Vehicle Identification Number (VIN)

Scope

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), an agency within the U.S. Department of Transportation, requires road vehicles to have a 17-character Vehicle Identification Number (VIN). The VIN system provides a unique number for every vehicle manufactured. The VIN is used to track recalls, thefts, insurance coverage, and registrations.

Regulatory citations

• 49 CFR 565 — Vehicle Identification Number Requirements

Key definitions

• Body type: The general configuration or shape of a vehicle as distinguished by characteristics such as the number of doors, windows, cargo-carrying features, and the roofline.
• Engine type: The power source with characteristics such as fuel utilized, number of cylinders, displacement, and net horsepower.
• Incomplete vehicle: The partial vehicle consisting of at least the frame and chassis structure, power train, steering system, suspension system and braking system. The vehicle requires further manufacturing operations to become a completed vehicle.
• Manufacturer identifier: The first three digits of the vehicle’s VIN that was manufactured by a high-volume manufacturer, or the first three digits of a VIN and the twelfth through fourteenth digits of a VIN of a vehicle manufactured by a low-volume manufacturer.
• Model: The name that a manufacturer applies to a family of vehicles of the same type, make, line, series and body type.
• Model year: The year used to designate a vehicle model regardless of the calendar year in which the vehicle was produced.
• VIN: The Vehicle Identification Number consisting of Arabic numbers and Roman letters that is assigned to a motor vehicle for identification purposes.

Summary of requirements

The Arabic numbers and Roman letters of a VIN each have a specific purpose:

• 1st to 3rd characters: Identify the manufacturer and type of vehicle.
• 4th to 8th characters: Identify vehicle features. For trucks, this includes model or line, series, chassis, cab type, engine type, brake system, and gross vehicle weight rating.
• 9th character: Ensures VIN accuracy as check digit, calculated according to a specified mathematical computation after all other characters in the VIN have been determined by the manufacturer.
• 10th character: Identifies the vehicle model year.
• 11th character: Identifies the plant of manufacture.
• 12th to 17th characters: Represent the number sequentially assigned by the manufacturer in the production process.

Any two vehicles subject to the Federal motor vehicle safety standards and manufactured within a 60-year period may not have the same VIN.

The location of the VIN varies, but in later model years the most common places are on the drivers' door or post, the firewall, or the left instrumentation/dash plate by the window.