Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 84 / Wednesday, April 30, 2008 / Rules and Regulations 23367 

PART 175—CARRIAGE BY AIRCRAFT 

■ 6. The authority citation for part 175 

continues to read as follows: 

Authority: 49 U.S.C. 5101–5128, 44701; 49 

CFR 1.45, 1.53. 

■ 7. In § 175.10, new paragraph (a)(18) 

is added to read as follows: 

§ 175.10 Exceptions for passengers, crew 

members, and air operators. 

(a) * * * 

(18) Portable electronic devices (for 

example, cameras, cellular phones, 

laptop computers, and camcorders) 

powered by fuel cell systems, and not 

more than two spare fuel cell cartridges 

per passenger or crew member, when 

transported in carry-on baggage by 

aircraft under the following conditions: 

(i) Fuel cell cartridges may contain 

only Class 3 flammable liquids 

(including methanol), Class 8 formic 

acid, Class 8 borohydride materials, or 

Division 2.1 butane; 

(ii) The maximum quantity of fuel in 

any fuel cell cartridge may not exceed: 

(A) 200 mL (6.76 ounces) for liquids, 

(B) 120 mL (4 fluid ounces) for 

liquefied gases in non-metallic fuel cell 

cartridges, or 200 mL for liquefied gases 

in metal fuel cell cartridges; 

(C) 200 g (7 ounces) for solids; 

(iii) No more than two spare fuel cell 

cartridges may be carried by a 

passenger; 

(iv) Fuel cell systems containing fuel 

and fuel cell cartridges including spare 

cartridges are permitted in carry-on 

baggage only; 

(v) Fuel cell cartridges may not be 

refillable by the user. Refueling of fuel 

cell systems is not permitted except that 

the installation of a spare cartridge is 

allowed. Fuel cell cartridges that are 

used to refill fuel cell systems but that 

are not designed or intended to remain 

installed (fuel cell refills) in a portable 

electronic device are not permitted; 

(vi) Fuel cell systems and fuel cell 

cartridges must conform to IEC/PAS 

62282–6–1 (IBR; see § 171.7 of this 

subchapter); 

(vii) Interaction between fuel cells 

and integrated batteries in a device must 

conform to IEC/PAS 62282–6–1. Fuel 

cell systems for which the sole function 

is to charge a battery in the device are 

not permitted; 

(viii) Fuel cell systems must be of a 

type that will not charge batteries when 

the portable electronic device is not in 

use; and 

(ix) Each fuel cell cartridge and 

system that conforms to the 

requirements in this paragraph (a)(18) 

must be durably marked by the 

manufacturer with the wording: 

‘‘APPROVED FOR CARRIAGE IN 

AIRCRAFT CABIN ONLY’’ to certify 

that the fuel cell cartridge or system 

meets the specifications in IEC/PAS 

62282–6–1 and all other applicable 

requirements of this subchapter. 

* * * * * 

Issued in Washington, DC, on April 22, 

2008, under the authority delegated in 49 

CFR part 1. 

Carl T. Johnson, 

Administrator. 

[FR Doc. E8–9203 Filed 4–29–08; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4910–60–P 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

National Highway Traffic Safety 

Administration 

49 CFR Part 565 

[Docket No. NHTSA 2008–0022] 

RIN 2127–AJ99 

Vehicle Identification Number 

Requirements 

AGENCY: National Highway Traffic 

Safety Administration (NHTSA), DOT. 

ACTION: Final rule. 

SUMMARY: This document amends 49 

CFR Part 565, Vehicle Identification 

Number Requirements, to make certain 

changes in the 17-character vehicle 

identification number (VIN) system so 

that the system will remain viable for at 

least another 30 years. This rule was 

initiated by a petition from SAE 

International (formerly known as the 

Society of Automotive Engineers), 

which was concerned that the available 

supply of VINs, and particularly the 

manufacturer identifier part of the VIN, 

might run out. This final rule will 

ensure that there will be a sufficient 

number of unique manufacturer 

identifiers and VINs to use for at least 

another 30 years. 

DATES: Effective Date: October 27, 2008. 

Compliance Dates: Amendments 

made in this rule apply to motor 

vehicles manufactured on or after 

October 27, 2008 whose VINs have a 

letter ‘‘A’’ or ‘‘B’’ in the 10th position 

of the VIN, and to all motor vehicles 

manufactured on or after April 30, 2009. 

Petitions for Reconsideration: 

Petitions for reconsideration of this rule 

must be received by June 16, 2008. 

ADDRESSES: Petitions for reconsideration 

should refer to the docket and notice 

number above and be submitted to: 

Administrator, National Highway 

Traffic Safety Administration, 1200 New 

Jersey Avenue, SE., Washington, DC 

20590. 

See the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION

portion of this document (Section IV, 

Rulemaking Analyses and Notices) for 

DOT’s Privacy Act Statement regarding 

documents submitted to the agency’s 

dockets. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For 

non-legal issues, you may contact Mr. 

Kenneth O. Hardie, Office of Crash 

Avoidance Standards (NVS–120), 

NHTSA, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., 

Washington, DC 20590 (Telephone: 

202–366–6987) (FAX: 202–366–7002). 

For legal issues, you may contact Ms. 

Rebecca Schade, Office of the Chief 

Counsel, NHTSA, 1200 New Jersey 

Avenue, SE., Washington, DC 20590 

(Telephone: 202–366–2992) (FAX: 202–

366–3820). 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Table of Contents 

I. Executive Summary 

II. Background 

A. History and Overview of the VIN 

System 

B. Petition for Rulemaking 

C. Notice of Proposed Rulemaking 

III. The Final Rule and Response to Public 

Comments 

A. Summary of Public Comments 

B. Summary of Amendments Adopted in 

This Final Rule 

IV. Rulemaking Analyses and Notice 

I. Executive Summary 

In response to a petition for 

rulemaking, the National Highway 

Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) 

is amending 49 CFR Part 565, Vehicle 

Identification Number Requirements 

(Part 565), so that the supply of 

manufacturer identifiers and vehicle 

identification numbers available under 

this regulation will be sufficient for at 

least the next 30 years. 

To accomplish this, NHTSA is 

revising the requirements for where 

certain information must be 

communicated in a vehicle 

identification number (VIN) as well as 

the characters that may be used in some 

of the 17 positions of the VIN for 

passenger cars and multipurpose 

passenger vehicles and trucks with a 

gross vehicle weight rating of 4536 kg 

(10,000 lb) or less. These changes will 

have two primary effects. First, the need 

to issue new manufacturer identifiers, 

particularly for large manufacturers, 

should be drastically reduced, thus 

preserving for a longer period of time 

the remaining combinations of 

characters that are available to be 

issued. Second, the changes will 

substantially increase the number of 

combinations of characters available in 

positions 4 through 8 of the VIN, as well 

as combinations of those characters with 

characters in the other VIN positions, so 

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23368 Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 84 / Wednesday, April 30, 2008 / Rules and Regulations 

1 72 FR 56027 (Oct. 2, 2007) (Docket No. NHTSA–

2007–27830–0001). 

2 43 FR 36448 (Aug. 17, 1978) (Docket No. 1–22; 

Notice 5). 

3 61 FR 29031 (June 7, 1996) (Docket No. 

NHTSA–95–85; Notice 2). 

that the number of available VINs will 

significantly increase, enabling the 

current 17-character system to continue 

for another 30 years and possibly longer. 

The final rule published today differs 

very little from the notice of proposed 

rulemaking (NPRM) published on 

October 2, 2007.1 The differences are as 

follows. 

• The date and conditions under 

which this rule becomes effective have 

been changed in response to comments 

that indicated a need for prompt 

implementation of this rule. 

• While this rule now makes clear 

that Low Speed Vehicles (LSVs) require 

a VIN, LSVs have been dropped from 

the list of vehicles that would require, 

and be limited to the use of an 

alphabetic character in position 7 of the 

VIN. This was done in response to 

comments noting that the need for only 

an alphabetic character in position 7 

applies mainly to passenger cars and 

multipurpose passenger vehicles and 

trucks with a gross vehicle weight rating 

of 4536 kg (10,000 lb) or less, not all 

other vehicles covered by 49 Part 565, 

such as trailers and low speed vehicles. 

Comments received in response to the 

NPRM generally supported the 

proposed changes to Part 565. Two 

commenters sought clarification as to 

how the new rule would apply to 

trailers. A small number of the 

comments recommended changes to 

what was proposed. These comments, 

however, reflected a less than complete 

understanding of the proposed changes 

and, in one case, the purpose of our 

proposal in helping to sustain the 

current 17-character VIN system over 

the next 30 years. 

Many of the comments raised issues 

that were either not specifically 

addressed in the NPRM or involved 

suggested uses of the VIN system that 

are outside the scope of either NHTSA’s 

authority or the purpose and scope of 

the VIN system. For these reasons, 

changes to Part 565 suggested by the 

comments have not been made. A 

common suggestion of this type was that 

NHTSA include (in the information that 

must be communicated in the VIN) 

whether or not a vehicle is certified to 

California emission standards. 

In summary, the new VIN 

requirements apply to vehicles that are 

manufactured on or after October 27, 

2008 whose VINs have a letter ‘‘A’’ or 

‘‘B’’ in the 10th position of the VIN, and 

to all vehicles manufactured on or after 

April 30, 2009. 

The principal changes to Part 565 

issued today that impact the options 

vehicle manufacturers have in 

complying with Part 565 are as follows: 

• Vehicle ‘‘make’’ will no longer be 

required to be identified in the 

manufacturer identifier of the VIN. 

• Vehicle ‘‘make’’ will now need to 

be identified, along with other 

information items included in the 

previous version of Part 565, in the 

second section of the VIN, which 

consists of VIN positions 4–8. 

• In generating VINs for vehicles that 

comply with Part 565, manufacturers of 

passenger cars and multipurpose 

passenger vehicles and trucks with a 

gross vehicle weight rating of 4536 kg. 

(10,000 lbs.) or less will have an 

expanded number of characters 

available in positions 4, 5, and 6 of the 

VIN. All three of these positions may 

now be either numeric or alphabetic. 

These manufacturers will also be 

required to use an alphabetic character 

in position 7 of the VIN. 

II. Background 

A. History and Overview of the VIN 

System 

Since 1954, American automobile 

manufacturers have used a vehicle 

identification number (VIN) to describe 

and identify each of the motor vehicles 

they manufacture. The early VINs came 

in a wide array of configurations and 

variations, depending on the individual 

manufacturer. A move to create a more 

systematic VIN scheme was made in 

1968, with the enactment of Federal 

motor vehicle safety standard (FMVSS) 

No. 115, which took effect January 1, 

1969. That standard required each 

passenger car to have a VIN that is 

permanently ‘‘sunk or embossed’’ on a 

part of the vehicle visible through the 

glazing by a person standing at the left 

windshield pillar. Manufacturers were 

required to avoid having a VIN be 

repeated within a 10-year period. 

In response to a petition from the 

Motor Vehicle Manufacturers 

Association and Volkswagen of 

America, Inc., the National Highway 

Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) 

in 1976 began considering an even more 

structured and standardized system of 

VINs as well as expanding the system to 

additional classes of vehicles. This 

process led to the current system of 17- 

character VINs. A final rule 

implementing the new system was 

published on August 17, 1978.2 The rule 

stipulated that beginning with the 1981 

model year, NHTSA would require that 

all over-the-road-vehicles sold must 

contain a 17-character VIN in a fixed 

format. The standard further required 

that the VINs of any two vehicles 

manufactured within a 30 year period 

not be identical. 

On June 7, 1996, NHTSA issued a 

final rule consolidating all VIN 

requirements into 49 CFR Part 565.3

Federal motor vehicle safety standard 

(FMVSS) No. 115 was eliminated. Part 

565 requires the manufacturer to assign 

a unique VIN to each passenger car, 

multipurpose passenger vehicle, truck, 

bus, trailer (including trailer kit), 

incomplete vehicle, and motorcycle that 

it produces. 

One of the original purposes of the 

VIN system was to enhance public 

safety by deterring vehicle theft based 

on the assumption that drivers of stolen 

vehicles are more likely to operate those 

vehicles unsafely and thus be involved 

in vehicle crashes. The current 17- 

character VIN system embodied in Part 

565 continues to serve this purpose and, 

as stated in Part 565, also serves ‘‘to 

increase the accuracy and efficiency of 

vehicle recall campaigns.’’ Recalls are a 

critical tool for correcting safety defects 

in vehicles. The VIN has also become 

the key identifier in data systems that 

track such things as compliance with 

federal importation regulations, vehicle 

registrations, insurance coverage, and 

motor vehicle crashes. Entities that 

today utilize VINs in data systems 

include NHTSA, state motor vehicle 

departments, law enforcement agencies, 

insurance companies, organizations 

involved in motor vehicle research, and 

manufacturers. 

Characters in a VIN are used in one 

of three ways. Some specific VIN 

positions represent a single item of 

information related to a vehicle. Other 

groups of VIN positions may be used 

individually or in combination to 

represent information that must be 

deciphered from a key that the 

manufacturer provides to NHTSA as 

required by Part 565. Utilizing 

combinations of at least some VIN 

positions has been necessary for some 

vehicles because the amount of 

information about a vehicle required by 

Part 565 to be represented in the first 

(positions 1–3) and second (positions 4–

8) sections of the VIN in some cases 

exceeds the number of positions 

available in those sections. Finally, the 

last digits of the VIN are used by 

manufacturers to sequentially number 

groups of similar vehicles that are 

manufactured. Small annual volume 

manufacturers use the last three digits to 

number vehicles. Large annual volume 

manufacturers use the last six digits. 

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Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 84 / Wednesday, April 30, 2008 / Rules and Regulations 23369 

4 Docket No. NHTSA–2007–27830–0030. 

5Organizations represented on the committee 

included: General Motors, International Truck and 

Engine Corporation, RL Polk & Company, The Hill 

Group, Freightliner Truck Division, American 

Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators, 

American Suzuki Motor Corporation, Harley 

Davidson Motor Company, Motorcycle Industry 

Council, Ford Motor Company, Transport Canada, 

National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB), 

DaimlerChrysler Corporation, and NHTSA. 

Representatives from Clifford Thames IMS in the 

United Kingdom, the Highway Loss Data Institute, 

and Caterpillar, Inc. also participated. 

6 Docket No. NHTSA–2007–27830–0031. 

The VIN has four sections. The first 

consists of the first three VIN characters. 

For large manufacturers, these three 

positions represent a manufacturer 

identifier, which meets both the 

requirements of Part 565 and 

International Standard 3780: Road 

vehicles ‘‘ World manufacturer identifier 

(WMI) code (Small manufacturers must 

use a six character manufacturer 

identifier consisting of the first three 

VIN positions and positions 12–14). In 

International Standard 3780, adopted by 

the International Organization for 

Standardization (ISO) in 1980, the first 

three digits of the VIN are referred to as 

the World Manufacturer Identifier 

(WMI). Although it is common to refer 

to the first three digits of the VIN as the 

WMI, the first three digits will be 

referred to here as the ‘‘manufacturer 

identifier’’ because Part 565 does not 

use the term ‘‘WMI.’’ Also, Part 565’s 

requirements for the first three digits of 

the VIN differ somewhat from those of 

International Standard 3780 and it is 

Part 565’s requirements that are affected 

by the final rule. 

