fuel economy figures were higher in 1970 than they were in 1976.
The unintended consequence of the 55 mph speed limit was a lot of braking and acceleration to get around those who decided to comply with the speed limit.
55 mph was a stupid answer to a question no one asked. It belongs in the landfill
Most people didn’t listen closely to what Trump said. He counted on that for the deception.
Trump said he would have Kei cars allowed IF they were built in the USA. Now he like the rest of us knew that Japanese automakers were not going to set up parallel factories for Kei cars in the USA nor were US companies going to invest in making their own. It was always nonsense from the get go.
A serious proposal would be to allow the tariff free import of Kei cars from Japan right hand drive and all or converted to left hand drive to explore if there was a market for them. But there was no intention of doing that because it wasn’t a serious proposal, it was statement made for headlines and image.
Trump is skilled at throwing dog bones to his base. In reality, Trump was trying to make himself look as a hero, but in reality Trump did nothing. This is typical Trump deceitful behavior, and it is up to us to recognize it and overcome his lies.
He said he was going to “lock her up”
He said he was going to reduce the deficit
He said he was going to end the Ukraine war on the first day
He said he was going to release the files
deport the illegals
never knew epstein
Lies, lies, lies. Trump is a skilled liar to make you think he is doing good works, but in reality he is the King Snake in the pedo swamp, highly involved in the child trafficking network ..
I think that allowing them in with tariffs would encourage them to be built here. But you have to get rid of the entire safety aparat. Time for it to go anyway
Literally, everything out of Trump’s mouth is either a lie, or some rash ignorant impulsive childish babble. This prick is the end of any semblance of traditional Republicanism. From this point on, all Republican offerings will be even further left of what they currently are; and elections will be running full-on unbridled loony leftie blue to the end (Which, hopefully, won’t be far off).
The “former” Democrat Zionist rich-boy real-estate developer from New York City who pretty much bankrupted anything he ever touched, has played his part well; and the unwitting masses (as usual) were not even the least bit concerned as to why they were voting for the Democrat from NYC, who was somehow now suddenly on their side and going to make America great again, for the people whom he despises and counts as ignorant boobs and mocks in the presence of his Jew employers.
Not to be used on the Interstate? Maybe you haven’t noticed but US Interstates are enforced at Zombie Speeds. There is an agreement in Japan that Kei Vehicles be limited to a top speed of 140Km/H (about 85MPH) which is enough for any Interstate in the US. And, being Japanese, these cars can be driven at 130-140 for hours – as long as the highway is flat.
Hi Doug,
Yup!In the early ’90s, I regularly drove a Beetle in DC traffic, on I-495 and I-95. At 70, it was screaming – but it could be done – and I did it. If a Beetle can do it, so can a Tiny Car.
Yep. I had a 1981 Toyota Starlet. All of 158″ long and with 58 HP, the top speed was 87 mph. It would run all day long at 75. With a tallish 5th gear, 3000 rpm was 70 mph, 3200 was 75. All done on 13″ tires.
I miss that little rwd car. Toyota went to FWD starlets in the 1985 model year. They discontinued their export to the States after 1984.
The photo of the station wagon brings back memories of my youth. I used to ride in the back ( sometimes in my flammable pajamas) in a smoke filled cabin thanks to mom and dad and Camels with no seat belts.
I miss those days
I was shocked when I bought Dad’s 2005 Taurus wagon, I poked around in the back and found that it actually had the flip up rear facing wagon seat. I thought that custom had died by the early 80s.
When it comes to the whole idea reducing CO2 emissions, the biggest thing I’m struck by is that TPTB are turning up their noses at things that actually reduce CO2 emissions, and furthermore, are cheap, simple, and actually improve people’s lives.
(Assuming CO2 is a pollutant, of course, which it’s not. But for the sake of argument, assume that it is.)
Tiny cars are one such thing. They are easily affordable to buy and use (many people can pay cash for them), they rely on simple, proven technology, they’re easy and fun to drive, and they produce very little emissions in their manufacturing, use, maintenance, and disposal—much less than most EVs, which merely shift, rather than reduce, emissions, and come with their own environmental hazards.
Another is remote work. Remote work reduces emissions by reducing driving. And any driving you do—even in an EV—creates emissions. Not driving reduces emissions. Yet companies who claim to be focused on “sustainability” are forcing their employees back to the office. (I guess they care more about saving their commercial real estate investments than saving the planet.)
Yet another is nuclear energy. Whenever nuclear energy is discussed, the bogeymen of Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, and Fukushima are raised. Never mind that not one person in the United States has been killed or severely injured by nuclear power—but there are towns near mines and coal fired power plants where almost everyone there has some sort of breathing disorder. Never mind that there are next-generation nuclear reactors that are
far safer and cleaner than the ones approved for use today (there are designs that can’t have a core meltdown, lose coolant, and/or produce less waste or no waste, or waste that can be used as fuel).
