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vpic-api

A client library for the U.S. NHTSA vPIC API.

vPIC is the United States National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) Vehicle Product Information Catalog (vPIC) Vehicle Listing API. The API available 24/7, is free to use, and doesn't require registration.

Use the vpic-api client library to decode Vehicle Identification Numbers (VINS), and get information about manufacturers, plants, makes, and models.

Vehicles

vPIC has information about these types of vehicles sold in the USA:

  • Bus
  • Incomplete Vehicle
  • Low Speed Vehicle (LSV)
  • Motorcycle
  • Multipurpose Passenger Vehicle (MPV)
  • Passenger Car
  • Trailer
  • Truck

Note that NHTSA uses automatic rate limiting. They request that you save batch processing for evenings and weekends (Eastern Time).

For more on the NHTSA vPIC, visit their home page.

Features

  • Decode a 17-digit Vehicle Identification Number (VIN)
  • Decode a partial VIN when you don't have the complete VIN
  • Get information about vehicle manufacturers, plants, makes, and models
  • Supports 1981 and later model years

Alternatives

In May 2021, NHTSA released a standalone database for Microsoft SQL Server 2012. This database has all of the information you need to decode VINs. You can download it from the vPIC API home page.