The Polaris Slingshot

[spuwho]

4 wheeled open air vehicles are the rage in Europe with the Ariel Atom and the KTM Crossbow.  KTM, Polaris and others have petitioned the US NHTSA to permit the same in the US. Federal law in the US requires 4 wheeled or more vehicles to have safety measures as well be subject to EPA guidelines. Since the Crossbow and other like them are technically "4 wheeled cycles" as opposed to a true automobile, the makers were hoping they could spread interest in the products.

The NHTSA did not agree with them so in response, they have been making what by law is still considered a "motorcycle", just with 3 wheels.

First there was the CanAm Spyder, now we have the Polaris Slingshot.







What makes this different is that the driver (or rider) sits down like in a car, not sitting up like a typical motorcycle. While some scooters let you "sit down", they aren't bucket seats like this.

I predict that after the first frontal or side collision where there is a fatality, a lawsuit will result in a federal ban on these, which will be unfortunate because open air riding/driving is blast. The Slingshot simply takes advantage of a loophole in our motor vehicle code.