Parts of the VIN
There are two different standards for the Vehicle Identification Number. The ISO standard, 3779, is copied by the European Union. In North America, a more stringent (but compatible) system is used.
The VIN is composed of the following sections:
| Standard | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 |
| ISO 3779 | WMI | VDS | VIS |
| North American | Manufacturer Identifier | Vehicle Attributes | Check Digit | Model Year | Plant Code | Sequential Number |
World Manufacturer Identifier
The first three characters uniquely identify the manufacturer of the vehicle using the
World Manufacturer Identifier or
WMI code. A manufacturer that builds less than 500 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. Some manufacturers use the third character as a code for a vehicle category (e.g., bus or truck).
WMI Regions
The first character of the WMI is the region in which the manufacturer is located. In practice, each is assigned to a country of manufacture. Common auto-manufacturing countries are noted.
| WMI | Region | Notes |
A-H | Africa | AA-AH = South Africa |
J-R | Asia | J = Japan
KL-KR = South Korea
L = China
MA-ME = India
MF-MK = Indonesia
ML-MR = Thailand
PA-PE = Philippines
PL-PR = Malaysia |
S-Z | Europe | SA-SM = United Kingdom
SN-ST, W = Germany
SU-SZ = Poland
TA-TH = Switzerland
TJ-TP = Czech Republic
TR-TV = Hungary
VA-VE = Austria
VF-VR = France
VS-VW = Spain
VX-V2 = Yugoslavia
XS-XW = USSR
X3-X0 = Russia
YA-YE = Belgium
YF-YK = Finland
YS-YW = Sweden
ZA-ZR = Italy |
1-5 | North America | 1, 4, 5 = United States
2 = Canada
3 = Mexico |
6-7 | Oceania | 6A-6W = Australia
7A-7E = New Zealand |
8-0 | South America | 8A-8E = Argentina
8X-82 = Venezuela
9A-9E, 93-99 = Brazil
9F-9J = Colombia |
List of common WMIs
The Society of Automotive Engineers assigns WMIs to countries and manufacturers. The following table contains a list of commonly used WMIs, although there are many others assigned.
| WMI | Manufacturer |
| JA | Isuzu |
| JF | Fuji Heavy Industries (Subaru) |
| JH | Honda |
| JM | Mazda |
| JN | Nissan |
| JS | Suzuki |
| JT | Toyota |
| KL | Daewoo |
| KMH | Hyundai |
| KN | Kia |
| SAL | Land Rover |
| SAJ | Jaguar |
| SCC | Lotus Cars |
| TRU | Audi |
| VF1 | Renault |
| VF3 | Peugeot |
| VF7 | Citroen |
| VSS | SEAT |
| WAU | Audi |
| WBA | BMW |
| WBS | BMW |
| WDB | Mercedes-Benz |
| WP0 | Porsche |
| WVG | Volkswagen Germany |
| YK1 | Saab |
| YS3 | Saab |
| YV1 | Volvo Cars |
| ZDF | Ferrari Dino |
| ZFA | Fiat |
| ZFF | Ferrari |
| 1F | Ford Motor Company |
| 1G | General Motors |
| 1GC | Chevrolet |
| 1GM | Pontiac |
| 1L | Lincoln |
| 1M | Mercury |
| 1VW | Volkswagen USA |
| 1YV | Mazda USA |
| 2F | Ford Motor Company Canada |
| 2M | Mercury |
| 2G | General Motors Canada |
| 2G1 | Chevrolet Canada |
| 2G1 | Pontiac Canada |
| 2HM | Hyundai Canada |
| 3F | Ford Motor Company Mexico |
| 3G | General Motors Mexico |
| 3VW | Volkswagen Mexico |
| 4F | Mazda USA |
| 4M | Mercury |
| 4S | Subaru-Isuzu Automotive |
| 4US | BMW USA |
| 5L | Lincoln |
Vehicle Descriptor Section
The 4th through 9th positions in the VIN are the
Vehicle Descriptor Section or
VDS. This is used, according to local regulations, to identify the vehicle type and may include information on the platform used, the model, and the body style. Each manufacturer has a unique system for using this field.