NHTSA currently contracts with the 

SAE International (SAE) to coordinate 

and issue manufacturer identifiers that 

comply with Part 565 to U.S. 

manufacturers. In issuing these 

identifiers, SAE also ensures that the 

identifiers comply with the 

requirements of International Standard 

3780 for WMIs. 

Part 565 currently requires that 

manufacturers identify manufacturer, 

make and type of motor vehicle in the 

first three digits of a VIN. To comply 

with International Standard 3780, this 

section of the VIN must also indicate the 

country in which the vehicle was 

manufactured. 

The proliferation of vehicle makes for 

passenger vehicles has resulted in large 

manufacturers with multiple makes of 

vehicles having to obtain multiple 

manufacturer identifiers. This, in 

combination with large manufacturer 

identifiers issued to large manufacturers 

of other types of vehicles, has resulted 

in a drain on the supply of manufacturer 

identifiers/WMIs available for large U.S. 

manufacturers. 

The five characters in the second 

section (positions 4 through 8) of a VIN 

must identify attributes of the specific 

type of vehicle involved. These 

attributes are indicated in Table I in Part 

565.15 (formerly 565.6). 

The third VIN section consists of one 

character, called a check digit, in the 

ninth VIN position. It reflects a 

calculation specified in Part 565 that is 

based on the other VIN characters and 

that serves as a check against 

typographical errors in transcribing a 

VIN. 

The fourth section consists of 

positions 10–17. The first two, positions 

10 and 11, are for the model year and 

plant of manufacture respectively. For 

large manufacturers, the last six 

characters are used to sequentially 

number vehicles in groups of similar 

vehicles that are manufactured by a 

given manufacturer. For manufacturers 

initially intending to produce fewer 

than 500 vehicles of a given type, VIN 

positions 12, 13, and 14 are additional 

characters used for the manufacturer’s 

manufacturer identifier. Under the 

current version of Part 565, this means 

manufacturers that produce fewer than 

500 vehicles of a given type have a sixdigit manufacturer identifier consisting 

of the first three positions of the 17- 

character VIN, with the third position in 

practice always being a 9, and positions 

12, 13, and 14. These small 

manufacturers use only the last three 

digits of the VIN to sequentially number 

similar vehicles they produce. 

When the current version of Part 565 

went into effect beginning with the 1981 

model year, it was anticipated that the 

permutations available under the 17- 

character system described in Part 565 

would provide a sufficient number of 

unique VINs and manufacturer 

identifiers so that, as required by Part 

565, ‘‘the VINs of any two vehicles 

manufactured within a 30-year period 

shall not be identical.’’

B. Petition for Rulemaking 

In a letter dated October 31, 2005,4

the SAE Vehicle Identification Number/ 

World Manufacturer Identifier 

Technical Committee 5 petitioned 

NHTSA to make certain changes to the 

current VIN system. The committee 

proposed ‘‘minor revisions’’ to Part 565 

that it believed would both preserve the 

current 17-character VIN format while 

significantly expanding the universe of 

available unique manufacturer 

identifiers and VINs (At NHTSA’s 

request, SAE submitted a subsequent 

letter dated February 23, 2006,6

clarifying certain items in the original 

petition). The petition proposed changes 

that would keep the current 17- 

character VIN, but would add to the 

characters that may appear in some of 

the VIN positions for passenger cars and 

multipurpose passenger vehicles and 

trucks with a gross vehicle weight rating 

of 4536 kg (10,000 lb) or less, thus 

adding significantly to the number of 

available unique VINs for these 

vehicles. In addition to changes that 

would expand the number of available 

manufacturer identifiers and VINs, the 

petitioners asked NHTSA: (1) To add to 

the Part 565 list of vehicle attributes 

those that must be communicated in, 

and decipherable from, the VIN of a low 

speed vehicle (LSV); (2) to clarify the 

way the ‘‘check digit’’ as defined in Part 

565 is determined; (3) to expand the 

restraint system information that must 

be decipherable from a passenger car 

VIN; and (4) to add language that further 

explains the typefaces permitted for a 

VIN. The petitioners further proposed 

that these changes take effect beginning 

with the 2010 model year due to 

concerns over the supply of 

manufacturer identifiers and the 

possibility of duplicate VINs being 

issued beginning with that model year. 

C. Notice of Proposed Rulemaking 

NHTSA granted the petition by letter 

to the SAE dated March 7, 2006 and 

published a notice of proposed 

rulemaking (NPRM) in the Federal 

Register on October 2, 2007 (72 FR 

56027). That notice proposed to adopt 

most, but not all of the changes to Part 

565 suggested by SAE. The changes that 

were proposed in the NPRM were to: 

• Expand to 60 years (the current 30 

year period that is about to expire plus 

an additional 30 years) the period 

during which the VINs of any two 

vehicles subject to Part 565 may not be 

identical; 

• Eliminate vehicle ‘‘make’’ from 

what needs to be communicated in, and 

decipherable from, the manufacturer 

identifier; 

• Include ‘‘make’’ in what needs to be 

communicated in, and decipherable 

from, the second section of the VIN 

(positions 4–8) for all vehicles subject to 

Part 565; 

• Change Part 565 so that alphabetic 

or numeric characters may be used in 

positions 4, 5 and 6 for passenger cars 

and multipurpose passenger vehicles 

and trucks with a gross vehicle weight 

rating of 4536 kg. (10,000 lbs.) or less 

(Currently positions 4 and 5 must be 

alphabetic and position 6 must be 

numeric for these vehicles. Either 

alphabetic or numeric characters have 

always been allowed in these positions 

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23370 Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 84 / Wednesday, April 30, 2008 / Rules and Regulations 

for other vehicles covered by the 

standard); 

• Require that VIN position 7 be 

alphabetic for passenger cars and 

multipurpose passenger vehicles and 

trucks with a gross vehicle weight rating 

of 4536 kg. (10,000 lbs.) or less (This 

position currently must be numeric for 

these vehicles. Either an alphabetic or 

numeric character can be used in this 

position for other vehicles covered by 

the standard); 

• Make clear that Part 565 applies to 

Low Speed Vehicles (LSVs); 

• Include in Part 565 specific 

attributes for LSVs that must be 

communicated in, and decipherable 

from, a VIN; 

• Require that the VIN plate for LSVs 

be placed in the same location as 

passenger cars and multipurpose 

passenger vehicles and trucks with a 

gross vehicle weight rating of 4536 kg 

(10,000 lb) or less; 

• Expand from ‘‘passenger cars’’ to 

‘‘passenger cars, multipurpose 

passenger vehicles, low speed vehicles, 

and trucks’’ the vehicles that would be 

covered by the requirements of current 

Part 565.5—Motor vehicles imported 

into the United States; 

• Add regulatory language to call 

attention to the fact that the number ‘‘9’’

in the third VIN position means that the 

vehicle is produced in sufficiently low 

quantities that a small manufacturer 

identifier is appropriate and positions 

12–14 are therefore part of the 

manufacturer identifier; 

• Change restraint system information 

that must be communicated in the VIN 

of a passenger car from ‘‘restraint system 

type’’ to ‘‘all restraint devices and their 

location’’ and require this same 

information for LSVs; 

• Add to Part 565 a table with an 

explanatory note that indicates the digit 

that should appear in the ninth position 

of the VIN (This was requested to 

address the fact that the formula that is 

used in determining what appears in the 

ninth position is often calculated 

electronically and therefore does not 

produce the fractional remainders that 

are currently used in Part 565 to 

determine the digit that goes in position 

9); 

• Revise the ‘‘Year Codes for VIN’’

table in Part 565 to include character 

designations for years up to, and 

including, the year 2039, to account for 

the expanded period of time during 

which the current VIN system will 

remain in existence under the changes 

proposed; 

• Change the contact details for the 

SAE in Part 565. 

The changes that were requested by 

SAE that were not included in the 

NPRM or that were included in 

modified form were to: 

• Specify in Part 565 that a positive 

identification style font face is a 

typeface permitted under the 

regulation’s broad requirement for a san 

serif font typeface for a VIN. 

• Set the dividing line between 

manufacturers requiring a large 

manufacturer identifier and those 

requiring a small manufacturer 

identifier at 900 vehicles produced 

annually. The NPRM proposed 1,000 

vehicles as the level at which a 

manufacturer must begin using a large 

manufacturer identifier. 

III. The Final Rule and Response to 

Public Comments 

A. Summary of Public Comments 

The agency received comments from 

the following: the Wisconsin 

Department of Transportation 

(WisDOT), the Oregon Department of 

Motor Vehicles (ODMV), Oregon 

Department of Environmental Quality 

(ODEQ), Daimler A.G. (Daimler), the 

Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers 

(Alliance), Advocates for Highway and 

Auto Safety (Advocates), the Recreation 

Vehicle Industry Association (RVIA), 

the National Insurance Crime Bureau 

(NICB), the New York State Department 

of Motor Vehicles (NYDMV), the New 

York State Department of 

Environmental Conservation (NYDEC), 

the Washington State Department of 

Ecology (WDE), General Motors (GM), 

Ford, Harley-Davidson Motor Company, 

BMW of North America, The Northeast 

States for Coordinated Air Use 

Management (NESCAUM), the 

Association of International Automobile 

Manufacturers (AIAM), the Truck 

Manufacturers Association (TMA), the 

National Association of Clean Air 

Agencies (NACAA), Ferrari, Prevost (a 

division of Volvo Group Canada, Inc.), 

the National Association of Trailer 

Manufacturers (NATM), and several 

individuals. 

1. General and Issue Specific Support 

All commenters supported revising 

the VIN regulation in one way or 

another, in some instances suggesting 

ways the VIN could be further 

expanded. 

Amendments Aimed at Extending Life 

of Current System 

The Alliance stated that it ‘‘fully 

supports both proposed amendments 

that are directly related to extending the 

utility of the VIN system beyond 2010.’’

AIAM and TMA also expressed support 

for the proposed changes, as did Ferrari 

and NATM with some exceptions and 

concerns. NYDEC offered its general 

support for the efforts ‘‘to ensure that 

there will be a sufficient number of 

unique manufacturer identifiers and 

VINs for the current 17-character VIN 

system for at least another 30 years.’’

Harley-Davidson also offered its 

‘‘general support,’’ noting, ‘‘The 

regulatory proposal as written will 

provide a solution to the issue for the 

next few decades.’’ BMW supported 

NHTSA’s efforts to revise Part 565, but 

had concerns, as did Daimler A.G., 

about the proposed changes for position 

7 of the VIN. NICB offered its support, 

but expressed concern that the effective 

date should be November 1, 2008. 

NESCAUM, which is an association of 

state air pollution control agencies in 

Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, 

New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, 

Rhode Island, and Vermont, offered 

general support for the rulemaking and 

made suggestions concerning 

information that the VIN should 

communicate. 

Specific suggestions, exceptions, and 

concerns expressed by those offering 

general support for the proposed 

changes to Part 565 are discussed below 

under the relevant heading. 

Large Manufacturer Threshold 

The Alliance and Prevost commented 

directly on this subject. The Alliance 

specifically supported the proposed 

change that would require a 

manufacturer to make 1,000 vehicles a 

year rather than the current 500 before 

a manufacturer will be considered a 

large manufacturer and be required to be 

issued and use a large manufacturer 

identifier. Prevost expressed a concern 

about manufacturers of buses with a 

GVWR greater than 4,536 kg (10,000 lb), 

stating that production of these 

manufacturers may vary significantly so 

the threshold between small and large 

manufacturer should be smaller than 

500 with the possibility to use either a 

3 or a 6 character WMI up to 1,000. 

Alphabetic and Numeric Characters in 

Second Section of VIN 

The Alliance specifically supported 

the proposal to allow the VINs of 

passenger cars and multipurpose 

passenger vehicles and trucks with a 

gross vehicle weight rating of 4536 kg 

(10,000 lb) or less to use either 

alphabetic or numeric characters in 

positions 4, 5 and 6, as opposed to only 

alphabetic characters in positions 4 and 

5 and numeric characters in position 6. 

As noted above, some manufacturers 

did not agree with the proposed changes 

for position 7 of the VIN. AIAM objected 

to a requirement that ‘‘all restraint 

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Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 84 / Wednesday, April 30, 2008 / Rules and Regulations 23371 

devices and their location’’ be 

decipherable from the VIN. 

Moving ‘‘Make’’ From First to Second 

Section 

The Alliance and AIAM supported 

moving vehicle ‘‘make’’ from the 

manufacturer identifier to the second 

section (positions 4–8) of the VIN. On 

the other hand, NATM believed that 

there is no need to assign or designate 

the ‘‘make’’ of a trailer. 

Vehicle Characteristics for VINs of Low 

Speed Vehicles (LSVs) 

Advocates supported the proposal to 

include in Part 565 a list of vehicle 

attributes that must be communicated 

in, and decipherable from, the VINs of 

LSVs. 

Costs Resulting From Software 

Modifications 

NICB said its software can be 

modified to accommodate the proposed 

changes ‘‘without undue burden or 

expense.’’

2. Suggested Changes to the Information 

To Be Communicated by the VIN 

Comments: 

Several commenters suggested adding 

various kinds of information to what is 

currently required in 49 CFR Part 565 to 

be communicated in, and decipherable 

from, a VIN. 

ODMV, ODEQ, WDE, NESCAUM, and 

NACAA all urged NHTSA to 

incorporate into the VIN a means by 

which States could determine whether 

or not a vehicle is certified to meet 

California emission standards. NYDEC 

urged a more detailed approach, asking 

for not only an indication of the 

emission standard to which a vehicle is 

certified, but also the level of 

certification. 

NYDEC and NYDMV also suggested 

that a vehicle’s fuel type or type of 

hybrid technology be communicated 

through the VIN to help support State 

inspection and maintenance programs. 

In some cases, information that is 

already included in the VIN and that 

relates to the administration of State 

inspection and maintenance programs, 

is not treated consistently by 

manufacturers and is, therefore, hard to 

access, according to NYDEC. 

Advocates said ‘‘the VIN requirements 

should also include a means for 

encoding the type of power source that 

the engine can utilize.’’

Yuli Chew, an individual submitting 

comments, suggested that the seventh 

digit in the VIN be used to designate 

emission certification and offered a 

detailed chart of proposed characters to 

designate various emission 

certifications. He also proposed that the 

eighth digit be used to indicate engine 

type and similarly offered a detailed 

chart of engine types and characters to 

represent them. 

WisDOT asked that the VIN include 

some method for determining the 

maximum speed capability of low-speed 

motor-driven cycles, such as mopeds. 

Whether or not a cycle can travel at 

speeds greater than 30 mph impacts 

driver training requirements in 

Wisconsin and whether passengers may 

be carried on the cycle. WisDOT 

provided a list of 28 other States in 

which speed of the cycle determines its 

classification and related requirements. 

WisDOT also noted that the Uniform 

Vehicle Code contains a similar 

distinction. 

