25 Year Car Ban in the U.S.
Environment/Safety Hazard or U.S. Economy Booster?
The idea behind the 25 year ban
The 25 year ban known as the Federal Imported Vehicle Safety Compliance Act of 1988 states that cars not produced in the United States or made specifically for the United States can not be imported into the U.S. legally. This law states that the car has to be at least twenty five years old before they allow it come to the U.S., anything before that has to be rigorously checked and modified to comply with our standards, which is very costly. The claim is that these cars do not meet emission and safety standards. The real question is if they do not "meet" these standards now what will change in the 25 years? Also realistically there are still millions of American made cars that are 21 years or older that do not meet these standards. Many believe this solely law was enacted to force Americans to buy new domestic cars to increase our economy.(1)(2)
NHTSA
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is the government funded organization who controls the importation of all cars and "regulates" the safety and emissions requirements. (1)
Old American built or imported cars already in the U.S.
"Nationwide, about 70% of the 238 million cars and trucks in use are 1996 or later models, the Environmental Protection Agency says. Cars older than 1996 models account for about one-fourth of miles driven but contribute more than two-thirds of total auto air pollution, says Joel Schwartz, an environmental consultant in Sacramento." Along with the older cars, there are new cars such as diesel trucks that produce large amounts of black smoke. (3)
Volkswagen scandal
As many of you had heard on the news lately, the Volkswagen turbo diesel vehicles been found to be creating more pollution that assumed because of an illegally program computer to trick the readings of smog so it could pass all the requirements. This was done knowingly and illegally but in reality almost all the cars enthusiasts want to import would be causing less pollution than the Volkswagens.
The Outcome
This law prevents hundreds of thousands of car enthusiasts from having their dream cars. The United States is ashamed that these foreign auto manufacturers create better cars than the United States. The government only enacted this law to try to promote domestic car sales and increasing the United States economy. There are no hard cold facts that this cars many of us want to import are unsafe or cause more pollution than the average joe car.
Fast and Furious 4 - Tuning scene
Fast the Furious Four
In this video one of these cars is illegal in the United States and one is legal. Dom's Chevelle is legal in the United States and probably produces twice as much pollution as Brian's Skyline yet it is illegal. Both cars have about the same amount of safety features yet the foreign built Skyline is not allowed in the United States ruining many of car enthusiasts dreams.
(R.I.P Paul Walker)