North American Check Digit
One element that is fairly consistent is the use of position 9 as a check digit to verify the VIN. This is compulsory for vehicles in North America and is used faily consistently even outside this rule.
Vehicle Identifier Section
The 10th through 17th positions are used as the
Vehicle Identifier Section or
VIS. This is used by the manufacturer to identify the individual vehicle in question. This may include information on options installed or engine and transmission choices, but often is a simple sequential number. In fact, in North America, the last five digits must be numeric.
North American Model Year
One consistent element of the VIS is character number 10, which is required (in North America) to encode the model year of the vehicle.
North American Plant Code
Another consistently-used element (which is compulsory in North America) is the use of the 11th character to encode the factory of manufacture of the vehicle. Although each manufacturer has their own set of plant codes, their location in the VIN is standardized.
Model year encoding
Besides the three letters that are not allowed in the VIN itself (I, O and Q), the letter U and the digit 0 are not used for the year code. Note that the year code can be the calendar year in which a vehicle is built, or a model or type year allocated by the manufacturer. The year 1980 is encoded as "A", and subsequent years increment through the allowed letters, so that "Y" represents the year 2000. 2001 through 2009 are encoded as the digits 1 through 9.
Check digit calculation
Firstly, find the numerical value associated with each letter in the VIN. (I, O and Q are not allowed.) Digits use their own values.
| A: 1 | J: 1 | |
| B: 2 | K: 2 | S: 2 |
| C: 3 | L: 3 | T: 3 |
| D: 4 | M: 4 | U: 4 |
| E: 5 | N: 5 | V: 5 |
| F: 6 | | W: 6 |
| G: 7 | P: 7 | X: 7 |
| H: 8 | | Y: 8 |
| | R: 9 | Z: 9 |
Secondly, look up the weight factor for each position in the VIN except the 9th (the position of the check digit).
| 1st: ×8 | 5th: ×4 | 10th: ×9 | 14th: ×5 |
| 2nd: ×7 | 6th: ×3 | 11th: ×8 | 15th: ×4 |
| 3rd: ×6 | 7th: ×2 | 12th: ×7 | 16th: ×3 |
| 4th: ×5 | 8th: ×10 | 13th: ×6 | 17th: ×2 |
Thirdly, multiply the numbers and the numerical values of the letters by their assigned weight factor, and sum the resulting products. Divide the sum of the products by 11. The remainder is the check digit. If the remainder is 10, the check digit is the letter X.
Example
Consider the hypothetical VIN 1M8GDM9A_KP042788, where the underscore will be the check digit.
VIN: 1 M 8 G D M 9 A _ K P 0 4 2 7 8 8
Value: 1 4 8 7 4 4 9 1 0 2 7 0 4 2 7 8 8
Weight: 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 10 0 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2
Products: 8 28 48 35 16 12 18 10 0 18 56 0 24 10 28 24 16
The sum of all 16 products is 351. Dividing by 11 gives a remainder of 10, so the check digit is "X" and the complete VIN is 1M8GDM9AXKP042788.
Environmental Protection Agency
The mission of the United States
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is to protect human health and to safeguard the natural environment: air, water, and land. The EPA began operation on December 2, 1970. The EPA is not a cabinet agency, but its administrator is normally given cabinet rank.
Mike Leavitt is its current Administrator.
The EPA comprises 18,000 people in Headquarters program offices, 10 regional offices, and 17 labs across the country, EPA employs a highly educated, technically trained staff, more than half of whom are engineers, scientists, and environmental protection specialists. A large number of employees are legal, public affairs, financial, and computer specialists. EPA is led by the Administrator who is appointed by the President of the United States.