NESCAUM and NACAA 

recommended that the information 

communicated by the VIN include 

motor vehicle test group and engine 

family, as defined by the U.S. 

Environmental Protection Agency in 40 

CFR Part 86. The information that 

would be available to States as a result 

of this, NESCAUM said, ‘‘could be used 

to support air quality monitoring 

efforts.’’

NESCAUM and NACAA also asked 

for several additional changes to the 

information a VIN must communicate. 

They asked NHTSA to change the 

definition of ‘‘engine type’’ that now 

appears in 49 CFR 565(d). They 

maintained that the effect of the 

definition’s second sentence, which 

specifically calls for a VIN to represent 

‘‘the specific make and manufacturer’’

of an engine if it powers a ‘‘passenger 

car or multipurpose passenger vehicle, 

or truck with a gross vehicle weight 

rating of 4536 kg. (10,000 lbs.) or less’’

is to exclude Class 3 through 8 heavyduty trucks from the requirement to 

report engine manufacturer and make. 

The commenters said this information 

would make it easier for States to 

determine the emissions and fuel 

economy characteristics of their heavyduty truck fleets. 

NESCAUM also asked that the VIN 

identify the GVWR rating class for any 

vehicle in Class G–2 or above, saying 

this information would greatly simplify 

States’ efforts to identify whether a 

particular vehicle is subject to its 

emissions inspection program and the 

type of test required under that program. 

Finally, NESCAUM urged that the VIN 

requirements for Class 3 through 8 

heavy-duty vehicles incorporate the 

exact gross vehicle weight, a change it 

said would enable States to better 

characterize their heavy duty fleets. 

Agency Analysis and Response: 

The primary purpose of the VIN 

system is to assure a unique identifier 

for each vehicle sold in the United 

States and, in so doing, to deter theft 

and facilitate vehicle recall campaigns. 

Deterring theft reduces the number of 

drivers on the road who are more likely 

to operate motor vehicles in an unsafe 

manner. Recall campaigns are 

conducted to remedy defects related to 

motor vehicle safety and incidents of 

noncompliance with Federal motor 

vehicle safety standards that are 

determined to exist in a vehicle. The 

current VIN system has for nearly 30 

years fulfilled the need for unique 

vehicle identifiers and with today’s final 

rule should continue to do so for at least 

the next 30 years. 

The agency is not adopting at this 

time amendments to address any of the 

recommendations for the VIN to include 

additional information elements, not 

because those recommendations lack 

merit, but instead because there is a 

pressing need for today’s rule to be in 

place to assure the uninterrupted 

continuation of the VIN system. 

The agency acknowledges that the 

additional information requirements 

recommended in the comments, such as 

those relating to California emission 

certification, reflect the fact that there 

has been little change over the decades 

in the information that must be 

conveyed by a VIN despite the 

development of new circumstances that 

may lend themselves to the inclusion of 

new or different information. As such, 

the agency plans to initiate a separate 

comprehensive review focused on the 

information requirements of the VIN 

system. This will address whether those 

requirements should be changed, and, if 

so, how those changes should be made. 

3. All Restraint Devices and Their 

Location 

Comments: 

Several comments were received 

concerning the proposal to change 

language in Table 1 of 49 CFR 565.6(b) 

relating to the restraint system 

information required to be 

communicated in the VIN of passenger 

cars. The relevant language currently 

reads, ‘‘Passenger car: Line, series, body 

type, engine type and restraint system 

type.’’ The replacement language 

proposed by the petitioner and included 

in the NPRM reads, ‘‘Passenger car: 

Make, line, series, body type, engine 

type, and all restraint devices and their 

location.’’

The agency also requested ‘‘comments 

on whether this information should be 

required for all passenger vehicles, not 

just passenger cars.’’

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The Alliance opposed this proposed 

change and suggested that the original 

language be retained. It said the 

proposed language would create an 

‘‘unnecessary and unjustified burden on 

manufacturers’’ because each running 

change relating to a vehicle’s restraint 

system could require a new VIN. 

The AIAM also opposed the proposed 

change, on the basis that evolving 

combinations of restraint devices could 

‘‘require development of a complex 

coding scheme which may ultimately 

prove impractical due to the number of 

possible combinations of these 

elements.’’ Ferrari also opposed the 

proposed language change citing the 

same argument as that offered by AIAM. 

Advocates supported both the 

proposed language change and 

extending the information requirement 

beyond passenger cars to include ‘‘all 

passenger and non-passenger light 

vehicles with a gross vehicle weight 

rating (GVWR) of 4,536 kilograms 

(10,000 pounds) or less,’’ on the basis 

that this information would be valuable 

for safety research and data analysis. 

Agency Analysis and Response: 

The current language in Part 565 was 

sufficient when the range of restraint 

equipment that was either required or 

was available in the marketplace 

consisted primarily of seat belts and 

front seat airbags. Today, in addition to 

seat belts, front seat air bags are 

mandatory and restraint equipment 

technology has advanced to the point 

where there are many variations both in 

required equipment and in equipment, 

such as side air bags, that is offered in 

the marketplace. The new language is 

intended to capture and make available, 

through a vehicle’s VIN, more complete 

and accurate information regarding 

occupant restraint in each vehicle 

manufactured for sale in the U.S. 

The agency does not agree with the 

Alliance and the AIAM that this change 

is overly burdensome. The agency is 

aware that some major manufacturers 

represented by these two organizations 

are already submitting comprehensive 

restraint related VIN deciphering 

information to NHTSA under 49 Part 

565.7(c) that would comply with the 

amended requirements. This suggests to 

the agency that if a manufacturer knows 

well in advance of restraint system 

changes that will occur during a 

vehicle’s production run, creating a VIN 

to account for those changes would be 

no more difficult than accounting for 

the different engines that can be 

installed in a particular vehicle model. 

In those cases where an unanticipated 

running change in a vehicle’s restraint 

system occurs, a company could retain 

the VINs of the vehicles involved and 

provide NHTSA with revised VIN 

deciphering information as provided in 

49 Part 565.7(c). In such a case, vehicles 

numbered sequentially above a certain 

number in the last digits of the fourth 

section of the VIN would have the 

revised restraints devices and locations, 

which could be indicated in the 

company’s amended deciphering 

information. 

The agency agrees with Advocates 

that there is value in having the VINs of 

certain vehicles in addition to passenger 

cars communicate the type and location 

of the restraint devices with which 

those vehicles are equipped . The 

agency is requiring the VINs of 

passenger cars, multipurpose vehicles, 

and trucks with a gross vehicle weight 

rating of 4,536 kilograms (10,000 

pounds) or less to communicate that 

information. 

4. VIN Position 7 

Comments: 

The NPRM proposed that for 

passenger cars and multipurpose 

passenger vehicles and trucks with a 

gross vehicle weight rating of 4536 kg 

(10,000 lb) or less the seventh position 

of the VIN be changed from a numeric 

character to an alphabetic character. 

Daimler and BMW asked that the 

seventh position be either numeric or 

alphabetic, with BMW indicating this 

would ‘‘minimize the cost impact’’ and 

achieve the same goal. Ferrari called the 

proposed change for position 7 

‘‘acceptable,’’ but asked why position 7 

could not be either numeric or 

alphabetic. 

Daimler also asked that the 

manufacturer be allowed to choose ‘‘one 

of the five positions to be changed from 

alphabetic to numeric or vice versa.’’

(Daimler did not specify the five 

characters to which it was referring. The 

agency assumes the company was 

referring to VIN positions 4 through 8, 

the positions referred to in Part 565 as 

the second section, which includes 

position 7.) 

The Alliance and GM both 

specifically supported the proposed 

change from numeric to alphabetic 

characters in position 7. In addition, the 

Alliance asked that a footnote be 

included in Table VII—Year Codes for 

VIN in 49 CFR Part 565. That footnote 

would read, ‘‘If position 7 is numeric, 

the Model Year (in position 10) is 1980–

2009; if alphabetic, the Model Year (in 

Position 10) is 2010–2039.’’ AIAM and 

Ferrari supported this proposal. 

Prevost suggested the addition of a 

footnote to Table VII as well. It asked 

that the footnote communicate the fact 

that since position 7 may be alphabetic 

or numeric for vehicles over 10,000 

pounds and certain other types of 

vehicles covered by Part 565, such as 

trailers, that character does not indicate 

the 30-year period in which the vehicle 

was manufactured. 

Agency Analysis and Response: 

The reason for the proposed change in 

position 7 of the VIN was not only to 

create additional permutations to 

increase the number of available VINs, 

but also to enable VIN users to 

determine in which 30-year period a 

vehicle was manufactured. The 

suggestion by Daimler and BMW that 

manufacturers have the option of using 

either an alphabetic or numeric 

character in position 7 would eliminate 

a VIN user’s ability to make this 

determination and would create 

considerable confusion for VIN system 

users. (Daimler’s suggestion that the 

manufacturer have the option of 

choosing which character in the second 

section of the VIN to change from 

alphabetic to numeric or vice versa, 

would be even more confusing to VIN 

users). Under the approach suggested by 

Daimler and BMW, VIN users would be 

unable to use the seventh VIN character 

to determine the model year of makes 

and models of vehicles manufactured in 

both the 30 year span of the current VIN 

system and in the 30 year span 

contemplated for the VIN system 

established by today’s final rule. While 

having the option of either an alphabetic 

or numeric character in position 7 might 

‘‘minimize the cost impact’’ on 

manufacturers as BMW suggests, it 

would also very likely add costs to other 

users of the VIN system and not be as 

efficient as having position 7 clearly 

indicate the 30 year period in which a 

vehicle was manufactured. The agency 

is therefore adopting the proposal in the 

NPRM to require that only an alphabetic 

character be allowed in VIN position 7 

for passenger cars and multipurpose 

passenger vehicles and trucks with a 

gross vehicle weight rating of 4536 kg. 

(10,000 lbs.) or less under the revised 

Part 565. 

The agency agrees with the Alliance, 

GM and Prevost that a footnote to Table 

VII will further clarify the purpose of 

position 7 being an alphabetic character. 

The agency is therefore adding a 

footnote to Table VII, but is adopting 

language different from that proposed 

by the Alliance and GM to both further 

clarify the role of VIN position 7 and to 

make clear, as suggested by Prevost, that 

the requirement for an alphabetic 

character in position 7 applies only to 

passenger cars and multipurpose 

passenger vehicles and trucks with a 

gross vehicle weight rating of 4536 kg 

(10,000 lb) or less. The footnote will 

now read, ‘‘For passenger cars, and for 

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multipurpose passenger vehicles and 

trucks with a gross vehicle weight rating 

of 4536 kg (10,000 lb) or less, if position 

7 is numeric, the Model Year in position 

10 of the VIN refers to a year in the 

range 1980–2009. If position 7 is 

alphabetic, the Model Year in Position 

10 of the VIN refers to a year in the 

range 2010–2039.’’

5. Off Road Vehicles 

Comment: 

NACAA said the VIN system should 

be extended to ‘‘nonroad vehicles 

(primarily those for recreational use).’’

Referring to a numbering system for 

off-road vehicles named, ‘‘PIN: Product 

Identification Number System for OffRoad Recreation Vehicles,’’ NYDMV 

noted that identifiers under this system 

will always differ from VINs in the 

ninth position. A VIN will contain 

either a number or an X. A PIN will 

contain a letter and never an X. NYDMV 

suggested language for Part 565 that 

would prohibit VINs from duplicating 

PINs for off-road vehicles. 

Agency Analysis and Response: 

NHTSA has authority to regulate only 

vehicles that are manufactured 

primarily for use on public streets, 

roads, and highways. Jurisdiction to 

regulate vehicles of the type discussed 

by NACAA rests with the U.S. 

Consumer Product Safety Commission, 

which at this time does not have a 

system in place to provide identifiers for 

off-road vehicles. 

As indicated by the NYDMV, a 

voluntary system has been created and 

is operating to address the need for 

identifiers for off-road vehicles. That 

system is administered by SAE 

International, the same organization that 

administers the VIN system. 

NHTSA does not have the authority to 

extend the VIN system to off-road 

vehicles. It therefore did not address the 

issue in the NPRM and is not making 

this suggested change in this final rule. 

NHTSA is also not including language 

in Part 565 to prohibit a VIN from 

duplicating a PIN as suggested by 

NYDMV. We do not regulate PINs. 

Additionally, the agency believes that if, 

as the NYDMV indicates, a PIN has an 

alphabetic character and never an X in 

its ninth position, a VIN should never 

duplicate a PIN. This is because a VIN 

is required to have either a numeric 

character or an X in that position. 

6. Trailers 

NATM, which represents companies 

that manufacture trailers with gross 

vehicle weight ratings (GVWR) of 26,000 

lb or less, submitted detailed comments 

addressing issues unique to trailer 

manufacturers. RVIA submitted brief 

comments on behalf of its trailer 

manufacturer members concurring with 

the NATM comments. NATM generally 

supported the proposed changes to Part 

565, but raised the following two 

concerns. 

Character Prescriptions as They Relate 

to Trailers 

First, NATM noted that Section 

565.6(b) currently applies to ‘‘passenger 

cars and * * * multipurpose passenger 

vehicles and trucks with a gross vehicle 

weight rating of 4536 kg (10,000 lbs.) or 

less’’ insofar as it identifies the 

characters that must be used in specific 

positions of the second section of the 

VIN (positions 4–8). NATM further 

noted, ‘‘There is, however, no mention 

of what characters, alphabetic or 

numeric, manufacturers of other types 

of vehicles—larger trucks, buses, 

trailers, and motorcycles—are required 

or permitted to use in those same 

positions. By its silence, we assume 

Section 565.6(b) allows manufacturers 

of those other types of vehicles to use 

either an alphabetic or a numeric 

character, at their election, in all four of 

the first four positions in Section 2 of 

the VIN, positions 4, 5, 6, and 7. The 

current regulation goes on to state: ‘The 

fifth character [position] may be either 

alphabetic or numeric.’ It is not clear 

whether this statement is intended to 

govern VIN use only in the three vehicle 

types specified in the preceding 

sentence, namely automobiles, 

multipurpose passenger vehicles, and 

light-duty trucks, or whether it is 

intended to apply to all motor vehicle 

types to which Part 565 applies.’’

Agency Analysis and Response: 

The characters that may be used in a 

vehicle’s VIN are identified in 

§ 565.4(g). These are the characters that 

may be used in a VIN unless there are 

specifications elsewhere in Part 565 as 

to the characters that may be used in a 

particular VIN position. 

The NATM’s interpretation of the 

current version of Part 565.6(b) is 

correct. The specifications in the current 

version of this section as to the type of 

characters that must appear in specific 

positions of the second section of the 

VIN apply only to the vehicles cited—

passenger cars and multipurpose 

passenger vehicles and trucks with a 

gross vehicle weight rating of 4536 kg 

(10,000 lb) or less—not larger trucks, 

buses, trailers, and motorcycles. 

