[Code of Federal Regulations]

[Title 49, Volume 6]

[Revised as of October 1, 2005]

From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access

[CITE: 49CFR565.4]



[Page 172-173]

 

                        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



[[Page 173]]



plate or label that is permanently affixed to such a part.

    (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.