The powersports industry is lobbying Washington legislators after a failed attempt to exclude youth motorcycles and ATVs from a new law aimed at protecting children from lead in toys.

The Motorcycle Industry Council (MIC) and Specialty Vehicle Institute of American (SVIA) launched a letter-writing campaign at the Dealer Expo 2009 in Indianapolis. It calls for the exclusion of youth off-highway vehicles from the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) of 2008, which went into effect three days before the expo on Feb. 10.

“We’re implementing a full-court press at the Dealer Expo,” said Paul Vitrano, general counsel for the MIC and SVIA. “We are rallying everyone in Indy.”

The two associations distributed pre-printed letters during the show, and made computers available to dealers so they could sign letters being sent to members of congress and the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC).

Passed last August, the CPSIA was prompted by numerous high-profile recalls of children’s toys and other items. In its language, the CPSIA identified certain parts of a mini bike as having lead in excess of 600 parts per million, which the new law prohibits.

The law’s lead restriction effectively bans all 85cc, 70cc, 65cc and 50cc displacement mini bikes, a category Vitrano estimated a $14.5 billion a year.

“This situation is serious and we are very concerned about an unintended consequence of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act,” he said.

The MIC and the SVIA lobbied the CPSC to exclude youth off-highway weeks before the laws effective date, but those efforts were denied by the CPSC. The commission also denied on Feb. 5 a request for emergency stay by the two associations and the National Association of Manufacturers CPSC Coalition. It claimed it did not have the authority under the law to grant such a stay.

The coalition and the two associations, however, argue that the CPSIA does include provisions to allow the commission to grant exclusions, and that the law was never intended to apply to youth off-highway vehicles.

“With right-size models being unavailable to families, we may see more kids out on adult ATVs and we know that this leads to crashes. The CPSC, the ATV industry, consumer groups, safety advocates and parents all agree that it’s critical to keep riders under the age of 16 off of large ATVs designed for adults,” Vitrano said.

Besides the safety issue, industry experts and dealers are concerned about how the law will affect already declining sales and industry-related jobs.

The MIC estimates nearly 100,000 youth bikes were sold in the
United States in 2008, although some were for children 13 and older, which are not affected by the ban.