Therefore, the current regulation allows 

manufacturers of larger trucks, buses, 

trailers, and motorcycles to use either an 

alphabetic or a numeric character in all 

four of the first four positions in the 

second section of the VIN, positions 4, 

5, 6, and 7. Position 8 under the current 

regulation may be either an alphabetic 

or numeric character for any type of 

vehicle. Nothing will change for these 

vehicles under this final rule. In this 

final rule, only position 7 will be 

limited to an alphabetic character for 

passenger cars, multipurpose passenger 

vehicles and trucks with a gross vehicle 

weight rating of 4536 kg (10,000 lb) or 

less. All other positions in the second 

section of the VIN will be allowed to 

have either alphabetic or numeric 

characters no matter what type of 

vehicle is involved and position 7 may 

be alphabetic or numeric for larger 

trucks, buses, trailers, and motorcycles. 

Trailer ‘‘Make’’

NATM’s second concern was over 

NHTSA’s intention to move vehicle 

‘‘make’’ from being a characteristic that 

needs to be communicated in the 

manufacturer identifier to a 

characteristic that needs to be 

communicated in the second section of 

the VIN. ‘‘Unlike automobiles, 

multipurpose passenger vehicles, and 

light-duty trucks, light-duty and 

medium-duty trailers generally do not 

have separately assigned or designated 

‘makes,’ much less undergo frequent 

changes in ‘makes,’ ’’ NATM said. The 

NATM further stated that under the 

current regulation, the company name 

in the manufacturer identifier is, in 

essence, the make of the trailer. 

In addition to commenting that 

‘‘make’’ is not a concept used in the 

trailer industry, NATM expressed 

concern that requiring ‘‘make’’ in the 

second section of the VIN would require 

trailer manufacturers to give up what it 

characterized as an ‘‘undesignated’’

position in the second section of the 

VIN to communicate the ‘‘make.’’ That 

position, NATM said, is currently 

generally used in the trailer industry to 

indicate the GVWR of trailers, which is 

not an information item that Part 565 

requires for trailers in the second 

section of the VIN. 

Agency Analysis and Response: 

The agency’s experience with VINs 

for trailers generally reflects the NATM 

comments. That is, for most trailer 

manufacturers, the manufacturer’s name 

has been the equivalent of the ‘‘make’’

of the trailer, although there are surely 

instances in which information that is 

arguably a ‘‘make’’ has been 

communicated. In most cases, only the 

manufacturer’s name has been 

communicated in the manufacturer 

identifier of trailer manufacturers under 

the current Part 565. There has been a 

tacit recognition of what NATM 

observed, that the manufacturer’s name 

is the equivalent of the ‘‘make.’’ The 

manufacturer’s name has 

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23374 Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 84 / Wednesday, April 30, 2008 / Rules and Regulations 

simultaneously fulfilled the requirement 

that the manufacturer identifier 

communicate the manufacturer and the 

‘‘make.’’

The agency has decided not to make 

an exception for trailers and to include 

‘‘make’’ in the information that must be 

communicated in, and decipherable 

from, the second section of the VIN for 

trailers. 

It seems clear from the NATM 

comments that generating VINs for 

trailers is relatively straightforward in 

comparison to doing so for other types 

of vehicles subject to Part 565. By 

referring to one of the positions in the 

second section of the VIN as an 

‘‘undesignated’’ position, NATM 

suggests that trailer manufacturers use 

each of the positions in the second 

section of the VIN to represent one of 

the four information items currently 

listed in Part 565 as having to be 

communicated in, and decipherable 

from, the second section of the VIN. 

This approach leaves one position of the 

VIN’s second section unused or 

‘‘undesignated’’ as the NATM’s 

comments state. According to NATM, 

this unused position is widely used in 

the trailer manufacturing industry to 

designate GVWR. The NATM comments 

suggest that trailer manufacturers fear 

that if they are required to communicate 

a vehicle’s make in the second section 

of the VIN, even though the 

manufacturer name is the make for most 

trailer manufacturers, they will have to 

use the position now widely used for 

GVWR to indicate the manufacturer’s 

name for a second time (the 

manufacturer’s name will continue to be 

required in the manufacturer identifier). 

The agency notes that one option 

available to trailer manufacturers whose 

manufacturer name is the same as the 

make is to continue to use a character 

in the position that is now, by practice, 

used for GVWR. In the information for 

deciphering the VIN submitted to 

NHTSA under § 565.7(c) trailer 

manufacturers can simply indicate that 

if any character appears in that position, 

then the make name is the same as the 

manufacturer name. 

It should be noted that if a trailer 

manufacturer produces 33 or fewer 

variations of trailers (i.e. combinations 

of make, type of trailer, body type, 

length and axle configuration—the 

information items required for trailers in 

the second section of the VIN as 

revised), this information could be 

communicated by a single character in 

one position of the second section of the 

VIN. What that single character refers to 

would simply have to be indicated in 

the information provided to NHTSA by 

the manufacturer under § 565.7(c). In 

fact, a trailer manufacturer could 

communicate up to 132 different 

variations in the trailers it manufactures 

and use only four of the five positions 

in the VIN’s second section by taking 

full advantage of the 33 characters 

available for each of those positions and 

submitting to NHTSA a full and 

complete description of what a given 

character means if it appears in a given 

position. A ‘‘B’’ in the first position of 

the second section, for example, could 

stand for the make, type of trailer, body 

type, length and axle configuration of 

one variation of trailer made by a given 

manufacturer while a ‘‘C’’ could stand 

for that same information relating to a 

different trailer. 

The NATM comments made the 

agency aware of the fact that there is no 

current need to include low speed 

vehicles (LSVs) in the vehicles that 

must use an alphabetic character in 

position number 7 of the VIN as 

required by today’s final rule. These 

vehicles will now be treated the same as 

larger trucks, buses, trailers, and 

motorcycles. 

7. Modification in Gross Vehicle Weight 

Rating Classes 

Comment: 

NESCAUM asked for a change in 

‘‘Table II—Gross Vehicle Weight Rating 

Classes’’ of 49 CFR Part 565.6(b) by 

adding a break point at 8,500 pounds in 

one of the classes listed to distinguish 

whether or not a truck is light or heavy 

duty. 

Agency Analysis and Response: 

The classification system in Table II 

of Part 565 has been in existence for 

nearly 30 years and a great deal of data 

has accumulated in various places based 

on this system. The agency’s experience 

with this classification system suggests 

that the change advocated by 

NESCAUM could have a significant 

effect on the various data systems that 

are built on this system. Any change to 

this system would require a complete 

and thorough analysis of the possible 

impact of that change on these data 

systems. This was not an issue 

addressed in the petition that initiated 

this rulemaking or in the NPRM. The 

agency is not acting on this 

recommendation at this time, not 

because the recommendation is deemed 

to lack merit, but instead because of the 

need to publish this final rule promptly. 

This issue will be part of the 

comprehensive review of the VIN 

information requirements discussed in 

‘‘2. Suggested Changes to the 

Information to be Communicated by the 

VIN.’’

8. Supply of Manufacturer Identifiers 

In the NPRM, NHTSA specifically 

asked for comments ‘‘on the likelihood 

and implications of manufacturers 

releasing previously-issued identifiers 

that are no longer in use.’’

Comments: 

On this issue the Alliance expressed 

the understanding that, ‘‘this proposal 

would require no change to currently 

assigned and used WMIs, and would 

only affect WMIs assigned in the future. 

Manufacturers will be able to continue 

to use the WMIs they are currently using 

in production or that have been 

assigned to them.’’ The Alliance also 

observed that ‘‘a general review of 

assigned and reserved WMI’s that the 

Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) 

has requested the International 

Organization for Standardization (ISO) 

to undertake should ensure adequate 

availability for future needs.’’

GM said, it ‘‘does not anticipate 

manufacturers releasing previously 

assigned WMIs; however, the proposed 

modification will reduce the need for 

additional WMIs allocation to 

manufacturers.’’

Ford said it anticipates many 

manufacturer identifiers that are 

‘‘assigned to countries with little or no 

current vehicle manufacturing will be 

reassigned to other countries, thus 

resolving the potential shortage’’ of 

manufacturer identifiers. Ford further 

indicated that ‘‘many organizations, 

including law enforcement, rely on 

consistency’’ in manufacturer identifiers 

to identify vehicle manufacturers. Ford 

said it does not plan to relinquish 

manufacturer identifiers that are 

assigned to that company ‘‘at this time.’’

Ferrari stated, ‘‘Regarding the 

possibility to distribute old 

manufacturer identifiers no longer in 

use, we believe that they should be 

retained by the same manufacturer to 

avoid possible confusion in case they 

are given to other manufacturers.’’

Agency Analysis and Response: 

The agency does not see a need to 

take any action at this time beyond 

adopting the changes discussed in this 

final rule. As previously noted, vehicle 

make has been moved from the 

manufacturer identifier to the second 

section of the VIN. This should 

substantially reduce the need to issue 

new large manufacturer WMIs, thus 

extending the remaining supply of 400–

450 of these manufacturer identifiers. 

In addition, the agency, through its 

contract with SAE for the issuance of 

manufacturer identifiers, has begun the 

process of identifying companies with 

large manufacturer identifiers that are 

no longer in business so that those 

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identifiers may be returned to the 

system. The agency is also identifying 

companies that were issued large 

manufacturer identifiers that, through 

publicly available data, the agency 

knows do not produce more than 500 

vehicles a year, the current threshold for 

being considered a large manufacturer, 

or 1,000 vehicles a year, the threshold 

in this final rule, under Part 565. The 

agency anticipates that a number of 

large manufacturer identifiers will be 

returned to the system as a result of this 

process as well. 

9. Posident Typeface 

Comments: 

While NHTSA did not propose any 

specific action relating to the ‘‘positive 

identification style’’/‘‘posident’’

typeface, the subject was addressed in 

the NPRM and two commenters 

specifically commented on it. 

Citing the interpretation noted in the 

NPRM, which specifically states that the 

‘‘positive identification style’’/ 

‘‘posident’’ typeface is permitted under 

Part 565, GM indicated that it plans to 

continue its use of the typeface in its 

VIN marking. 

Harley-Davidson suggested that 

language in the NPRM regarding the 

‘‘positive identification style’’/ 

‘‘posident’’ typeface ‘‘could be 

interpreted to mean that NHTSA was 

not inclined to encourage use of the 

posident font.’’ Additionally, HarleyDavidson said the terms ‘‘positive 

identification style font’’ and 

‘‘posident’’ refer to the same thing and 

noted that it uses the typeface on some 

frame stampings, although not in its VIN 

markings. 

Agency Analysis and Response: 

In 1978, NHTSA issued an 

interpretation stating that there is no bar 

to using the ‘‘posident’’ typeface in a 

VIN under Part 565. That interpretation 

may be found at http:// 

isearch.nhtsa.gov/gm/78/nht78–

2.2.html. The agency is neither 

encouraging nor discouraging the use of 

this typeface. The agency has not 

changed its position with regards to this 

interpretation. The ‘‘posident’’ typeface 

is therefore still permitted under the 

amendments to 49 CFR Part 565 issued 

today. 

10. Location Change for Vehicle Make: 

Possible Impact on State Regulatory 

Programs 

Comment: 

NYDEC said it is unclear if vehicle 

make would become more difficult to 

obtain if the agency’s proposal is 

finalized as written. It added, ‘‘Vehicle 

make must be readily available to State 

regulatory programs from the VIN.’’

Agency Analysis and Response: 

The American Association of Motor 

Vehicle Administrators (AAMVA) was a 

member of the SAE committee that 

petitioned NHTSA to commence this 

rulemaking. If moving the vehicle make 

from the first to the second section of 

the VIN has an impact on State 

regulatory programs, the AAMVA 

would presumably have discussed that 

matter with the committee. The agency 

does not believe that moving vehicle 

make from the first to the second section 

of the VIN will have any impact on the 

availability of this information to state 

programs. The agency is therefore taking 

no action today in response to this 

comment. 

11. Alternative Characters 

Comment: 

Harold R. Brink, a private individual, 

submitted comments recommending 

that symbols, such as ‘‘!@∧%&,’’ be used 

in the VIN to expand the number of 

unique VINs available. 

Agency Response 

We do not believe that it is necessary 

to adopt the use of symbols at this time. 

The changes proposed in the petition 

and those adopted in this final rule 

provide a sufficient number of unique 

VINs to assure the continued existence 

of the current VIN system, with the use 

of only numeric and alphabetic 

characters, for at least 30 additional 

years. 

12. Direction VIN Plate Should Face 

Comment: 

NYDMV asked that Part 565.4(f) be 

amended to require that the characters 

of the VIN plate face the front of the 

vehicle because it has encountered grey 

market vehicles with the VIN facing the 

driver, which, in some cases, makes the 

VIN difficult to read. 

Agency Analysis and Response: 

Section 565.4(f) specifies the 

approximate location of the VIN, the 

minimum size for the type, and the 

requirement that the VIN must be 

‘‘readable.’’ The section does not 

prescribe the direction in which the VIN 

plate must face. The agency is not aware 

of driver facing VIN plates creating 

unworkable difficulties in any broad 

category of other situations. NYDMV 

acknowledged in its comments that 

even in cases of grey market vehicles 

with driver facing VIN plates it has 

encountered, the VIN remains readable, 

although with some difficulty. As such, 

the agency is not specifying the 

direction in which the VIN plate must 

face in this rule. 

13. Companies That Vacillate Between 

High-Volume and Low-Volume 

Production 

Comment: 

Prevost described a situation that it 

indicated may be unique to bus/motor 

coach manufacturers. Because there are 

so few manufacturers in this category 

and the market is relatively small, a 

manufacturer, at least under the current 

Part 565 with its 500 vehicle dividing 

line between small and large 

manufacturers, may one year be a small 

manufacturer and the next a large 

manufacturer. As a small manufacturer 

under current Part 565, it is required to 

use a six character manufacturer 

identifier. As a large manufacturer, it is 

required to use a three character 

manufacturer identifier. Prevost recently 

became a large manufacturer under the 

current Part 565 and is concerned that 

it might have to return to using a small 

manufacturer identifier and change its 

whole VIN structure. It urged that the 

dividing line between low-volume 

manufacturers and high-volume 

manufacturers be set at a threshold 

lower than the current 500 vehicles for 

manufacturers of vehicles greater than 

4536kg GVWR. 

Agency Analysis and Response: 

Prevost is principally concerned that 

it have one consistent approach to VINs 

and not have to switch between lowvolume manufacturer VINs and highvolume manufacturer VINs. The agency 

believes that raising the threshold 

between low-volume manufacturer and 

high-volume manufacturer to 1,000 

vehicles will address the situation 

described by Prevost, at least for some 

bus/motor coach manufacturers. 

However, the agency believes that if we 

lower the threshold between lowvolume manufacturers and high-volume 

manufacturers, such an action would 

jeopardize the limited supply of 

manufacturer identifiers for highvolume manufacturers, which was one 

of the driving concerns for the petition 

that initiated this rulemaking and for 

the agency’s proceeding with this 

rulemaking. If, after the implementation 

of this final rule, there continue to be 

manufacturers that vacillate between 

low-volume and high-volume status, the 

best place to address this will be in the 

administration of the VIN system. In 

this way, NHTSA can better monitor the 

supply of large manufacturer identifiers 

and be sure that they are issued only in 

situations where it is appropriate to do 

so. 

