IEDEI

A fellow Audi enthusiast Carson has launched a new petition on the Whitehouse.gov website to gather signatures to discuss making the rules to relieve the stringent rules on US automobile importation laws.  Currently the US government run NHTSA does not allow importation of automobiles which have not been specifically crash tested by US standards.  The catch here is that other countries, including the EU have even MORE stringent crash testing standards than the US very often—-which begs the question, why does the US have such incompatible safety testing standards as compared to the rest of the world?  Even Canada has much easier rules for getting cars into the country, allowing manufacturers to be more experimental in their lineups.

Let’s take for example the tempting Audi RS3—-which was, as of a couple of months ago—–being debated by Audi of America as a possible import into the US market.  Then they decided they would NOT import the car into the US market.  Despite the fact that the 8p A3/RS3 body is already crash tested in the US and despite the fact that the TT-RS engine and drivetrain (same as the RS3) have met safety standards—-it was not financially feasible for Audi to bring in the RS3, as they would likely never recover the costs of having to cross all the hurdles it would take to get it on market.   I even sent an email to Audi of America asking if the RS3 was coming to the US, before i ended up buying my 2012 A3 quattro—-they told me “no” so i bought my car the next day.

Will this petition work?  The chances are slim—–as I think these rules mainly benefit US carmakers, and allowing more imported cars to make it over here would only cut in further to US carmaker sales.  BUT HEY! it is worth a shot!  25,000 signatures needed.  At time of this post, 343 achieved.  I, of course, being one of the earliest.

It takes 1 minute to sign up—-so please go and sign it! We have nothing to lose—-and spread the word!

LINK: Whiteouse.gov Petition