python-libvin

libvin is a python library which can decode Vehicle Identification Numbers.

Currently it can extract these informations:

• Country
• If the vehicle was build before 2010
• If there is less than 500 of this vehicle model built per year
• Region
• Vehicle Descriptor Section
• Vehicle Identifier Sequence
• Vehicle Sequential Number
• World Manufacturer Identifier
• Year of the vehicle model

This is a work in progress -- model lookup was only about 90% accurate in an informal test -- yet appears to be the most complete open source implementation of vin lookup available. Feel free to contribute !

Low level API example

>>> from libvin.decoding import Vin
>>>
>>> v = Vin('2A4GM684X6R632476')
>>> v.region
north_america
>>> v.country
Canada
>>> v.year
2006
>>> v.make
Chrysler
>>> v.manufacturer
Chrysler Canada
>>> v.is_pre_2010
True
>>> v.wmi
2A4
>>> v.vds
GM684X
>>> v.vis
6R632476
>>> v.vsn
632476
>>> v.less_than_500_built_per_year
False

Methods

Method	Description
country	Manufacturer's country
is_pre_2010	If the vehicle was build before 2010
less_than_500_built_per_year	If there is less than 500 of this vehicle model built per year
make	Brand (e.g. Ford)
manufacturer	Company (e.g. Ford Motor Company)
region	Region
vds	Vehicle Descriptor Section
vis	Vehicle Identifier Sequence
vsn	Vehicle Sequential Number
wmi	World Manufacturer Identifier
year	Year of the vehicle model

Standards

There are at least four competing standards used to calculate VIN.

• FMVSS 115, Part 565: Used in United States and Canada
• ISO Standard 3779: Used in Europe and many other parts of the world
• SAE J853: Very similar to the ISO standard
• ADR 61/2: used in Australia, referring back to ISO 3779 and 3780

Here's a breakdown of the most common types:

ISO 3779

1 2 3 | 4 5 6 7 8 9 | 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17
-----   -----------   -----------------------
|       |             |
|       |             Vehicle Identifier Section
|       |
|       Vehicle Descriptor Section
|
World Manufacturer Idendified

European Union & North America (>500 vehicles/year)

1 2 3 | 4 5 6 7 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 13 14 15 16 17
-----   ---------   -   --   --   -----------------
|       |           |   |    |    |
|       |           |   |    |    Sequential Number
|       |           |   |    |
|       |           |   |    Plant Code
|       |           |   |
|       |           |   Model Year
|       |           |
|       |           Check Digit
|       |
|       Vehicle Attributes
|
World Manufacturer Idendified

European Union & North America (<500 vehicles/year)

1 2 3 | 4 5 6 7 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 13 14 | 15 16 17
-----   ---------   -   --   --   --------   --------
|       |           |   |    |    |          |
|       |           |   |    |    |          Sequential Number
|       |           |   |    |    |
|       |           |   |    |    Manufacturer Identifier
|       |           |   |    |
|       |           |   |    Plant Code
|       |           |   |
|       |           |   Model Year
|       |           |
|       |           Check Digit
|       |
|       Vehicle Attributes
|
World Manufacturer Idendified

Note to contributors

When submitting a bug fix, please add an entry to TEST_DATA in tests/__init__.py that tickles the bug you're fixing, and make sure the test suite passes.

To run the test suite with nose:

$ pip install nose
$ nosetests

To run the test suite with nose2:

$ pip install nose2
$ nose2

Either should output a few test status lines, then end with something like:

Ran 11 tests in 0.007s

OK

The following free VIN decoder services may come in handy when preparing test cases, at least for cars sold in the United States.

• http://vpic.nhtsa.dot.gov/api/
• http://vpic.nhtsa.dot.gov/decoder/

To find all VIN coding guides from a manufacturer, visit

• http://vpic.nhtsa.dot.gov/mid/

Then check the "Part 565" checkbox, enter part of a manufacturer's name, leave DBA blank, enter a % wildcard for City, State, Country, and Filename, and click Search. The resulting filenames are cryptic, and you have to slog

References

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_Identification_Number
• http://www.nisrinc.com/include/common/VIN.html
• http://vpic.nhtsa.dot.gov
• http://vpic.nhtsa.dot.gov/mid/