EPA provides leadership in the nation's environmental science, research, education and assessment efforts. EPA works closely with other federal agencies, state and local governments, and Native American tribes to develop and enforce regulations under existing environmental laws. EPA is responsible for researching and setting national standards for a variety of environmental programs and delegates to states and tribes responsibility for issuing permits, and monitoring and enforcing compliance. Where national standards are not met, EPA can issue sanctions and take other steps to assist the states and tribes in reaching the desired levels of environmental quality. The Agency also works with industries and all levels of government in a wide variety of voluntary pollution prevention programs and energy conservation efforts.
In July of 1970, the law that established the EPA was passed in response to the growing public demand for cleaner water, air and land. Prior to the establishment of the EPA, the national government was not structured to make a coordinated attack on the pollutants which harm human health and degrade the environment. The EPA was assigned the task of repairing the damage already done to the natural environment and to establish new criteria to guide Americans in making a cleaner environment a reality.
In 1992 the EPA launched the Energy star program.
DARPA
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is an agency of the United States Department of Defense responsible for the development of new technology for use by the military. DARPA was responsible for funding development of many technologies which have had a major impact on the world, including computer networking (starting with the ARPANET, which eventually grew into the Internet), as well as NLS, which was both the first hypertext system, and an important precursor to the contemporary ubiquitous graphical user interface.
Its original name was simply Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA), but it was renamed DARPA (for Defense) on March 23, 1972, then back to ARPA on February 22, 1993, and then back to DARPA again on March 11, 1996.
DARPA was established in 1958 in response to the Soviet launching of Sputnik, with the mission of keeping the US's military technology ahead of its enemies. DARPA is independent from other more conventional military R&D and reports directly to senior Department of Defense management. DARPA has around 240 personnel (about 140 technical) directly managing a $2 billion budget.
ILSAC standards
Oil Ratings
Engine oil is subjected to considerable thermal and mechanical stresses as it lubricates the internal combustion engine. Specific engine oils have properties that make them suitable for specific application. However there are limitations to what an oil can do. Therefore there are several different methods for determining an oil’s suitability to a specific purpose.
As a result a number of engineering associations have determined a range of standards and references that are now uniformly used to identify a particular oils quality and durability. An example of these standards are:
- The Association des Constructeurs Europeans d'Automobiles (ACEA) standards have been developed in co-operation with european vehicle manufacturers and apply to oils used in european vehicles.(The ACEA ratings are referred to as sequences);
- The American Petroleum Institute (API);and the,
- International Lubricants Standardization and Approval Committee (ILSAC) standards which apply to oils used in US produced and based vehicles.
Many vehicle manufacturers also apply standards for an oil’s suitability to their vehicles. This commonly applies to european cars and to those fitted with oil monitoring systems. This also applies to most some US and Japanese manufacturers and some specialty manufacturers.
Given the severity and variation of existing and future vehicle emission regulations, it is essential that the vehicle manufacturers recommendations for lubricants be strictly adhered to. As a result, more stringent ratings are being used when classifying oils.
Failure to do so will possibly jeopardize the emissions warranty, the vehicle failing emission tests or suffering engine damage.
When undertaking an oil change exercise, as a minimum, the vehicle owner’s manual should be consulted when no other information is available. This is to ensure that only the correct type of oil is used and thus secure the emissions warranty of the vehicle.
API Ratings
The American Petroleum Institute has set standards for engine oils used in both spark ignition and compression ignition engined vehicles. The appropriate lubricant is identified by two letters. The first identifying lubrication category and the second the lubricant standard. Oils that comply with the various API standards display the API starburst insignia.
Specifically, oils used for spark ignition engines are identified by the letter "S". “S” standing for service category. Engine oils used for commercial category engines are identified by the “C” prefix. Engine oils meeting this standard are suitable for compression ignition engines. The standards are upgraded periodically and can be described as follows.
Service category oils started with the "SA" rating in 1920.
The ratings are as follows:
- SA - is an engine oil without additives.
