tobias.wehr@gmail.com wrote in news:1183542454.579183.13020
@q75g2000hsh.googlegroups.com:

Try asking the NHTSA itself.
http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/rules/import/

Clicking the third item in the list on the home page will take you to a
page listing Registered Importers who carry out conversions.

Don't bother. It'll cost more than it's worth.

Hope you have LOT'S of money. The conversion is going to cost you as
much as a new car in the US. You would be MUCH better off selling it and
buying one in the US.
Also YOU cannot import it yourself. You have to use a registered
importer who will ask you for a bond of 150 percent of the value of the
vehicle.

Your going to need a new emission control system, new exhaust system
with all the proper hardware and a different engine computer to control
it. May also need safety items like air bags and US legal bumpers and
glass, US legal headlights and such.

As others have said, don't bother!  (& this applies even though you just
bought it & your wife loves it)  You'll spend big bux on the conversion - if
it can be done at all - and you won't have the same car afterwards. It won't
perform the same, much like German beer in Germany isn't the same when it's
imported here.

Not only do you have to worry about emissions, but also crashworthiness,
headlights, glass, brake lights and so on.   Your car has euro-spec
headlights.   US-spec lights produce a different pattern of light.  One
difference I know of is that euro-spec lights do not allow any light above
horizontal, or very little. US spec lights do, otherwise how would you see
the overhead signs on the interstate?  (I suspect in Europe such signs are
lighted, which is impossible over here due to the sheer number of such
signs)

Since the Swift isn't sold here, you probably can't find drop-in
replacements for the headlights.  The entire headlight assembly needs to be
replaced, not just the bulb.  And that's just one item. There could be many
more.

The euro-spec catalytic converter will most likely have to be replaced -
will the US-spec replacement even fit in the same spot?  If the US-spec
converter runs hotter, will it melt something that's not expecting such
heat?

How 'bout the speedometer/odometer?  It's probably metric.  If it's not
electronic, you'll have to convert km/h to MPH. Do you want to do that all
the time?   That will get old pretty quick.  Again, you probably can't find
a drop-in replacement since the Swift isn't sold here.  if it is electronic
then there's probably a "US/Metric" switch or setting somewhere.

And, if you take the car on a trip to Florida or some place far from home,
what will you do if it breaks down & needs a part?  Flatbed it back home?
Not likely.

Leave it in Europe. Buy something else when you get here.