[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 49, Volume 5]
[Revised as of October 1, 2002]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 49CFR565.4]

[Page 158-159]
 
                        TITLE 49--TRANSPORTATION
 
                            OF TRANSPORTATION
 
PART 565--VEHICLE IDENTIFICATION NUMBER REQUIREMENTS--Table of Contents
 
Sec. 565.4  General requirements.

    (a) Each vehicle manufactured in one stage shall have a VIN that is 
assigned by the manufacturer. Each vehicle manufactured in more than one 
stage shall have a VIN assigned by the incomplete vehicle manufacturer. 
Vehicle alterers, as specified in 49 CFR 567.7, shall utilize the VIN 
assigned by the original manufacturer of the vehicle.
    (b) Each VIN shall consist of seventeen (17) characters.
    (c) A check digit shall be part of each VIN. The check digit shall 
appear in position nine (9) of the VIN, on the vehicle and on any 
transfer documents containing the VIN prepared by the manufacturer to be 
given to the first owner for purposes other than resale.
    (d) The VINs of any two vehicles manufactured within a 30-year 
period shall not be identical.
    (e) The VIN of each vehicle shall appear clearly and indelibly upon 
either a part of the vehicle, other than the glazing, that is not 
designed to be removed except for repair or upon a separate plate or 
label that is permanently affixed to such a part.

[[Page 159]]

    (f) The VIN for passenger cars, multipurpose passenger vehicles and 
trucks of 4536 kg or less GVWR shall be located inside the passenger 
compartment. It shall be readable, without moving any part of the 
vehicle, through the vehicle glazing under daylight lighting conditions 
by an observer having 20/20 vision (Snellen) whose eye-point is located 
outside the vehicle adjacent to the left windshield pillar. Each 
character in the VIN subject to this paragraph shall have a minimum 
height of 4 mm.
    (g) Each character in each VIN shall be one of the letters in the 
set: [ABCDEFGHJKLMNPRSTUVWXYZ] or a numeral in the set: [0123456789] 
assigned according to the method given in Sec. 565.5.
    (h) All spaces provided for in the VIN must be occupied by a 
character specified in paragraph (g) of this section.
    (i) The type face utilized for each VIN shall consist of capital, 
sanserif characters.