# WHy do the Germans and Japanese have these limits on their automobiles? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 13, 2002, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-germans-and-japanese-have-these-limits-on-their-automobiles/128336 "2002-09-13T20:00:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 2\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2002, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-germans-and-japanese-have-these-limits-on-their-automobiles/128336/1 "2002-09-13T20:00:27Z")
High performance Japanese and German cars have a 280ps power limit and 155mph speed limiter respectively. These limits seem to be described as “Gentleman’s agreements,” in magazines I have read. Where did they originate and is there any legal reason for them to have them. ---
**Author:** ![RufusLeaking](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c5a1d2/32.png) [@RufusLeaking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RufusLeaking)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2002, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-germans-and-japanese-have-these-limits-on-their-automobiles/128336/2 "2002-09-13T21:04:33Z")
Some years ago there was a movement to have the German government put speed limits on the autobahn, but this was meeting a lot of resistence from drivers. The car manufacturers took the pre-emptive strike of installing (155mph) speed limiters on their cars afterwhich this movement lost steam. The car manufacters also had a valid point that the tires they put on the cars are not rated past this speed and could fail if driven faster than this on a continuous basis. In fact, the speed limiter is set lower than 155mph when tires with a lower speed rating are fitted. Apparently, individual car owners can have this speed limiter disabled without incuring any penalty from the government if they can find a mechanic to do it for them. I don’t know what the story is in Japan but surmise the power restriction is an attempt to save fuel.