14. Effective Date of the Rule 

Comments: 

There were numerous comments 

concerning the effective date of the final 

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23376 Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 84 / Wednesday, April 30, 2008 / Rules and Regulations 

rule, particularly the need for the final 

rule to be implemented quickly with a 

clear indication that it applies to all 

model year 2010 vehicles. One 

commenter said the revised Part 565 

should apply to model year 2010 

vehicles regardless of when they are 

manufactured. 

The Alliance, AIAM, and Ferrari said 

the rule should begin with 2010 model 

year. The Alliance noted, ‘‘Some 

manufacturers are already approaching 

the deadline to implement changes to 

VIN structure for model year 2010.’’ It 

suggested that there be a period, 

applicable to the 2009 model year, 

during which a manufacturer would be 

allowed to comply with either the old 

or new system. TMA also urged quick 

adoption. 

NICB provided detailed comments 

that focused entirely on the issue of 

effective date. It said the changes to the 

VIN system are needed ‘‘urgently’’ and 

that a failure to implement the new 

structure within the next year would 

lead to ‘‘serious consequences.’’

NICB said NHTSA’s VIN regulation 

‘‘will soon allow more than one vehicle 

to have the same Vehicle Identification 

Number (VIN). If the agency allows the 

VIN to become anything other than a 

truly unique identifier, it will cripple 

enforcement of the Anti-Car Theft Act, 

the Motor Vehicle Safety Act, the 

Imported Vehicle Safety Compliance 

Act and a host of other Congressional 

mandates to protect Americans from car 

theft, salvage fraud and death or injury 

on the nation’s highways. It would also 

jeopardize counter-terrorism efforts, 

especially the investigation of car 

bombings.’’ NICB urged the immediate 

adoption of a final rule with an effective 

date of November 1, 2008. 

NICB said, ‘‘NHTSA’s proposed 

effective date for MY 2010 cars—

September 1, 2009—is far too late 

because VINs for any new model year 

get assigned months before new cars 

arrive in dealers’ showrooms. NICB’s 

Shipping and Assembly File, which 

includes nearly all motor vehicles 

produced for sale in the United States, 

typically receives from manufacturers 

some pre-production VIN assignments 

before the end of the calendar year that 

is two years before the model year. In 

other words, NICB will begin to receive 

assignments for MY 2010 cars in 

November 2008. In any case, 

manufacturers assign VINs toward the 

beginning of the production process, not 

on their date of sale, so NICB will 

receive large numbers of MY 2010 VINs 

by April, 2009, in anticipation of 

consumer sales in September, 2009.’’

Failure to have a new regulation in 

effect by November 2008 ‘‘will cause 

unneeded confusion, expense, time to 

obtain and add decoding for two MY 

2010 formats and possible computer 

conflicts with VIN decoding for MY 

2010 vehicles,’’ NICB said. 

Ford cautioned that delay of 

publication of the final rule will cause 

the company to incur costs and/or cause 

delays in the manufacturing of vehicles 

assigned VINs under the current Part 

565. The company noted that under a 

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency 

regulation, 40 CFR 86.082–2, 2010 

model year vehicles may be introduced 

as early as January 1, 2009 and 

production may begin even earlier. Ford 

also noted that adequate lead time is 

needed so that Transport Canada can 

modify CMVSS 115, which specifies the 

current Part 565 VIN structure and 

content. 

Agency Analysis and Response: 

The effective date of this final rule is 

two-fold. It becomes mandatory in one 

year. That is, all vehicles manufactured 

on or after the date one year from today 

must have VINs that meet the 

requirements of this final rule. However, 

it also applies to vehicles manufactured 

180 days after the date of publication of 

this rule that have the letter code ‘‘A’’

or ‘‘B’’ in the 10th position of the VIN. 

Its application to any particular vehicle 

based on a manufacturer using the letter 

‘‘A’’ or ‘‘B’’ in the 10th position of the 

VIN under Part 565 allows for 

implementation of the new VIN 

requirements earlier than 1 year. 

The effective date will be different for 

different manufacturers and different 

vehicles manufactured by the same 

manufacturer because of the different 

times those vehicles are manufactured 

within the same model year. In 1 year 

VINs will have to conform to the new 

VIN requirements of this final rule. 

Before the 1 year date, a VIN will have 

to conform to the new requirements if 

there is a letter ‘‘A’’ or ‘‘B’’ in the 10th 

position. Under the current Part 565, a 

chart indicates the numbers and letters 

that are required in the 10th position for 

particular model year vehicles. The 

2010 model year is the first time a 

character in this chart, in this case an 

‘‘A’’, would be repeated in the 10th 

position, which under the current Part 

565 allows for both the possibility of 

duplicate VINs and a situation in which 

a VIN user would not be able to tell 

whether a vehicle was manufactured as 

a 2010 model year vehicle or a model 

year 30 years earlier when ‘‘A’’ was last 

used in the 10th position. Under the 

amended Part 565, however, an ‘‘A’’ or 

a ‘‘B’’ in the 10th position must be 

newly accompanied by an alphabetic 

character in the 7th position, which 

ensures that the VIN will not be 

duplicative of a VIN issued for model 

year vehicle 30 years ago. The agency 

has therefore adopted the use of ‘‘A’’ or 

‘‘B’’ in the 10th position as the trigger 

by which a manufacturer must apply the 

new requirements of today’s rule. These 

new requirements will both avoid 

duplicate VINs and enable a VIN user to 

distinguish the 30 year period in which 

a vehicle was manufactured. 

NHTSA very much appreciates the 

concerns expressed over the need for 

the timely publication of this final rule. 

We believe the effective date of the rule 

gives regulated parties ample time to 

make the changes necessary to comply 

with the revised requirements of Part 

565. 

The current VIN requirements need to 

be retained for an interim period during 

the changeover to the new VIN 

requirements, for the benefit of any 

manufacturer that might be using the 

current Part 565 VIN regulation. The 

agency is moving the current VIN 

requirements to a subpart in part 565, 

and applying that regulation to vehicles 

manufactured between today and a date 

1 year from today’s date that do not 

have an ‘‘A’’ or ‘‘B’’ in the 10th position 

of the VIN. 

B. Summary of Amendments Adopted 

in This Final Rule 

• The current 30 year period during 

which the VINs of any two vehicles 

subject to Part 565 may not be identical 

has been extended to 60 years. 

• A vehicle’s ‘‘make’’ must now be 

communicated in, and decipherable 

from, the second section of the VIN 

(positions 4–8), rather than being 

included in the manufacturer identifier. 

• For passenger cars and 

multipurpose passenger vehicles and 

trucks with a gross vehicle weight rating 

of 4536 kg. (10,000 lbs) or less, positions 

4, 5, and 6 may now be either alphabetic 

or numeric. 

• For passenger cars and 

multipurpose passenger vehicles and 

trucks with a gross vehicle weight rating 

of 4536 kg (10,000 lbs.) or less, VIN 

position 7 must now be alphabetic. 

Numeric or alphabetic characters 

continue to be permitted in position 7 

for all other vehicles. 

• The ‘‘Year Codes for VIN’’ table in 

Part 565 has been revised to include 

character designations for years up to, 

and including, 2039 to account for the 

expanded period of time during which 

the current VIN system will remain in 

existence under this final rule. 

• Vehicle attributes to be 

communicated in, and decipherable 

from VINs of LSVs are included in Part 

565, which now clearly covers LSVs. 

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• Restraint information is added to 

multipurpose passenger vehicle VINs. 

• The VINs of LSVs must be in the 

same location as VINs for passenger 

cars, multipurpose passenger vehicles 

and trucks with a gross vehicle weight 

rating of 4536 kg (10,000 lb) or less. 

• The vehicles to which Part 565.5—

Motor vehicles imported into the United 

States applies have been expanded from 

‘‘passenger cars’’ to ‘‘passenger cars, 

multipurpose passenger vehicles, low 

speed vehicles and trucks of 4536 kg or 

less GVWR.’’

• Language has been added to Part 

565 to indicate that the number ‘‘9’’ in 

the third VIN position means that the 

vehicle is produced in sufficiently small 

quantities that a low-volume 

manufacturer identifier applies and that 

positions 12–14 are therefore part of the 

manufacturer identifier. 

• A table and an explanatory note 

have been added to Part 565 that 

specifically indicates the digit that 

should appear in the ninth position of 

the VIN. 

• New definitions have been added 

for ‘‘low-volume manufacturer,’’ ‘‘highvolume manufacturer,’’ and 

‘‘manufacturer identifier.’’

• The dividing line between highvolume and low-volume manufacturers, 

which determines whether a three 

character or six character manufacturer 

identifier is required, has been set at 

1,000 vehicles, with those 

manufacturers manufacturing 1,000 or 

more vehicles considered to be highvolume manufacturers. 

• The contact details for the SAE in 

Part 565 have been revised. 

IV. Rulemaking Analyses and Notice 

Executive Order 12866 and DOT 

Regulatory Policies and Procedures 

This rulemaking document was not 

reviewed by the Office of Management 

and Budget under E.O. 12866. It is not 

considered to be significant under E.O. 

12866 or the Department’s Regulatory 

Policies and Procedures (44 FR 11034; 

February 26, 1979). This document 

changes the VIN requirements that for 

the most part provide manufacturers 

greater flexibility in meeting VIN 

requirements: 

• The rule helps to sustain the supply 

of unique available manufacturer 

identifiers for large manufacturers, 

because they will no longer need to 

request additional manufacturer 

identifiers for new vehicle makes that 

they produce. 

• The rule permits the use of either 

alphabetic or numeric characters in 

many positions of the VIN. 

• The rule permits low-volume 

manufacturers to manufacture 999 

vehicles (increased from 499) before a 

new high-volume manufacturer 

identifier is required. 

• The rule reduces or eliminates the 

waiting period before the time a 

manufacturer identifier or VIN can be 

used. 

• The rule adds low-speed vehicles to 

the list of vehicles to which Part 565 

applies, and adds attributes of LSVs that 

should be identified by an LSV’s VIN. 

Vehicle manufacturers, including 

those of low-speed vehicles, are already 

required to label their vehicles with a 

VIN and report to NHTSA information 

relating to deciphering the characters in 

the VIN. This rule does not substantially 

change those requirements. The 

minimal impacts of today’s amendments 

do not warrant preparation of a 

regulatory evaluation. 

NHTSA cannot quantify direct safety 

impacts of this rule. However, NHTSA 

believes that this rule will have a 

beneficial effect on safety in that it 

ensures the continued integrity of the 

VIN system (ensuring that vehicles will 

continue to be uniquely identified). 

There may be some cost impacts in 

changing data systems to account for 

features of the VIN that are different 

than those of current VINs (e.g., the use 

of alphabetic and numeric characters in 

certain VIN positions). However, 

NHTSA does not believe that the costs 

will be significant. In fact, 

manufacturers of most vehicles less than 

10,000 lb GVWR will need to do nothing 

more initially than change their systems 

so that an alphabetic character appears 

in position 7 of the VIN to comply with 

today’s rule. For all other VIN positions, 

these manufacturers may continue to 

use current systems to generate VIN 

characters using the old character 

limitations. Because of the change from 

a numeric character to an alphabetic 

character in position 7, unique VINs 

will be assured. These manufacturers 

will be able to adjust their systems as 

needed over time to be able to generate 

VIN characters under the expanded 

options for characters contained in the 

final rule. This ability to adapt slowly 

to the final rule will further ameliorate 

the cost impact of the final rule. 

The members of the committee 

representing operators of data systems 

that utilize the 17-character VIN system 

indicated that there would be some 

costs involved in making software and 

other modifications to data systems, but 

that those costs would be extremely 

small compared to what would be 

required to deal with an expanded 

number of VIN characters. The petition 

noted that ‘‘any increase in the quantity 

of characters beyond the current 

seventeen would require massive 

software changes to all programs that 

use a motor vehicle VIN, and would 

affect not only automotive OEM’s, but 

also state DMV’s, local governments, 

insurance companies, law enforcement 

agencies, research companies, NHTSA’s 

National Center for Statistics and 

Analysis, as well as others.’’

Regulatory Flexibility Act 

Pursuant to the Regulatory Flexibility 

Act (5 U.S.C. 601 et seq., as amended by 

the Small Business Regulatory 

Enforcement Fairness Act (SBREFA) of 

1996), whenever an agency is required 

to publish a notice of proposed 

rulemaking or final rule, it must prepare 

and make available for public comment 

a regulatory flexibility analysis that 

describes the effect of the rule on small 

entities (i.e., small businesses, small 

organizations, and small governmental 

jurisdictions). The Small Business 

Administration’s regulations at 13 CFR 

part 121 define a small business, in part, 

as a business entity ‘‘which operates 

primarily within the United States.’’ (13 

CFR 121.105(a)). No regulatory 

flexibility analysis is required if the 

head of an agency certifies the rule will 

not have a significant economic impact 

on a substantial number of small 

entities. SBREFA amended the 

Regulatory Flexibility Act to require 

Federal agencies to provide a statement 

of the factual basis for certifying that a 

rule will not have a significant 

economic impact on a substantial 

number of small entities. 

NHTSA has considered the effects of 

this rule under the Regulatory 

Flexibility Act. I certify that this rule 

will not have a significant economic 

impact on a substantial number of small 

entities. Any small vehicle 

manufacturers that stand to be affected 

by this rule are already required to 

provide a VIN and provide information 

to NHTSA that enables the VIN to be 

deciphered. Manufacturers of low-speed 

vehicles will have to make sure that the 

VIN reflects the LSV features newly 

added to Table 1 of Part 565, but the 

burden associated with that 

responsibility should be negligible and 

will not result in a significant economic 

impact. 

Executive Order 13132 (Federalism) 

NHTSA has examined this rule 

pursuant to Executive Order 13132 (64 

FR 43255, August 10, 1999) and 

concluded that no additional 

consultation with States, local 

governments or their representatives is 

mandated beyond the rulemaking 

process. The agency has concluded that 

the rule does not have federalism 

implications because the rule does not 

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23378 Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 84 / Wednesday, April 30, 2008 / Rules and Regulations 

have ‘‘substantial direct effects on the 

States, on the relationship between the 

national government and the States, or 

on the distribution of power and 

responsibilities among the various 

levels of government.’’ We note that the 

American Association of Motor Vehicle 

Administrators (AAMVA) was a 

member of the SAE committee that 

submitted the petition prompting this 

rulemaking. 

Further, no consultation is needed to 

discuss the preemptive effect of today’s 

rule. NHTSA rules can have preemptive 

effect in at least two ways. First, the 

National Traffic and Motor Vehicle 

Safety Act contains an express 

preemption provision: ‘‘When a motor 

vehicle safety standard is in effect under 

this chapter, a State or a political 

subdivision of a State may prescribe or 

continue in effect a standard applicable 

to the same aspect of performance of a 

motor vehicle or motor vehicle 

equipment only if the standard is 

identical to the standard prescribed 

under this chapter.’’ 49 U.S.C. 

30103(b)(1). 

