# Vehicle Identification Number Key: `identity.government.vin` 17-character alphanumeric code uniquely identifying motor vehicles. Uses characters A-H, J-N, P, R-Z, 0-9 (excludes I, O, Q to avoid confusion with 1, 0). Encodes manufacturer, vehicle attributes, and serial number. Page: Samples: `1HGBH41JXMN109186`, `WVWZZZ3CZWE123456`, `JM1BK343551234567`, `5YJSA1DN5DFP12345` ## Background ### Origin VINs were first used in 1954 in the United States.[[1]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_identification_number) In 1981, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration of the United States standardised the format.[[1]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_identification_number) In the United States the VIN is set out in 49 CFR Part 565, which specifies the format, content and physical requirements for a vehicle identification number.[[2]](https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/49/565.10) Part 565 says the rules are meant to make it easier to look up vehicle identification information.[[2]](https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/49/565.10) It also says they are meant to make vehicle recall campaigns more accurate and efficient.[[2]](https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/49/565.10) Under Part 565, each VIN consists of seventeen characters.[[3]](https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/49/565.13) The characters allowed are capital letters, excluding I, O and Q, and the digits 0 to 9.[[3]](https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/49/565.13) Every space in the VIN must be filled.[[3]](https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/49/565.13) ### Use Part 565 divides the VIN into four sections: positions 1 to 3, positions 4 to 8, position 9, and positions 10 to 17.[[4]](https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/49/565.15) The first character of the fourth section, position 10, represents the vehicle model year.[[4]](https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/49/565.15) Position 11 represents the plant of manufacture.[[4]](https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/49/565.15) For high-volume manufacturers, positions 12 to 17 hold the number sequentially assigned by the manufacturer in production.[[4]](https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/49/565.15) The letters U and Z and the digit 0 are not used for the model year code.[[1]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_identification_number) Position 9 holds a check digit, which is zero to nine or the letter X.[[4]](https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/49/565.15) To compute it, each character is given a value, multiplied by its position's weight, the products are summed, and the total is divided by 11.[[4]](https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/49/565.15) The check digit is compulsory for vehicles in North America and China, but not in Europe.[[1]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_identification_number) NHTSA's Vehicle API includes a Decode VIN service that returns the decoded output as key-value pairs.[[5]](https://vpic.nhtsa.dot.gov/api/) The API also supports partial VIN decoding, for VINs of fewer than 17 characters, with an asterisk marking unavailable characters.[[5]](https://vpic.nhtsa.dot.gov/api/) NHTSA recommends always sending in the model year with a decode request.[[5]](https://vpic.nhtsa.dot.gov/api/) ### Where you'll meet it The United States National Highway Traffic Safety Administration publishes a Vehicle API that decodes VINs, including in batches of up to 50 VINs per request.[[5]](https://vpic.nhtsa.dot.gov/api/) ## Sources 1. [Vehicle identification number](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_identification_number) — secondary source 2. [49 CFR § 565.10 - Purpose and scope.](https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/49/565.10) — documentation 3. [49 CFR § 565.13 - General requirements.](https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/49/565.13) — documentation 4. [49 CFR § 565.15 - Content requirements.](https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/49/565.15) — documentation 5. [Vehicle API](https://vpic.nhtsa.dot.gov/api/) — organisation