A vehicle identification number (VIN; also called a chassis number or frame number) is a unique code, including a serial number, used by the automotive industry to identify individual motor vehicles, towed vehicles, motorcycles, scooters and mopeds, as defined by the International Organization for Standardization in ISO 3779 (content and structure) and ISO 4030 (location and attachment). There are vehicle history services in several countries that help potential car owners use VINs to find vehicles that are defective or have been written off.
History VINs were first used in 1954 in the United States. From 1954 to 1965, there was no accepted standard for these numbers, so different manufacturers and even divisions within a manufacturer used different formats. Many were little more than a serial number. Starting in January 1966 the US government mandated that a 13-character VIN be used. This specification was phased in over several years. US manufacturers used them starting in January 1966; by January 1, 1969, all cars sold in the US were required to have the 13-character VIN. The 1966 US specification stated only that the year of manufacture, the engine type, and a unique six-digit number (making up the last six characters) were required—the individual manufacturers could use the remaining five spaces for whatever they liked. This was not much better than what was in use by some US manufacturers before 1966. In 1981, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration of the United States standardized the format. It required all on-road vehicles sold to contain a 17-character VIN, which does not include the letters O (o), I (i), U (u) or Q (q) (to avoid confusion with numerals 0, 1, and 9). This was largely based on the ISO 3779 standard, but is more stringent. After the introduction of the ISO standard, the manufacturers which produced vehicles for the American market very quickly adjusted to this standard. ISO introduced recommendations for applying the VIN standard and its structure, and the VIN was also used in Europe. However, the sets of information contained in it were introduced gradually. For example, Volkswagen started to encode bigger chunks of information during 1995–1997, and the control digit during 2009–2015 for selected models from the group. The VIN control digit is also used, although not in all brand-models. In the European vehicles, it can be found e.g. in Audi A1.
Classification There are at least four competing standards used to calculate the VIN.
FMVSS 115, Part 565: Used in United States and Canada ISO 3779: Used in Europe and many other parts of the world SAE J853: Very similar to the ISO standard ADR 61/2 used in Australia, referring to ISO 3779 and 3780
Components Modern VINs are based on two related standards, originally issued by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) in 1979 and 1980: ISO 3779 and ISO 3780, respectively. Compatible but different implementations of these ISO standards have been adopted by the European Union and the United States. The VIN consists of 17 characters, and only uses capital letters (excluding I, O and Q) and digits (0-9). It comprises the following sections:
World manufacturer identifier The first three characters uniquely identify the manufacturer of the vehicle using the world manufacturer identifier or WMI code. A manufacturer who builds fewer than 1,000 vehicles per year uses a 9 as the third digit, and the 12th, 13th and 14th position of the VIN for a second part of the identification. Some manufacturers use the third character as a code for a vehicle category (e.g., bus or truck), a division within a manufacturer, or both. For example, within 1G (assigned to General Motors in the United States), 1G1 represents Chevrolet passenger cars; 1G2, Pontiac passenger cars; and 1GC, Chevrolet trucks. The Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) in the US assigns WMIs to countries and manufacturers. The first character of the WMI is typically the region in which the manufacturer is located. In practice, each is assigned to a country of manufacture, although in Europe the country where the continental headquarters is located can assign the WMI to all vehicles produced in that region. (Example: When Adam Opel AG was still with General Motors, Opel/Vauxhall cars designed in that era used to carry a "German" WMI (e.g. W0L, W0V), because Adam Opel AG was based in Rüsselsheim, Germany, no matter if vehicles were produced in Germany, Spain, the United Kingdom, Poland or South Korea. When Opel changed hands and became part of PSA, this changed for newer models, which obtained "French" WMIs.) Company mergers and acquisitions can lead to seemingly confusing allocations. For instance, Stellantis, the result of the merger of PSA (France) and FCA (Italy), is technically a Dutch corporation headquartered in Amsterdam. VINs of European-made vehicles or their brands, though, still carry WMIs from France and Italy. Additionally, it may not be immediately obvious what particular local subsidiary of the corporation manages type approvals of vehicles and application for WMIs, since this does not necessarily depend on the perceived country association of the respective brand. For example, in at least one case, a model that was newly released years after the merger by an Italian brand (ex-FCA) carries VINs with new French WMIs (the 2024 Lancia Ypsilon – incidentally manufactured in Spain). It is to be expected that assignment policies of this kind, often for unpublished reasons, can be found at other manufacturers as well. In the notation below, assume that letters precede numbers and that zero is the last number. For example, 8X–82 denotes the range 8X, 8Y, 8Z, 81, 82, excluding 80.
Country or region codes As of April 2019, ISO specifies the following codes per country:
Vehicle descriptor section The fourth to ninth positions in the VIN are the vehicle descriptor section or VDS. This is used, according to local regulations, to identify the vehicle type, and may include information on the automobile platform used, the model, and the body style. Each manufacturer has a unique system for using this field. Most manufacturers since the 1980s have used the eighth digit to identify the engine type whenever there is more than one engine choice for the vehicle. Example: for the 2007 Chevrolet Corvette (C6 Vette), U is for a 6.0-liter V8 engine, and E is for a 7.0-liter V8.
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