Interpretation ID: aiam3149
III
Product Engineering Manager
Carolina International
Inc.
1 Hurstbourne Park
Suite 703
Louisville
Kentucky 40222;
Dear Mr. Howard: This is in response to your letter of June 19, 1979, and i confirmation of your telephone conversation with Mr. Schwartz of my office.; The VIN format you forwarded with your letter is essentially correct There are, however, several aspects of it which should be modified. They will be discussed as numbered in your letter.; It is important to point out at the outset that Standard 115 require Carolina International Inc. to assign a VIN to only those vehicles for which it is the first stage manufacturer, in this case trailers. Ford and General Motors will be assigning a VIN to those vehicles for which it is the first stage manufacturer, even though Carolina is the final stage manufacturer.; I. World Identification Numbers. The first three characters of the VIN designate the manufacturer, make and type of vehicle. While Carolina is the final stage manufacturer for several types of vehicles, it is the first stage manufacturer for only one type. Consequently, one manufacturer identifer is sufficient. As the Agency has contracted with the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) to act as its agent in assigning these identification codes (see enclosed notice), you should communicate with the SAE if your identifier was not assigned by it.; II. Vehicle Description Section (VDS). Your proposed coding for the VDS is satisfactory, except that i encodes data relating to vehicles produced by other manufacturers who would, as explained above, assign the VIN for those vehicles.; III. Check Digit. The mathematical values assigned to the alphabetic characters are no correct. Please consult Table IV in Notice 8 (44 FR 17489, March 22, 1979) which I have enclosed.; IV. Vehicle Indicator Section. The format utilized in this section is correct, except that the serie of trailer must be indicated in the Vehicle Descriptor Section. Perhaps this can be encoded where you previously intended to indicate chassis type (2.4).; I hope this information has been helpful. Please write or call Mr Schwartz of my office at 202-426-1834 should you have any additional questions.; Sincerely. Frank Berndt, Chief Counsel