On Jan. 16, 2023, the SEMA Action Network (SAN) announced that Maine introduced a bill to allow on-road usage of imported vehicles. The Pine Tree State was deregistering legally imported and registered Japanese-market Mitsubishi Delica vans, as I outlined in my 2021 article, Registration Revoked: Delica Vans No Longer Road Legal. The bill, legislative document 63 (LD 63), introduced by Rep. Shelley Rudnicki (R-Fairfield), seeks to correct this issue.
Maine LD 63 Bill
According to a statement on the SAN website, “At the SAN’s request, State Automotive Enthusiast Leadership Caucus member Rep. Shelley Rudnicki introduced a bill in Maine to allow on-road registrations to be issued for imported vehicles manufactured at least 25 years ago. Under federal law, these vehicles are exempt from federal safety and emissions standards. Current Maine law prohibits vehicles that do not meet these standards from being driven on public roads. The bill currently awaits consideration in the House Committee on Transportation.”
One of the core points of the Delica debacle I wrote about in ’21 was that Maine does not register “off-road” vehicles for road use. Maine defines an off-road vehicle as one that does not meet Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) and therefore doesn’t carry the manufacturer-applied decal showing compliance. This is despite that, on a federal level with proper documentation, people can import cars regardless of FMVSS compliance so long as the vehicle is over 25 years old.
However, vehicle registration is handled by individual states, not at the federal level. At this time, we’re only aware of Delica owners receiving deregistration letters from the state; no other vehicles were affected.
‘Off-Road’ to ‘On-Road’ Vehicle Designation
