Vehicle identification number
In 1981, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration of the United States standardized the format.
[2] It required all on-road vehicles sold to contain a 17-character VIN, which does not include the letters O (o), I (i), and Q (q) (to avoid confusion with numerals 0, 1, and 9).
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.
Compatible but different implementations of these ISO standards have been adopted by the European Union and the United States.
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.
(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 or Poland.
For instance, Stellantis, the result of the merger of PSA (France) and FCA (Italy), is technically a Dutch corporation headquartered in Amsterdam.
VIN numbers 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 VIN numbers with new French WMIs (the 2024 Lancia Ypsilon – incidentally manufactured in Spain).
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.
One element that is inconsistent is the use of position nine as a check digit, compulsory for vehicles in North America and China, but not Europe.
This may include information on options installed or engine and transmission choices, but often is a simple sequential number.
The North American implementation of the VIS uses the 10th digit to encode the model year of the vehicle.
On April 30, 2008, the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration adopted a final rule amending 49 CFR Part 565, "so that the current 17 character vehicle identification number (VIN) system, which has been in place for almost 30 years, can continue in use for at least another 30 years", in the process making several changes to the VIN requirements applicable to all motor vehicles manufactured for sale in the United States.
A VIN with straight-ones (seventeen consecutive 1s) has the nice feature that its check digit 1 matches the calculated value 1.
The VIN is marked in multiple locations: normally in the lower corner of the windshield on the driver's side, under the bonnet next to the latch, at the front end of the vehicle frame, and inside the door pillar on the driver's side.