In addition to the express preemption 

noted above, the Supreme Court has 

also recognized that State requirements 

imposed on motor vehicle 

manufacturers, including sanctions 

imposed by State tort law, can stand as 

an obstacle to the accomplishment and 

execution of a NHTSA safety standard. 

When such a conflict is discerned, the 

Supremacy Clause of the Constitution 

makes the State requirements 

unenforceable. See Geier v. American 

Honda Motor Co., 529 U.S. 861 (2000). 

NHTSA has not outlined such potential 

State requirements in today’s 

rulemaking, however, in part because 

such conflicts can arise in varied 

contexts, but it is conceivable that such 

a conflict may become clear through 

subsequent experience with today’s 

rule. NHTSA may opine on such 

conflicts in the future, if warranted. See 

id. at 883–86. 

National Technology Transfer and 

Advancement Act 

Under the National Technology 

Transfer and Advancement Act of 1995 

(NTTAA) (Pub. L. 104–113), ‘‘all Federal 

agencies and departments shall use 

technical standards that are developed 

or adopted by voluntary consensus 

standards bodies, using such technical 

standards as a means to carry out policy 

objectives or activities determined by 

the agencies and departments.’’

Voluntary consensus standards are 

technical standards (e.g., materials 

specifications, test methods, sampling 

procedures, and business practices) that 

are developed or adopted by voluntary 

consensus standards bodies, such as 

SAE. The NTTAA directs us to provide 

Congress, through OMB, explanations 

when we decide not to use available and 

applicable voluntary consensus 

standards. 

This rule will make Part 565’s 

requirements for manufacturer 

identifiers and for identifying attributes 

of the specific vehicle type more 

consistent with SAE and ISO standards 

for vehicle identification. The rule will 

permit the use of alphabetic and 

numeric characters in certain VIN 

positions, which is likely to 

substantially increase harmonization of 

Part 565 with the ISO identification 

standard. 

Unfunded Mandates Reform Act 

The Unfunded Mandates Reform Act 

of 1995 (Pub. L. 104–4) requires 

agencies to prepare a written assessment 

of the costs, benefits, and other effects 

of proposed or final rules that include 

a Federal mandate likely to result in the 

expenditures by State, local or tribal 

governments, in the aggregate, or by the 

private sector, of more than $100 

million annually (adjusted annually for 

inflation with base year of 1995). 

Adjusting this amount by the implicit 

gross domestic product price deflator for 

the year 2007 results in $130 million 

annually (119.682 / 92.106 = 1.30). This 

final rule will not result in expenditures 

by State, local or tribal governments, in 

the aggregate, or by the private sector in 

excess of $130 million annually. 

National Environmental Policy Act 

NHTSA has analyzed this rulemaking 

action for the purposes of the National 

Environmental Policy Act. The agency 

has determined that implementation of 

this action will not have any significant 

impact on the quality of the human 

environment. 

Executive Order 12988 (Civil Justice 

Reform) 

When promulgating a regulation, 

Executive Order 12988 specifically 

requires that the agency must make 

every reasonable effort to ensure that the 

regulation, as appropriate: (1) Specifies 

in clear language the preemptive effect; 

(2) specifies in clear language the effect 

on existing Federal law or regulation, 

including all provisions repealed, 

circumscribed, displaced, impaired, or 

modified; (3) provides a clear legal 

standard for affected conduct rather 

than a general standard, while 

promoting simplification and burden 

reduction; (4) specifies in clear language 

the retroactive effect; (5) specifies 

whether administrative proceedings are 

to be required before parties may file 

suit in court; (6) explicitly or implicitly 

defines key terms; and (7) addresses 

other important issues affecting clarity 

and general draftsmanship of 

regulations. 

NHTSA has reviewed this rule 

according to the general requirements 

and the specific requirements for 

regulations set forth in Executive Order 

12988. This rule does not result in any 

preemptive effect and does not have a 

retroactive effect. A petition for 

reconsideration or other administrative 

proceeding is not required before parties 

may file suit in court. 

Paperwork Reduction Act 

Under the Paperwork Reduction Act 

of 1995 (PRA), a person is not required 

to respond to a collection of information 

by a Federal agency unless the 

collection displays a valid OMB control 

number. The Consolidated VIN 

Requirements have an OMB control 

number of 2127–0510. Although the 

agency may require information to be 

provided in a slightly different way as 

a result of this final rule (e.g., vehicle 

make being transferred from the first to 

the second section of the VIN), the 

scope of the overall reporting 

requirements of Part 565 will not 

change. We emphasize that there will be 

no increase or decrease in the collection 

of information because of this 

rulemaking. 

Plain Language 

Executive Order 12866 and the 

President’s memorandum of June 1, 

1998, require each agency to write all 

rules in plain language. Application of 

the principles of plain language 

includes consideration of the following 

questions: 

• Have we organized the material to 

suit the public’s needs? 

• Are the requirements in the rule 

clearly stated? 

• Does the rule contain technical 

language or jargon that isn’t clear? 

• Would a different format (grouping 

and order of sections, use of headings, 

paragraphing) make the rule easier to 

understand? 

• Would more (but shorter) sections 

be better? 

• Could we improve clarity by adding 

tables, lists, or diagrams? 

• What else could we do to make the 

rule easier to understand? 

If you have any responses to these 

questions, please send them to the 

address provided at the beginning of 

this document. 

Regulation Identifier Number (RIN) 

The Department of Transportation 

assigns a regulation identifier number 

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(RIN) to each regulatory action listed in 

the Unified Agenda of Federal 

Regulations. The Regulatory Information 

Service Center publishes the Unified 

Agenda in April and October of each 

year. You may use the RIN contained in 

the heading at the beginning of this 

document to find this action in the 

Unified Agenda. 

Privacy Act 

Please note that anyone is able to 

search the electronic form of all 

comments received into any of our 

dockets by the name of the individual 

submitting the comment (or signing the 

comment, if submitted on behalf of an 

association, business, labor union, etc.). 

You may review DOT’s complete 

Privacy Act Statement in the Federal 

Register published on April 11, 2000 

(Volume 65, Number 70; Pages 19477–

78). 

List of Subjects in 49 CFR Part 565 

Motor vehicle safety, Reporting and 

recordkeeping requirements; 

incorporation by reference. 

■ In consideration of the foregoing, 

NHTSA revises 49 CFR part 565 to read 

as follows: 

PART 565—VEHICLE IDENTIFICATION 

NUMBER (VIN) REQUIREMENTS 

Subpart A—General Applicability of 

Subparts 

Sec. 

565.1 Purpose and scope. 

565.2 Application. 

Subpart B—VIN Requirements 

Sec. 

565.10 Purpose and scope. 

565.11 Applicability. 

565.12 Definitions. 

565.13 General requirements. 

565.14 Motor vehicles imported into the 

United States. 

565.15 Content requirements. 

565.16 Reporting requirements. 

Subpart C—Alternative VIN Requirements In 

Effect for Limited Period 

565.20 Purpose and scope. 

565.21 Applicability. 

565.22 Definitions. 

565.23 General requirements. 

565.24 Motor vehicles imported into the 

United States. 

565.25 Content requirements. 

565.26 Reporting requirements. 

Authority: 49 U.S.C. 322, 30111, 30115, 

30117, 30141, 30146, 30166, and 30168; 

delegation of authority at 49 CFR 1.50. 

Subpart A—General Applicability of 

Subparts 

§ 565.1 Purpose and scope. 

This part specifies the format, content 

and physical requirements for a vehicle 

identification number (VIN) system and 

its installation to simplify vehicle 

identification information retrieval and 

to increase the accuracy and efficiency 

of vehicle recall campaigns. 

§ 565.2 Application. 

(a) Subpart B of this part 565 applies 

to passenger cars, multipurpose 

passenger vehicles, trucks, buses, 

trailers (including trailer kits), 

incomplete vehicles, low speed 

vehicles, and motorcycles manufactured 

on or after October 27, 2008 whose VINs 

have a letter ‘‘A’’ or ‘‘B’’ in the 10th 

position, and to passenger cars, 

multipurpose passenger vehicles, 

trucks, buses, trailers (including trailer 

kits), incomplete vehicles, low speed 

vehicles, and motorcycles manufactured 

on or after April 30, 2009. Vehicles 

imported into the United States under 

49 CFR 591.14(f), other than by the 

corporation responsible for the assembly 

of that vehicle or a subsidiary of such 

a corporation, are excluded from 

requirements of § 565.13(b), § 565.13(c), 

§ 565.13(g), § 565.13(h), § 565.14 and 

§ 565.15. 

(b) Subpart C of this part 565 sets 

forth alternative VIN requirements for 

certain vehicles manufactured on or 

after April 30, 2008 and before April 30, 

2009. For those vehicles, a manufacturer 

may, at its option, comply with the 

requirements of Subpart C instead of the 

requirements of Subpart B of this part, 

provided that the vehicle identification 

number (VIN) does not have a letter ‘‘A’’

or ‘‘B’’ in the 10th position of the VIN. 

Subpart B—VIN Requirements 

§ 565.10 Purpose and scope. 

This part specifies the format, content 

and physical requirements for a vehicle 

identification number (VIN) system and 

its installation to simplify vehicle 

identification information retrieval and 

to increase the accuracy and efficiency 

of vehicle recall campaigns. 

§ 565.11 Applicability. 

See Subpart A of this part 572 

regarding the general applicability of 

this subpart. This part applies to 

passenger cars, multipurpose passenger 

vehicles, trucks, buses, trailers 

(including trailer kits), incomplete 

vehicles, low speed vehicles, and 

motorcycles manufactured on or after 

October 27, 2008 whose VINs have a 

letter ‘‘A’’ or ‘‘B’’ in the 10th position, 

and to passenger cars, multipurpose 

passenger vehicles, trucks, buses, 

trailers (including trailer kits), 

incomplete vehicles, low speed 

vehicles, and motorcycles manufactured 

on or after April 30 2009. Vehicles 

imported into the United States under 

49 CFR 591.14(f), other than by the 

corporation responsible for the assembly 

of that vehicle or a subsidiary of such 

a corporation, are excluded from 

requirements of § 565.13(b), § 565.13(c), 

§ 565.13(g), § 565.13(h), § 565.14 and 

§ 565.15. 

§ 565.12 Definitions. 

(a) Federal Motor Vehicle Safety 

Standards Definitions. Unless otherwise 

indicated, all terms used in this part 

that are defined in 49 CFR 571.3 are 

used as defined in 49 CFR 571.3. 

(b) Body type means the general 

configuration or shape of a vehicle 

distinguished by such characteristics as 

the number of doors or windows, cargocarrying features and the roofline (e.g., 

sedan, fastback, hatchback). 

(c) Check digit means a single number 

or the letter X used to verify the 

accuracy of the transcription of the 

vehicle identification number. 

(d) Engine type means a power source 

with defined characteristics such as fuel 

utilized, number of cylinders, 

displacement, and net brake 

horsepower. The specific manufacturer 

and make shall be represented if the 

engine powers a passenger car or a 

multipurpose passenger vehicle, or 

truck with a gross vehicle weight rating 

of 4536 kg (10,000 lb) or less. 

(e) High-volume manufacturer, for 

purposes of this part, means a 

manufacturer of 1,000 or more vehicles 

of a given type each year. 

(f) Incomplete vehicle means an 

assemblage consisting, as a minimum, of 

frame and chassis structure, power 

train, steering system, suspension 

system and braking system, to the extent 

that those systems are to be part of the 

completed vehicle, that requires further 

manufacturing operations, other than 

the addition of readily attachable 

components, such as mirrors or tire and 

rim assemblies, or minor finishing 

operations such as painting, to become 

a completed vehicle. 

(g) Line means a name that a 

manufacturer applies to a family of 

vehicles within a make which have a 

degree of commonality in construction, 

such as body, chassis or cab type. 

(h) Low-volume manufacturer, for 

purposes of this part, means a 

manufacturer of fewer than 1,000 

vehicles of a given type each year. 

(i) Make means a name that a 

manufacturer applies to a group of 

vehicles or engines. 

(j) Manufacturer means a person—

(1) Manufacturing or assembling 

motor vehicles or motor vehicle 

equipment; or 

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23380 Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 84 / Wednesday, April 30, 2008 / Rules and Regulations 

(2) Importing motor vehicles or motor 

vehicle equipment for resale. 

(k) Manufacturer identifier means the 

first three digits of a VIN of a vehicle 

manufactured by a high-volume 

manufacturer, and the first three digits 

of a VIN and the twelfth through 

fourteenth digits of a VIN of a vehicle 

manufactured by a low-volume 

manufacturer. 

(l) Model means a name that a 

manufacturer applies to a family of 

vehicles of the same type, make, line, 

series and body type. 

(m) Model year means the year used 

to designate a discrete vehicle model, 

irrespective of the calendar year in 

which the vehicle was actually 

produced, provided that the production 

period does not exceed 24 months. 

(n) Plant of manufacture means the 

plant where the manufacturer affixes the 

VIN. 

(o) Series means a name that a 

manufacturer applies to a subdivision of 

a ‘‘line’’ denoting price, size or weight 

identification and that is used by the 

manufacturer for marketing purposes. 

(p) Trailer kit means a trailer that is 

fabricated and delivered in complete but 

unassembled form and that is designed 

to be assembled without special 

machinery or tools. 

(q) Type means a class of vehicle 

distinguished by common traits, 

including design and purpose. 

Passenger cars, multipurpose passenger 

vehicles, trucks, buses, trailers, 

incomplete vehicles, low speed 

vehicles, and motorcycles are separate 

types. 

(r) VIN means a series of Arabic 

numbers and Roman letters that is 

assigned to a motor vehicle for 

identification purposes. 

§ 565.13 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 

567.16, 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 

subject to the Federal motor vehicle 

safety standards and manufactured 

within a 60-year period beginning with 

the 1980 model year 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. 

(f) The VIN for passenger cars, 

multipurpose passenger vehicles, low 

speed 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 § 565.14. 

(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. 

§ 565.14 Motor vehicles imported into the 

United States. 

(a) Importers shall utilize the VIN 

assigned by the original manufacturer of 

the motor vehicle. 

(b) All passenger cars, multipurpose 

passenger vehicles, low speed vehicles 

and trucks of 4536 kg or less GVWR 

certified by a Registered Importer under 

49 CFR part 592 whose VINs do not 

comply with Part 565.13 and 565.14 

shall have a plate or label that contains 

the following statement, in characters 

that have a minimum height of 4 mm 

and the identification number assigned 

by the vehicle’s original manufacturer 

inserted in the blank: SUBSTITUTE 

FOR U.S. VIN: lllll SEE 49 CFR 

PART 565. The plate or label shall 

conform to § 565.13 (h) and (i). The 

plate or label shall be permanently 

affixed inside the passenger 

compartment. The plate or label shall be 

readable, without moving any part of 

the vehicle, through the vehicle glazing 

under daylight conditions by an 

observer having 20/20 vision (Snellen) 

whose eye-point is located outside the 

vehicle adjacent to the left windshield 

pillar. It shall be located in such a 

manner as not to cover, obscure, or 

overlay any part of any identification 

number affixed by the original 

manufacturer. Motor vehicles 

conforming to Canada Motor Vehicle 

Safety Standard 115 are exempt from 

this paragraph. 