All of these things tell me that the goal isn’t really to control emissions or control the climate—it’s to control YOU.
Oh, right – Trump’s such an uninformed loser. /sarc
You people are beyond unbelievable – and pathetic. You’re so blinded by your hate for him you can’t appreciate the wonderful things he’s accomplished to reverse all the damage your people did to our country.
TDS is a beautiful thing.
You mean like being a pedophile rapist and Epstein’s best buddy while supporting genocide?
Completely unsubstantiated claims. Please show the proof.
2010 Toyota Yaris. I own one. It’s tiny. It’s also rated one of the safest cars for its year. It’s a stick…(also came in automatic), And it’s the most enjoyable car to drive I’ve ever had. No computer, no lane assist, just a simple car with an engine that goes forever and a body that last. And I live in the snowy northeast. My son also owns one…and loves it.
Speaking of roll overs.
Around 1975 I was driving along a major street where there were 2 lanes each direction and a middle turn lane. There was a “frontage road” on each side of that that was separated from the main street by a curb. An MBG was in the right lane when someone in a large (LTD?) car pulled in front of him from the frontage road. The B went right and hit the curbing. The MG then proceeded to lift up on its nose and do a pirouette before landing on its roof.
It was dusk and I stopped to help and when I got up to the car there was dark fluid running down the road and David Bowi 8-track tapes strewn about. I thought, this ain’t gonna be pretty. The I heard a guy inside the car scream a bunch of expletives while kicking the door open. Nry a scratch on him. I stayed while the cops showed up and told them what I’d witnessed and left. A while later I was driving home and this poor bastard was hitchhiking home because he had no other transportation. We had quite a chat in my Fiat. The driver that caused the wreck, to my knowledge, was never found.
I’m kng of the tyop…
was it a hardtop? not many MGB’s were.
We use them on bases overseas. I’ve used both mini-trucks and vans. They have domestic applications. They are reliable, economical, and functional.
That said … they have no place on any road with a speed limit over 40. Franky, over 20MPH they’re sketchy. With that limitation in law we should be able to use them for the ‘second car’ instead of the bloated, electronics burdened, 2nd vehicles routinely marketed to families that don’t need 1/2 of any car on the lot.
I always wondered how the Smart ForTwo was allowed to be sold and driven in the US, but not something like Kei cars.
I also wonder why they couldn’t allow Kei cars in the US but not for use on the interstate. They’d be perfect for city only driving. It doesn’t seem absurd when lots of people have a small, lightweight EV for commuting in the city and larger vehicles for road trips. I live far from everything and use back roads to go into town for supplies on the weekends and only use the interstate M-F to get to work. I’d love a Kei car or truck.
In Japan, auto buyers must prove they have an off-street parking space to register a standard vehicle. It must be within 2 kilometers of their residence, large enough to accommodate the entire vehicle, and permit smooth entry/exit. The space can be owned or leased.
Key Requirements and Details
Proof of Parking (Shako Shomeisho – 車庫証明書): This certificate is mandated by the 1962 Garage Act to prevent street congestion, requiring owners to secure parking before finalizing a vehicle purchase.
Distance Restriction: The parking space must be located within a 2-kilometer radius of the owner’s registered address.
Size Requirement: The space must be large enough to hold the vehicle without obstructing traffic or extending onto the road. While keijidosha (kei cars, with yellow number plates) are sometimes exempt from the strict, formal police-issued shako shomeisho in rural areas, many municipalities still require proof of parking for them.
Procedure: Buyers submit documents, including a parking usage consent form (if renting) and a location map, to the local police station.
Overnight parking on the street is banned in Japan, which forces compliance with the proof of parking paperwork. This policy has spread to northeastern US states such as (naturlich) New Jersey, where each pissy little town sets its own ‘car curfew’ hours (e.g., 2 am to 5 am). Ask me how I know …
Regulatin’s got no end to it. 🙁
I’m guessing that almost everyone wants a safer car but that car should still look nice and be drivable. The 1957 Aurora was loaded with multiple safety features but had looks that could curdle milk.
https://www.lanemotormuseum.org/collection/cars/item/aurora-1957/
From the article: “Juliano, in his efforts to build America’s safest automobile, introduced at least 10 new safety features. These included seat belts, a collapsible steering column, puncture-proof tires, side impact protection systems (SIPS), padded dash, and a structural cage around the vehicle, to name a few.”
Sadly modern cars are now chasing a fraction of a percent to increase safety with the end result being that they are uglier and full of blind spots. It’s funny how even cars from 20 years ago were easier to drive and park because you could actually look out the windows.
Tiny cars might be OK as commuter cars but the only way we will ever get to drive one here is to buy a 25 year old one.
Good God, somebody pass me the eye bleach.