NHTSA vPIC
Look up a car’s specs by VIN.
Decode manufacturer-submitted identity and configuration fields, model year, trim, engine, drivetrain, transmission, plant of manufacture, before researching a recall, part, maintenance procedure or specification.
What a VIN decode does and does not tell you
A VIN is a 17-character identifier assigned by the manufacturer at the factory. The characters encode the plant, model year, make, model and a check digit; NHTSA’s vPIC database cross-references those characters against the manufacturer’s own submitted data to return the build attributes above. It confirms what a vehicle was built as, not what has been added, removed or damaged since, and not whether it currently has an open, unrepaired recall. It is also not the same record as the original window sticker, which itemizes the individual factory options fitted to one specific vehicle rather than the build family the VIN decodes to. 4 common questions about what this tool does and does not show are answered below.
Can I look up a car's specs by VIN?
Yes. Every 17-character VIN on a vehicle built for the U.S. market encodes manufacturer-submitted build attributes, model year, make, model, trim, body class, drive type, engine displacement and configuration, fuel type and transmission, and NHTSA's vPIC database, which this tool queries directly, decodes them for free.
Is a VIN decode the same as the original window sticker?
No. A VIN decode returns the manufacturer's submitted build attributes for that vehicle family and configuration. The original Monroney window sticker is the authoritative record of the individual factory options fitted to one specific vehicle: see the trim-and-package answers for why the two can differ.
Does a VIN decode show open recalls or accident history?
No. Build attributes and safety-recall status are separate NHTSA records queried separately. Use the recall lookup tool for open recall remedy status by VIN; a VIN decode alone does not show it.
Where does the decoded data come from?
NHTSA's vPIC (Vehicle Product Information Catalog) API, populated from data manufacturers submit to NHTSA. It is a public, free, no-account-required government data source, not a paid vehicle-history report.
Public-data tools