§ 565.15 Content requirements. 

(a) The first section shall consist of 

three characters that occupy positions 

one through three (1–3) in the VIN. This 

section shall uniquely identify the 

manufacturer and type of the motor 

vehicle if the manufacturer is a highvolume manufacturer. If the 

manufacturer is a low-volume 

manufacturer, positions one through 

three (1–3) along with positions twelve 

through fourteen (12–14) in the VIN 

shall uniquely identify the manufacturer 

and type of the motor vehicle. These 

characters are assigned in accordance 

with § 565.16(a). A ‘‘9’’ shall be placed 

in the third position of the VIN if the 

manufacturer identifier is six characters. 

A ‘‘9’’ in the third position always 

indicates the presence of a six-character 

manufacturer identifier. The National 

Highway Traffic Safety Administration 

offers access to manufacturer identifier 

assignments via its search engine at the 

following Internet Web site: http:// 

www.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/rules/ 

manufacture. 

(b) The second section shall consist of 

five characters, which occupy positions 

four through eight (4–8) in the VIN. This 

section shall uniquely identify the 

attributes of the vehicle as specified in 

Table I. For passenger cars, and for 

multipurpose passenger vehicles and 

trucks with a gross vehicle weight rating 

of 4536 kg (10,000 lb) or less, the fourth 

character (position 7) of this section 

shall be alphabetic. The characters 

utilized and their placement within the 

section may be determined by the 

manufacturer, but the specified 

attributes must be decipherable with 

information supplied by the 

manufacturer in accordance with 

§ 565.16(c). In submitting the required 

information to NHTSA relating gross 

vehicle weight rating, the designations 

in Table II shall be used. The use of 

these designations within the VIN itself 

is not required. Tables I and II follow: 

TABLE I.—TYPE OF VEHICLE AND

INFORMATION DECIPHERABLE

Passenger car: Make, line, series, body type, 

engine type, and all restraint devices and 

their location. 

Multipurpose passenger vehicle: Make, line, 

series, body type, engine type, gross vehicle weight rating, and for multipurpose passenger vehicles with a gross vehicle weight 

rating (GVWR) of 4536kg (10,000 lb) or 

less all restraint devices and their location. 

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TABLE I.—TYPE OF VEHICLE AND INFORMATION DECIPHERABLE—Continued 

Truck: Make, model or line, series, chassis, 

cab type, engine type, brake system, gross 

vehicle weight rating, and for trucks with a 

gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of 

4536 kg (10,000 lb) or less all restraint devices and their location. 

Bus: Make, model or line, series, body type, 

engine type, and brake system. 

Trailer, including trailer kits and incomplete 

trailer: Make, type of trailer, body type, 

length and axle configuration. 

Motorcycle: Make, type of motorcycle, line, 

engine type, and net brake horsepower. 

Incomplete vehicle other than a trailer: Make, 

model or line, series, cab type, engine 

type, and brake system. 

Low speed vehicle: Make, engine type, brake 

system, restraint system type, body type, 

and gross vehicle weight rating. 

Note to Table I: Engine net brake horsepower when encoded in the VIN shall differ 

by no more than 10 percent from the actual net brake horsepower; shall in the 

case of motorcycle with an actual net 

brake horsepower of 2 or less, be not 

more than 2; and shall be greater than 2 in 

the case of a motorcycle with an actual 

brake horsepower greater than 2. 

TABLE II.—GROSS VEHICLE WEIGHT

RATING CLASSES

Class A—Not greater than 1360 kg. (3,000 

lbs.) 

Class B—Greater than 1360 kg. to 1814 kg. 

(3,001–4,000 lbs.) 

Class C—Greater than 1814 kg. to 2268 kg. 

(4,001–5,000 lbs.) 

Class D—Greater than 2268 kg. to 2722 kg. 

(5,001–6,000 lbs.) 

Class E—Greater than 2722 kg. to 3175 kg. 

(6,001–7,000 lbs.) 

Class F—Greater than 3175 kg. to 3629 kg. 

(7,001–8,000 lbs.) 

Class G—Greater than 3629 kg. to 4082 kg. 

(8,001–9,000 lbs.) 

TABLE II.—GROSS VEHICLE WEIGHT

RATING CLASSES—Continued 

Class H—Greater than 4082 kg. to 4536 kg. 

(9,001–10,000 lbs.) 

Class 3—Greater than 4536 kg. to 6350 kg. 

(10,001–14,000 lbs.) 

Class 4—Greater than 6350 kg. to 7257 kg. 

(14,001–16,000 lbs.) 

Class 5—Greater than 7257 kg. to 8845 kg. 

(16,001–19,500 lbs.) 

Class 6—Greater than 8845 kg. to 11793 kg. 

(19,501–26,000 lbs.) 

Class 7—Greater than 11793 kg. to 14968 

kg.(26,001–33,000 lbs.) 

Class 8—Greater than 14968 kg. (33,001 lbs. 

and over) 

(c) The third section shall consist of 

one character, which occupies position 

nine (9) in the VIN. This section shall 

be the check digit whose purpose is to 

provide a means for verifying the 

accuracy of any VIN transcription. After 

all other characters in VIN have been 

determined by the manufacturer, the 

check digit shall be calculated by 

carrying out the mathematical 

computation specified in paragraphs (c) 

(1) through (4) of this section. 

(1) Assign to each number in the VIN 

its actual mathematical value and assign 

to each letter the value specified for it 

in Table III, as follows: 

TABLE III.—ASSIGNED VALUES

A = 1 

B = 2 

C = 3 

D = 4 

E = 5 

F = 6 

G = 7 

H = 8 

J = 1 

K = 2 

L = 3 

M = 4 

N = 5 

TABLE III.—ASSIGNED VALUES—

Continued 

P = 7 

R = 9 

S = 2 

T = 3 

U = 4 

V = 5 

W = 6 

X = 7 

Y = 8 

Z = 9 

(2) Multiply the assigned value for 

each character in the VIN by the 

position weight factor specified in Table 

IV, as follows: 

TABLE IV.—VIN POSITION AND

WEIGHT FACTOR

1st ....................................... 8 

2d ........................................ 7 

3d ........................................ 6 

4th ....................................... 5 

5th ....................................... 4 

6th ....................................... 3 

7th ....................................... 2 

8th ....................................... 10 

9th ....................................... (check digit) 

10th ..................................... 9 

11th ..................................... 8 

12th ..................................... 7 

13th ..................................... 6 

14th ..................................... 5 

15th ..................................... 4 

16th ..................................... 3 

17th ..................................... 2 

(3) Add the resulting products and 

divide the total by 11. 

(4) The check digit is based on either 

the Fractional Remainder or the Decimal 

Equivalent Remainder as reflected in 

Table V. All Decimal Equivalent 

Remainders in Table V are rounded to 

the nearest thousandth. The check digit, 

zero through nine (0–9) or the letter ‘‘X’’

shall appear in VIN position nine (9). 

TABLE V.—NINTH POSITION CHECK DIGIT VALUES

[Rounded to the nearest thousandth] 

Fractional Remainder ............................... 0 1/11 2/11 3/11 4/11 5/11 6/11 7/11 8/11 9/11 10/11 

Decimal Equivalent Remainder ................ 0 0.091 0.182 0.273 0.364 0.455 0.545 0.634 0.727 0.818 0.909 

Check Digit ............................................... 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 X 

(5) A sample check digit calculation is 

shown in Table VI as follows: 

TABLE VI.—CALCULATION OF A CHECK DIGIT

Vin Position ........... 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 

Sample VIN .......... 1 G 4 A H 5 9 H ........ 5 G 1 1 8 3 4 1 

Assigned Value ..... 1 7 4 1 8 5 9 8 ........ 5 7 1 1 8 3 4 1 

Weight Factor ....... 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 10 0 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 

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TABLE VI.—CALCULATION OF A CHECK DIGIT—Continued 

Multiply Assigned 

value times 

weight factor ...... 8 49 24 5 32 15 18 80 0 45 56 7 6 40 12 12 2 

Add products: 8+49+24+5+32+15+18+80+0+45+56+7+6+40+12+12+2 = 411. 

Divide by 11: 411/11 = 37 4/11 or 37.3636. 

If the fourth digit is 5 or greater, round up. If the fourth digit is 4 or smaller, round down. 

In the example above, the remainder is 4/11 or 0.364 when rounded up. 

Looking up the remainder in Table V—Ninth Position Check Digit Values indicates that ‘‘4’’ is the check digit to be inserted in position nine (9) 

of the VIN for this sample digit calculation. 

(d) The fourth section shall consist of 

eight characters, which occupy 

positions ten through seventeen (10–17) 

of the VIN. The last five (5) characters 

of this section shall be numeric for 

passenger cars and for multipurpose 

passenger vehicles and trucks with a 

gross vehicle weight rating of 4536 kg. 

(10,000 lbs.) or less, and the last four (4) 

characters shall be numeric for all other 

vehicles. 

(1) The first character of the fourth 

section shall represent the vehicle 

model year. The year shall be 

designated as indicated in Table VII as 

follows: 

TABLE VII.—YEAR CODES FOR VIN 

Year Code 

2005 ..................................................... 5 

2006 ..................................................... 6 

2007 ..................................................... 7 

2008 ..................................................... 8 

2009 ..................................................... 9 

2010 ..................................................... A 

2011 ..................................................... B 

2012 ..................................................... C 

2013 ..................................................... D 

2014 ..................................................... E 

2015 ..................................................... F 

2016 ..................................................... G 

2017 ..................................................... H 

2018 ..................................................... J 

2019 ..................................................... K 

2020 ..................................................... L 

2021 ..................................................... M 

2022 ..................................................... N 

2023 ..................................................... P 

2024 ..................................................... R 

2025 ..................................................... S 

2026 ..................................................... T 

2027 ..................................................... V 

2028 ..................................................... W 

2029 ..................................................... X 

2030 ..................................................... Y 

2031 ..................................................... 1 

2032 ..................................................... 2 

2033 ..................................................... 3 

2034 ..................................................... 4 

2035 ..................................................... 5 

2036 ..................................................... 6 

2037 ..................................................... 7 

2038 ..................................................... 8 

TABLE VII.—YEAR CODES FOR VIN—

Continued 

Year Code 

2039 ..................................................... 9 

Note to Table VII: For passenger cars, and 

for multipurpose passenger vehicles and 

trucks with a gross vehicle weight rating of 

4536 kg (10,000 lb) or less, if position 7 is numeric, the Model Year in position 10 of the 

VIN refers to a year in the range 1980–2009. 

If position 7 is alphabetic, the Model Year in 

Position 10 of the VIN refers to a year in the 

range 2010–2039. 

(2) The second character of the fourth 

section shall represent the plant of 

manufacture. 

(3) The third through the eighth 

characters of the fourth section 

(positions 12 through 17) shall represent 

the number sequentially assigned by the 

manufacturer in the production process 

if the manufacturer is a high-volume 

manufacturer. If a manufacturer is a 

low-volume manufacturer, the third, 

fourth, and fifth characters of the fourth 

section (positions 12, 13, and 14), 

combined with the three characters of 

the first section (positions 1, 2, and 3), 

shall uniquely identify the manufacturer 

and type of the motor vehicle and the 

sixth, seventh, and eighth characters of 

the fourth section (positions 15, 16, and 

17) shall represent the number 

sequentially assigned by the 

manufacturer in the production process. 

§ 565.16 Reporting requirements. 

The information collection 

requirements contained in this part have 

been approved by the Office of 

Management and Budget under the 

provisions of the Paperwork Reduction 

Act (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq. ) and have 

been assigned OMB Control Number 

2127–0510. 

(a) The National Highway Traffic 

Safety Administration (NHTSA) has 

contracted with the SAE International to 

coordinate the assignment of 

manufacturer identifiers to 

manufacturers in the United States. 

Manufacturer identifiers will be 

supplied by SAE at no charge. All 

requests for assignments of 

manufacturer identifiers should be 

forwarded directly to: SAE 

International, 400 Commonwealth 

Drive, Warrendale, Pennsylvania, 

15096, Attention: WMI Coordinator 

(telephone: 724–776–4841). Any 

requests for identifiers submitted to 

NHTSA will be forwarded to SAE. 

Manufacturers may request a specific 

identifier or may request only 

assignment of an identifier(s). SAE will 

review requests for specific identifiers 

to determine that they do not conflict 

with an identifier already assigned or 

block of identifiers already reserved. 

SAE will confirm the assignments in 

writing to the requester. Once confirmed 

by SAE, the identifier need not be 

resubmitted to NHTSA. 

(b) Manufacturers of vehicles subject 

to this part shall submit, either directly 

or through an agent, the unique 

identifier for each make and type of 

vehicle it manufactures at least 60 days 

before affixing the first VIN using the 

identifier. Manufacturers whose unique 

identifier appears in the fourth section 

of the VIN shall also submit the three 

characters of the first section that 

constitutes a part of their identifier. 

(c) Manufacturers of vehicles subject 

to the requirements of this part shall 

submit to NHTSA the information 

necessary to decipher the characters 

contained in its VINs. Amendments to 

this information shall be submitted to 

the agency for VINs containing an 

amended coding. The agency will not 

routinely provide written approvals of 

these submissions, but will contact the 

manufacturer should any corrections to 

these submissions be necessary. 

(d) The information required under 

paragraph (c) of this section shall be 

submitted at least 60 days prior to 

offering for sale the first vehicle 

identified by a VIN containing that 

information, or if information 

concerning vehicle characteristics 

sufficient to specify the VIN code is 

unavailable to the manufacturer by that 

date, then within one week after that 

information first becomes available. The 

information shall be addressed to: 

Administrator, National Highway 

Traffic Safety Administration, 1200 New 

Jersey Avenue, SE, Washington, DC 

20590, Attention: VIN Coordinator. 

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Subpart C—Alternative VIN 

Requirements In Effect for Limited 

Period 

§ 565.20 Purpose and scope. 

This part specifies the format, content 

and physical requirements for a vehicle 

identification number (VIN) system and 

its installation to simplify vehicle 

identification information retrieval and 

to increase the accuracy and efficiency 

of vehicle recall campaigns. 

§ 565.21 Applicability. 

See Subpart A of this part 572 

regarding the applicability of this 

subpart. This part applies to passenger 

cars, multipurpose passenger vehicles, 

trucks, buses, trailers (including trailer 

kits), incomplete vehicles, and 

motorcycles. Vehicles imported into the 

United States under 49 CFR 591.24(f), 

other than by the corporation 

responsible for the assembly of that 

vehicle or a subsidiary of such a 

corporation, are excluded from 

requirements of § 565.23(b), § 565.23(c), 

§ 565.23(g), § 565.23(h), § 565.24 and 

§ 565.25. 

§ 565.22 Definitions. 

(a) Federal Motor Vehicle Safety 

Standards Definitions. Unless otherwise 

indicated, all terms used in this part 

that are defined in 49 CFR 571.3 are 

used as defined in 49 CFR 571.3. 