- SB - Some antioxidant and anti scuff property additives were added
- SC - Meets 1964-1967 requirements of US Automotive manufacturers
- SD - Meets 1968-1971 requirements
- SE - 1972-1979
- SF - 1980-1988
- SG - 1989-1993
- SH - 1994-1997
- SJ - Meets 1998-2000 requirements
- SL - Meets 2001-2003
- SM - 2004-on
SA to SH ratings are now effectively obsolete for use in modern cars however there are still vehicles on the road that recommend the use of oils with these ratings. It should be noted that the SF to SH rating generally exceeds all previous ratings and can be used in vehicles with recommended older ratings. However, some of the newer oils are not recommended for use in older vehicles and manufacturers are now producing oils with specific ratings for use in "older vehicles".
Commercial category oils are not categorized chronologically so the same rules as with the "s" ratings do not apply. In this case the ratting are as follows:
- CA rating is for - Light duty engines operating with high quality fuel.
- CB - Moderate duty operating on lower quality (high sulphur) fuel.
- CC - Moderate to severe duty diesel, 1964
- CD - Severe duty diesel, including turbo.
- CD-II - Severe duty two stroke diesel.
- CE - Turbo/Supercharged heavy duty diesels from 1983
- CF - Off road indirect injection diesel engines and others using a broad range of fuel types including high sulphur. (May be used to replace API CD oils)
- CF-2 - Severe duty two stroke diesel engine service from 1994
ILSAC ratings
The US based International Lubricants Standardization and Approval Committee (ILSAC) is controlled by the API. It includes the major the US vehicle manufacturers, the US engine manufacturers association and Japanese manufacturers who assemble vehicles in the US. The standards work in addition to the API SH, SJ and SM standards for engine oils and are effectively the fuel economy version of the those oil specifications.
The ILSAC GF-1 standard indicates the oil meets both API SH and the Energy Conserving II (EC-II) requirements. It was created in 1990 and upgraded in 1992 and became the minimum requirement for oil used in American and Japanese automobiles.
An EC-II oil provides a 2.7% fuel economy improvement over reference used in a laboratory test engine.
ILSAC GF-1 specifications apply to multigrade oils that have a O, 5 and 1O W rating and 20, 30, 40 or 50 summer rating.
ILSAC GF-2 replaced GF-1 in 1996. The oil must meet both API SJ and EC-II requirements. The GF-2 standards requires 0W-30, 0W-40, 5W-20, 5W-30, 5W-40, 5W-50, 10W-30, 10W-40 and 10W-50 motor oils to meet stringent requirements for phosphorus content, low temperature operation, high temperature deposits and foam control.
GF-3 an oil must meet both API SL and the EC-II requirements. The GF-3 standard has more stringent parameters regarding long-term effects of the oil on the vehicle emission system, improved fuel economy and improved volatility, deposit control and viscosity performance. The standard also requires less additive degradation and reduced oil consumption rates over the service life of the oil.
The GF-4 standard was introduced in 2004 and increases the compliance parameters over GF-3 by a significant margin.
ACEA Sequences
The Association of Constructours of European Automobiles performs the same task as the API, however the standards are more stringent and the descriptors vary. There are 14 oil sequences that identify oil that is appropriate for specific applications.
Engine oils classified for use in petrol engines have an “A” prefix. Engine oils classified for use in Diesel passenger cars use a “B” prefix and Engine oils classified for use in commercial diesel engines use an “E” prefix. A number follows the identifier. A higher number indicating a higher quality oil.
Full ACEA specs are:
- A1 Fuel Economy Petrol
- A2 Standard performance level
- A3 High performance and / or extended drain
- B1 Fuel Economy diesel
- B2 Standard performance level
- B3 High performance and / or extended drain
- B4 For direct injection passenger car diesel engines
- E1 Non-turbo charged light duty diesel
- E2 Standard performance level
- E3 High performance extended drain
- E4 Higher performance and longer extended drain
- E5 (1999) High performance / long drain plus American/API performances
