What is a VIN?
The 17-character code that identifies one vehicle. Recall lookups use it to tell whether that exact vehicle is in a campaign and whether it has been fixed.
Since model year 1981, US vehicles carry a 17-character VIN in the format set by 49 CFR Part 565. The letters I, O and Q are never used, so they cannot be confused with 1 and 0.
Positions 1–3 are the World Manufacturer Identifier (WMI), 4–8 describe the vehicle (model, body, engine, restraint system, as the maker defines), 9 is the check digit, 10 the model year, 11 the assembly plant and 12–17 the production sequence number.
A recall usually covers a range of VINs, not a whole model, which is why two cars of the same year and model can get different answers from a VIN recall check.
Sources
Related terms
- VIN check digitThe 9th character of a North American VIN: a digit 0–9 or X calculated from the other 16 characters, used to catch typos and fake VINs.
- WMI (World Manufacturer Identifier)The first three characters of a VIN, which identify the manufacturer and the region or country where it is registered.
- VIN model year codeThe 10th character of a VIN, a letter or digit that encodes the vehicle's model year on a 30-year cycle.
- NHTSA campaign numberNHTSA's ID for a safety recall, such as 26V606000: the two-digit year, a letter for the recall type and a sequence number.