(b) Body type means the general 

configuration or shape of a vehicle 

distinguished by such characteristics as 

the number of doors or windows, cargocarrying features and the roofline (e.g., 

sedan, fastback, hatchback). 

(c) Check digit means a single number 

or the letter X used to verify the 

accuracy of the transcription of the 

vehicle identification number. 

(d) Engine type means a power source 

with defined characteristics such as fuel 

utilized, number of cylinders, 

displacement, and net brake 

horsepower. The specific manufacturer 

and make shall be represented if the 

engine powers a passenger car or a 

multipurpose passenger vehicle, or 

truck with a gross vehicle weight rating 

of 4536 kg. (10,000 lbs.) or less. 

(e) Incomplete vehicle means an 

assemblage consisting, as a minimum, of 

frame and chassis structure, power 

train, steering system, suspension 

system and braking system, to the extent 

that those systems are to be part of the 

completed vehicle, that requires further 

manufacturing operations, other than 

the addition of readily attachable 

components, such as mirrors or tire and 

rim assemblies, or minor finishing 

operations such as painting, to become 

a completed vehicle. 

(f) Line means a name that a 

manufacturer applies to a family of 

vehicles within a make which have a 

degree of commonality in construction, 

such as body, chassis or cab type. 

(g) Make means a name that a 

manufacturer applies to a group of 

vehicles or engines. 

(h) Manufacturer means a person—

(1) Manufacturing or assembling 

motor vehicles or motor vehicle 

equipment; or 

(2) Importing motor vehicles or motor 

vehicle equipment for resale. 

(i) Model means a name that a 

manufacturer applies to a family of 

vehicles of the same type, make, line, 

series and body type. 

(j) Model Year means the year used to 

designate a discrete vehicle model, 

irrespective of the calendar year in 

which the vehicle was actually 

produced, provided that the production 

period does not exceed 24 months. 

(k) Plant of manufacture means the 

plant where the manufacturer affixes the 

VIN. 

(l) Series means a name that a 

manufacturer applies to a subdivision of 

a ‘‘line’’ denoting price, size or weight 

identification and that is used by the 

manufacturer for marketing purposes. 

(m) Trailer kit means a trailer that is 

fabricated and delivered in complete but 

unassembled form and that is designed 

to be assembled without special 

machinery or tools. 

(n) Type means a class of vehicle 

distinguished by common traits, 

including design and purpose. 

Passenger cars, multipurpose passenger 

vehicles, trucks, buses, trailers, 

incomplete vehicles and motorcycles 

are separate types. 

(o) VIN means a series of Arabic 

numbers and Roman letters that is 

assigned to a motor vehicle for 

identification purposes. 

§ 565.23 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 

567.26, 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. 

(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 § 565.24. 

(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. 

§ 565.24 Motor vehicles imported into the 

United States. 

(a) Importers shall utilize the VIN 

assigned by the original manufacturer of 

the motor vehicle. 

(b) A passenger car certified by a 

Registered Importer under 49 CFR part 

592 shall have a plate or label that 

contains the following statement, in 

characters with a minimum height of 4 

mm, with the identification number 

assigned by the original manufacturer 

provided in the blank: SUBSTITUTE 

FOR U.S. VIN:lllSEE PART 565. 

The plate or label shall conform to 

§ 565.23 (h) and (i). The plate or label 

shall be permanently affixed inside the 

passenger compartment. The plate or 

label 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. It shall be 

located in such a manner as not to 

cover, obscure, or overlay any part of 

any identification number affixed by the 

original manufacturer. Passenger cars 

conforming to Canadian Motor Vehicle 

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23384 Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 84 / Wednesday, April 30, 2008 / Rules and Regulations 

Safety Standard 115 are exempt from 

this paragraph. 

§ 565.25 Content requirements. 

The VIN shall consist of four sections 

of characters which shall be grouped 

accordingly: 

(a) The first section shall consist of 

three characters that occupy positions 

one through three (1–3) in the VIN. This 

section shall uniquely identify the 

manufacturer, make and type of the 

motor vehicle if its manufacturer 

produces 500 or more motor vehicles of 

its type annually. If the manufacturer 

produces less than 500 motor vehicles 

of its type annually, these characters 

along with the third, fourth and fifth 

characters of the fourth section shall 

uniquely identify the manufacturer, 

make and type of the motor vehicle. 

These characters are assigned in 

accordance with § 565.26(a). 

(b) The second section shall consist of 

five characters, which occupy positions 

four through eight (4–8) in the VIN. This 

section shall uniquely identify the 

attributes of the vehicle as specified in 

Table VIII. For passenger cars, and for 

multipurpose passenger vehicles and 

trucks with a gross vehicle weight rating 

of 4536 kg (10,000 lb) or less, the first 

and second characters shall be 

alphabetic and the third and fourth 

characters shall be numeric. The fifth 

character may be either alphabetic or 

numeric. The characters utilized and 

their placement within the section may 

be determined by the manufacturer, but 

the specified attributes must be 

decipherable with information supplied 

by the manufacturer in accordance with 

§ 565.26(c). In submitting the required 

information to NHTSA relating to gross 

vehicle weight rating, the designations 

in Table IX shall be used. The use of 

these designations within the VIN itself 

is not required. Tables VIII and IX 

follow: 

TABLE VIII.—TYPE OF VEHICLE AND INFORMATION DECIPHERABLE

Passenger car: Line, series, body type, engine type and restraint system type. 

Multipurpose passenger vehicle: Line, series, body type, engine type, gross vehicle weight rating. 

Truck: Model or line, series, chassis, cab type, engine type, brake system and gross vehicle weight rating. 

Bus: Model or line, series, body type, engine type, and brake system. 

Trailer, including trailer kits and incomplete trailer: Type of trailer, body type, length and axle configuration. 

Motorcycle: Type of motorcycle, line, engine type, and net brake horsepower. 

Incomplete Vehicle other than a trailer: Model or line, series, cab type, engine type and brake system. 

Note to Table VIII: Engine net brake horsepower when encoded in the VIN shall differ by no more than 10 percent from the actual net brake 

horsepower; shall in the case of motorcycle with an actual net brake horsepower of 2 or less, be not more than 2; and shall be greater than 2 in 

the case of a motorcycle with an actual brake horsepower greater than 2. 

TABLE IX.—GROSS VEHICLE WEIGHT

RATING CLASSES

Class A—Not greater than 1360 kg. (3,000 

lbs.) 

Class B—Greater than 1360 kg. to 1814 kg. 

(3,001–4,000 lbs.) 

Class C—Greater than 1814 kg. to 2268 kg. 

(4,001–5,000 lbs.) 

Class D—Greater than 2268 kg. to 2722 kg. 

(5,001–6,000 lbs.) 

Class E—Greater than 2722 kg. to 3175 kg. 

(6,001–7,000 lbs.) 

Class F—Greater than 3175 kg. to 3629 kg. 

(7,001–8,000 lbs.) 

Class G—Greater than 3629 kg. to 4082 kg. 

(8,001–9,000 lbs.) 

Class H—Greater than 4082 kg. to 4536 kg. 

(9,001–10,000 lbs.) 

Class 3—Greater than 4536 kg. to 6350 kg. 

(10,001–14,000 lbs.) 

Class 4—Greater than 6350 kg. to 7257 kg. 

(14,001–16,000 lbs.) 

Class 5—Greater than 7257 kg. to 8845 kg. 

(16,001–19,500 lbs.) 

Class 6—Greater than 8845 kg. to 11793 kg. 

(19,501–26,000 lbs.) 

Class 7—Greater than 11793 kg. to 14968 

kg.(26,001–33,000 lbs.) 

Class 8—Greater than 14968 kg. (33,001 lbs. 

and over). 

(c) The third section shall consist of 

one character, which occupies position 

nine (9) in the VIN. This section shall 

be the check digit whose purpose is to 

provide a means for verifying the 

accuracy of any VIN transcription. After 

all other characters in VIN have been 

determined by the manufacturer, the 

check digit shall be calculated by 

carrying out the mathematical 

computation specified in paragraphs (c) 

(1) through (4) of this section. 

(1) Assign to each number in the VIN 

its actual mathematical value and assign 

to each letter the value specified for it 

in Table X, as follows: 

TABLE X.—ASSIGNED VALUES

A = 1 

B = 2 

C = 3 

D = 4 

E = 5 

F = 6 

G = 7 

H = 8 

J = 1 

K = 2 

L = 3 

M = 4 

N = 5 

P = 7 

R = 9 

S = 2 

T = 3 

U = 4 

V = 5 

W = 6 

X = 7 

Y = 8 

Z = 9 

(2) Multiply the assigned value for 

each character in the VIN by the 

position weight factor specified in Table 

XI, as follows: 

TABLE XI.—VIN POSITION AND

WEIGHT FACTOR

1st ......................................... 8 

2d .......................................... 7 

3d .......................................... 6 

4th ......................................... 5 

5th ......................................... 4 

6th ......................................... 3 

7th ......................................... 2 

8th ......................................... 10 

9th ......................................... (check digit) 

10th ....................................... 9 

11th ....................................... 8 

12th ....................................... 7 

13th ....................................... 6 

14th ....................................... 5 

15th ....................................... 4 

16th ....................................... 3 

17th ....................................... 2 

(3) Add the resulting products and 

divide the total by 11. 

(4) The numerical remainder is the 

check digit. If the remainder is 10 the 

letter ‘‘X’’ shall be used to designate the 

check digit. The correct numeric 

remainder, zero through nine (0–9) or 

the letter ‘‘X,’’ shall appear in VIN 

position nine (9). 

(5) A sample check digit calculation is 

shown in Table XII as follows: 

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TABLE XII.—CALCULATION OF A CHECK DIGIT

VIN Position 12 ..... 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 

Sample VIN .......... 1 G 4 A H 5 9 H ... 5 G 1 1 8 3 4 1 

Assigned Value ..... 1 7 4 1 8 5 9 8 ... 5 7 1 1 8 3 4 1 

Weight Factor ....... 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 10 0 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 

Multiply Assigned 

value times ........ 8 49 24 5 32 15 18 80 0 45 56 7 6 40 12 12 2 

Add products: 8+49+24+5+32+15+18+80+0+45+56+7+6+40+12+12+2 = 411. 

Divide by 11: 411/11 = 37 4/11. 

The remainder is 4; this is the check digit to be inserted in position nine (9) of the VIN. 

(d) The fourth section shall consist of 

eight characters, which occupy 

positions ten through seventeen (10–17) 

of the VIN. The last five (5) characters 

of this section shall be numeric for 

passenger cars and for multipurpose 

passenger vehicles and trucks with a 

gross vehicle weight rating of 4536 kg. 

(10,000 lbs.) or less, and the last four (4) 

characters shall be numeric for all other 

vehicles. 

(1) The first character of the fourth 

section shall represent the vehicle 

model year. The year shall be 

designated as indicated in Table XIII as 

follows: 

TABLE XIII.—YEAR CODES FOR VIN 

Year Code 

1980 ..................................................... A 

1981 ..................................................... B 

1982 ..................................................... C 

1983 ..................................................... D 

1984 ..................................................... E 

1985 ..................................................... F 

1986 ..................................................... G 

1987 ..................................................... H 

1988 ..................................................... J 

1989 ..................................................... K 

1990 ..................................................... L 

1991 ..................................................... M 

1992 ..................................................... N 

1993 ..................................................... P 

1994 ..................................................... R 

1995 ..................................................... S 

1996 ..................................................... T 

1997 ..................................................... V 

1998 ..................................................... W 

1999 ..................................................... X 

2000 ..................................................... Y 

2001 ..................................................... 1 

2002 ..................................................... 2 

2003 ..................................................... 3 

2004 ..................................................... 4 

2005 ..................................................... 5 

2006 ..................................................... 6 

2007 ..................................................... 7 

2008 ..................................................... 8 

2009 ..................................................... 9 

2010 ..................................................... A 

2011 ..................................................... B 

2012 ..................................................... C 

2013 ..................................................... D 

(2) The second character of the fourth 

section shall represent the plant of 

manufacture. 

(3) The third through the eighth 

characters of the fourth section shall 

represent the number sequentially 

assigned by the manufacturer in the 

production process if the manufacturer 

produces 500 or more vehicles of its 

type annually. If the manufacturer 

produces less than 500 motor vehicles 

of its type annually, the third, fourth 

and fifth characters of the fourth 

section, combined with the three 

characters of the first section, shall 

uniquely identify the manufacturer, 

make and type of the motor vehicle and 

the sixth, seventh, and eighth characters 

of the fourth section shall represent the 

number sequentially assigned by the 

manufacturer in the production process. 

§ 565.26 Reporting requirements. 

The information collection 

requirements contained in this part have 

been approved by the Office of 

Management and Budget under the 

provisions of the Paperwork Reduction 

Act (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.) and have 

been assigned OMB Control Number 

2127–0510. 

(a) The National Highway Traffic 

Safety Administration (NHTSA) has 

contracted with the SAE International 

(SAE) to coordinate the assignment of 

manufacturer identifiers. Manufacturer 

identifiers will be supplied by SAE at 

no charge. All requests for assignments 

of manufacturer identifiers should be 

forwarded directly to: SAE 

International, 400 Commonwealth 

Drive, Warrendale, Pennsylvania 15096, 

Attention: WMI Coordinator. Any 

requests for identifiers submitted to 

NHTSA will be forwarded to SAE. 

Manufacturers may request a specific 

identifier or may request only 

assignment of an identifier(s). SAE will 

review requests for specific identifiers 

to determine that they do not conflict 

with an identifier already assigned or 

block of identifiers already reserved. 

SAE will confirm the assignments in 

writing to the requester. Once confirmed 

by SAE, the identifier need not be 

resubmitted to NHTSA. 

(b) Manufacturers of vehicles subject 

to this part shall submit, either directly 

or through an agent, the unique 

identifier for each make and type of 

vehicle it manufactures at least 60 days 

before affixing the first VIN using the 

identifier. Manufacturers whose unique 

identifier appears in the fourth section 

of the VIN shall also submit the three 

characters of the first section that 

constitutes a part of their identifier. 

(c) Manufacturers of vehicles subject 

to the requirements of this part shall 

submit to NHTSA the information 

necessary to decipher the characters 

contained in its VINs. Amendments to 

this information shall be submitted to 

the agency for VINs containing an 

amended coding. The agency will not 

routinely provide written approvals of 

these submissions, but will contact the 

manufacturer should any corrections to 

these submissions be necessary. 

(d) The information required under 

paragraph (c) of this section shall be 

submitted at least 60 days prior to 

offering for sale the first vehicle 

identified by a VIN containing that 

information, or if information 

concerning vehicle characteristics 

sufficient to specify the VIN code is 

unavailable to the manufacturer by that 

date, then within one week after that 

information first becomes available. The 

information shall be addressed to: 

Administrator, National Highway 

Traffic Safety Administration, 1200 New 

Jersey Avenue, SE., Washington, DC 

20590, Attention: VIN Coordinator. 

Issued: April 24, 2008. 

Nicole R. Nason, 

Administrator. 

[FR Doc. 08–1197 Filed 4–25–08; 10:50 am] 

BILLING CODE 4910–59–P 

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