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"Cé hé sin" (michael-m-mouse) 01/02/2019 at 18:53 • Filed to: Smart Roadster

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It was never sold there and is not yet old enough to be safe enough and clean enough to be officially imported, but there are about half a dozen Smart Roadsters in the US and three of these are said to be registered for legal road use.

Spamfeller Loves Nazi Clicks > Cé hé sin 01/02/2019 at 19:02

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“Legal” road use by way of Florida. Which will register a banana if you put a sticker with at least 8 numbers and letters on it.

WilliamsSW > Cé hé sin 01/02/2019 at 19:09

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And I’d be willing to bet that Miss Mercedes has all of the US owners on speed dial. :)

Cé hé sin > Spamfeller Loves Nazi Clicks 01/02/2019 at 19:12

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The Lane museum have one which is road legal in Tennessee , presumably under a “show and display” exemption. .

DaftRyosuke - So Long and Thanks for All the Fish! > Cé hé sin 01/02/2019 at 19:38

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ORLG drove a Brabus one 

Spamfeller Loves Nazi Clicks > Cé hé sin 01/02/2019 at 19:47

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It’s not road legal anywhere and it’s not actually a permanent registration. Their annual fundraiser drives are held on what is legally a non-public road, which means the vehicles are exempt from federalization as well as plating requirements.

The Smart Roadster doesn’t have an actual show and display exemption ( there’s an actual list ) and does not appear on the Eligible for Import list either,   and is therefore illegal. Import requires BOTH NHTSA and EPA approvals. You cannot import without both, and without EPA approval, it cannot go on the Show and Display list.

However, my suspicion is that they ended up her e using a technical loophole to cheat things. Read the Eligible for Import list very carefully. I’ll help you out: NHTSA-2003-16401, NHTSA-2003-15428.

Basically, same year Smart Fortwos were granted full eligibility , and deemed to not require modification . Everything was “identified as needed to conform to the standard would not preclude the vehicles from being deemed eligible” and applied to all trim levels . Despite Smart Automobile’s objections. So my guess is that the Roadsters were illegally imported as “Smart Fortwo”s on the full eligibility ruling.

facw > Cé hé sin 01/02/2019 at 20:08

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Road legal in the sense that some state was convinced to offer plated. The F ederal government could still go crush them if they felt like it, because they weren’t legally imported for road use.

boredalways > Cé hé sin 01/02/2019 at 21:52

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The real question is how long will it take Miss Mercedes to get her hands on one of her own?

ranwhenparked > Cé hé sin 01/02/2019 at 23:22

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Its the federal government’s job to keep noncompliant vehicles out of the country and to find them and destroy them if they make it in.

However, vehicle registrations are a state-level responsibility, and most states really don’t care whether a vehicle complies fully with federal law, as long as it can pass whatever criteria they proscribe for registration. Basically, in my state, that just means it has to have working brakes, lights, indicators, driver’s window, and windshield wipers, have a tightly sealed fuel cap, pass a tailpipe emissions test, and have a VIN.

However, if someone from the EPA or NHTSA ever finds out you have such a nonconforming vehicle, they have the full power and authority to seize it anytime they want, regardless of whether it has a legal registration from your state. 

RiceRocketeer Extraordinaire > Cé hé sin 01/02/2019 at 23:34

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I swear I’ve seen one in the Malibu canyons.

Lokiparts > Cé hé sin 01/03/2019 at 09:34

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I still remember the time I saw one of these in the US, i t was even a Brabus version . I was on my way into work at a military installation and it was directly in front of me heading into the base . It looked so small and alien compared to the cars around it. I remember getting into the office and furously G oogling Brabus to figure what the hell it was because that was the only badge on the exterior. I distinctly remember that, because at the time I had never even heard of Brabus and I thought that was either the make or model.

I wish I could have taken a picture of it but this was literally like 11 or 12 years ago and the camera phone I had at the time would have been almost completely useless. It had to have been some kind of diplomat or something who temporarily imported his personal vehicle, because it still had European tags on it... and as I unfortunately found out, because they never actually sold these cars here and they wern’t legal for import.

When I worked on that base I saw diplomatic imported cars pretty regularly, but most were fairly common models . This is still the only one that has ever stuck with me after a ll those years. I wonder if it is one of the ones that is still here in the states.

Cé hé sin > Spamfeller Loves Nazi Clicks 01/03/2019 at 09:39

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What prompted my post was an American Roadster owner (doesn’t say how he managed it!) posting on a FB Roadster page looking for a part, as Merc dealers in the US won’t consider supplying and those in Europe won’t ship there.

The owner said, and I can’t comment on how true it is :

“ From what I know I have one of 5-7 cars in North America and I know mine is 1 of 3 that was legally imported and is legally registered and insured.”

Spamfeller Loves Nazi Clicks > Cé hé sin 01/03/2019 at 12:10

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For very generous definitions of “legal” only. None of them were legally imported, period. Not a single one. BUT if you successfully exploit a loophole or error and get the paperwork that says it’s “legal,” it’s a done deal more or less.

Theoretically NHTSA or EPA could drop the hammer, come seize it as import fraud, and crush it (especially if it’s one of the cars imported for conversion.) But for a whole 3-5 cars? It’s not worth the enforcement effort.