My 2011 Ram 2500 was built for export to Canada. On the back of the window sticker it states that the truck was built to Canada specs and not to be sold or registered outside of Canada. It's obviously now registered in the U.S., wondering what the difference is?

One thing that comes to mind is the speedo would have been in kilometers not miles, also would have had daylight running lights (in Ontario for sure). Not sure on other province's.

DRLs are required in all Canada.
Also required since about 2007 is an "immobilizer" which will not allow the car to start if a key with the proper chip isn't detected. It has given Canadians a bunch of trouble, if what I read online is true.

In many cases vehicles for sale in Canada are exact duplicates of those sold in the USA, except for the immobilizer and sometimes the DRLs. The importer has to clear with the USEPA and NHTSA. Usually that is satisfied by letters from the original manufacturer that the vehicle meets US standards.

You can read all about it on line with just a basic websearch.

For emissions a 25 year old vehicle does not have to be EPA certified. That explains the 1993 Nissan Skyline GT parked in our parking lot yesterday.

R.

Not sure on the immoblizer . . . pretty much same as USA, except for Speedo. Used to ALSO have crazy bumper standard that required a USA vehicle brought into Canada, have the bumpers changed . . . think it was about 2005 or so that Transport Canada harmonized with USA . . .

Thanks everyone. It does have daylight running lights and the speedo is in both U.S. and kilometers.

Block heater would be the other difference.

I know from a number of Canadians that went to buy newer vehicles in the US and bring them up there where warranty issues as well.

I thought the immobilizer was a US standard before Canada but with the limited Canadian sales it would have carried over anyway.

I've seen several letters over the years that say "meet US EPA/DOT specifications except labeling" for vehicles being imported. Usually it's the door jamb sticker and EPA sticker under the hood. Different labels used for different markers. There is (I believe) the need to read it in your country speed (KPH or MPH) as the primary on the speedometer. Daytime running lights are another thing. With cars being so computerized now, it's usually a dealer update to software to get it to comply.

Dodge puts that on there because they don't want cross border shopping. On anything newer dodge will void your warranty if you buy across the border because they don't want you saving money.

My 99 Dakota is Canada spec, and has a convertor/o2 setup that even stumps the dealers.

The dash has some bilingual labels too.

After I registered the truck in Maryland I got a recall notice in the mail. I called my local dealer to set up a date to fix the recall, they asked me to read them the VIN. After I did, they asked if I read it correctly, I read it to them again, he said "That's a Canadian truck, you have to bring in your registration to prove you own that truck." I took the registration in that same day to set up an appointment. The truck was first sold in Edmonton, Alberta.

The immobilizer is a Canadian thing. It's not a USA thing. Do a websearch on immobilizer and you'll find all sorts of Canadians who are jealous because they have to have them and we don't. The thing is they don't always work and when they don't you can't start your car. Because they are built into the computer there's no easy way to disable them.

The whole idea was to stop car theft because it was growing in Canada. You know what bad things happen when someone says,"There ought to be a law against it." I guess that's what happened there. They started being required in 2007.

R.

I don't doubt it's happened, but I've never, ever hear a story of someone here who had a problem with a factory immobilizer in a 2007+ vehicle. Some jurisdictions here require aftermarket immobilizers to be installed on certain high-theft vehicles registered in high-theft areas, those ones are trouble prone.

But how many US cars don't come with immobilizers? Any of them I've driven it's identical to the Canadian stuff. And most of the problems in forums seem to come from US posters.
If people are complaining it seems to be more a [censored] fest about having it mandatory in general.