Big Texas Wants to Protect Tiny Trucks

A proposed bill would allow owners to register their imported Japanese Kei cars that are 25 years or older.

Honda Acty Kei Truck

Photo by: Honda

Anthony Alaniz

By: Anthony Alaniz

Mar 4, 2025 at 11:27am ET

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Regulations surrounding the import and registration of Japanese mini trucks 25 years or older are complicated. Each state sets its own rules regarding vehicle titling and registration, and that's caused headaches for mini truck owners who legally imported their vehicles under federal law. Activists nationwide have been petitioning their state governments to explicitly protect these vehicles, and Texas is listening.

State Senator Kelly Hancock introduced SB 1816 on March 3, which codifies protections for imported Japanese minitrucks that are 25 years or older into state law. The new bill details what qualifies as a minitruck: "a miniature car, truck, van, or bus manufactured in Japan." It has to have a combustion engine of 1.2 liters or smaller with a top speed of at least 50 miles per hour.

The imported trucks also must have a speedometer, headlights, taillights, turn signals, windshield wipers, and a rearview mirror if the owner wants to title it and operate it on state highways. The bill further protects these tiny trucks in Texas after activists successfully got the state's Department of Motor Vehicles to change its policy that banned these vehicles. However, a policy change isn't law, which this bill rectifies.

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David McChristian, the founder of Lone Star Kei, a Texas-based advocacy group dedicated to protecting mini truck ownership across the country, said in a statement to Motor1 that Senator Hancock’s bill is “a big step toward making sure 25-year-old Japanese miniature vehicles can be legally titled and registered in Texas.” He personally contacted 180 Texas state representatives last year asking them to look into the state DMV’s mini truck policy after he discovered discrepancies in its enforcement.

McChristian also thanked the department for updating its policy, calling it “a huge win for owners, small businesses, and rural communities that rely on them. This bill takes it a step further by locking that policy into state law so there’s no question in the future about whether these vehicles belong on the road."