In 1981, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration required all car manufacturers to use 17 digits. Vehicle manufacturers could have used 8 digits, 10 digits, 25 digits, or really any number of digits they wanted.
We'll show you how.īefore 1981, no standardization of VINs on American model cars and trucks existed. You can find out a lot about your car or truck if you can read and decode its VIN number. Learn how to 'read your VINs.' A Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) is the 17-digit string of numbers that an automotive manufacturer assigns to a specific vehicle that it has produced.
