VIN Decoder with Recalls Included: Bulk VIN Lookup (NHTSA)

VIN decoder for bulk VIN lookup: paste a list of VINs and get make, model, year, trim, engine and plant for each one from the official US NHTSA vPIC database, plus the NHTSA vehicle recalls listed for that make, model and model year (not proof that this car is unrepaired, see the recalls section). The check digit of each VIN is validated. A decoded VIN costs $0.002 on the free plan, and invalid or repeated VINs are saved free.

{
    "vins": ["1HGCM82633A004352", "5YJSA1E27HF000337"]
}

One output row per VIN (shortened, in the format of the real answer):

{
    "vin": "1HGCM82633A004352",
    "valid": true,
    "checkDigitValid": true,
    "status": "decoded",
    "make": "HONDA",
    "model": "Accord",
    "modelYear": 2003,
    "trim": "EX-V6",
    "bodyClass": "Coupe",
    "plantCountry": "UNITED STATES (USA)",
    "modelYearRecallCount": 4
}

VIN decoder with recalls included: bulk VIN lookup (NHTSA)

Decode a list of VINs in bulk for $0.002 per decoded VIN on the free plan ($0.0012 on Gold and above). For every VIN the actor returns the vehicle specs from the official US NHTSA vPIC database (make, model, model year, trim, body class, vehicle type, drive type, engine, transmission, plant, manufacturer, weight class, doors, seats, safety features), checks the VIN's check digit, and adds the recalls NHTSA lists for that make, model and year. Optionally add NHTSA crash-test star ratings and EPA fuel economy (mpg). Paste a column of VINs, get a table. No API key, no account with anyone, no scraping: every data source is a public US government API.

You pay only for a real answer. Invalid VINs, repeats of an earlier VIN, VINs with a wrong check digit and VINs that vPIC cannot decode are saved free, each with a note that says why.

What you get for each VIN

Field	Content
vin, valid	The VIN as read (upper case, spaces and dashes removed) and whether it has 17 valid characters and, for North American VINs, a correct check digit
checkDigitChecked, checkDigitValid	Whether the check digit rule applies (VINs starting with 1 to 5: USA, Canada, Mexico) and whether position 9 is right
make, model, modelYear, trim	From vPIC. trim can be a list of trims ("Two Eco/Three/Four") when the VIN does not pin down one
bodyClass, vehicleType, driveType, doors, seats, gvwr	Body, vehicle type, drive (FWD, 4WD, ...), door and seat counts, gross vehicle weight rating class
engine	cylinders, displacementL, displacementCc, fuelType, fuelTypeSecondary, horsepower, configuration, model, turbo, electrification
transmission	style and speeds
plantCountry, plantCity, plantState, manufacturer	Where and by whom it was built
safetyFeatures	Systems vPIC lists as standard (ABS, stability control, traction control, tire pressure monitoring, collision warning, lane keeping, blind spot, backup camera and so on) and the airbag locations
errorCode, errorText	vPIC's own result, for example 0 "VIN decoded clean", or 1,5,14,400 for a VIN with a wrong check digit and invalid characters
recalls, modelYearRecallCount	With includeRecalls on (the default): the recall campaigns NHTSA lists for the vehicle's make, model and model year (campaign number, component, summary, report date), newest first, and how many there are. Not this VIN's own recalls
wheelSize	frontInches, rearInches when vPIC lists the wheel diameter. vPIC has no tire size (width/aspect ratio), only the wheel, so that is what is returned
safetyRatings, safetyRatingsStatus	With includeSafetyRatings on: NHTSA's crash-test (NCAP) stars, overall, frontCrash, sideCrash, sidePole, rollover and the driver and passenger sides, 1 to 5 or null when NHTSA did not rate it, plus rollover chance, stability control / forward collision / lane departure status, NHTSA complaint, recall and investigation counts, variants and matchConfidence
fuelEconomy, fuelEconomyStatus	With includeFuelEconomy on: EPA mpgCity, mpgHighway, mpgCombined, fuelType, annualFuelCostUsd, co2GramsPerMile, vehicleClass, atvType (an EV's mpg is MPGe), the fueleconomy.gov variant it was matched to, variants and matchConfidence
status, partial, note	decoded, partial, not-decoded, invalid-format or duplicate; partial is true when only make plus model year (or make plus model) was resolved; note explains anything unusual and why a free row is free

Read this about the recalls

NHTSA's recalls API answers by make, model and model year. The recalls list is every recall campaign NHTSA lists for that vehicle model, for the model year, not proof that this particular car is still unrepaired. A car whose air bag was replaced under a campaign still shows that campaign here. To find out whether an individual VIN has an open, unrepaired recall, the owner or buyer checks NHTSA's VIN lookup (nhtsa.gov/recalls) or asks the manufacturer. modelYearRecallCount is the number of model-year campaigns in the list (it is not a count of this VIN's open recalls), and recallsStatus says ok, skipped (option off), error (lookup failed) or not-applicable (no model or year to look up).

Read this about safety ratings and fuel economy

Both are looked up by model year, make and model, not by VIN, and both are off by default. NHTSA rates a model year in several body variants (2 doors, 4 doors, with side airbags); the variant that fits the VIN's door count is used. fueleconomy.gov lists a model year per engine and transmission; the variants that fit the VIN's cylinders, displacement and transmission are used. matchConfidence says how sure the match is: high one candidate fits every check, medium the first of several that fit, low a guess among several. When no variant fits (a different engine), the field is empty and the status is not-found rather than another engine's number. A failed lookup does not change the charge: the row is still charged and safetyRatingsStatus or fuelEconomyStatus is error. Each distinct vehicle is looked up once per run, and at most 500 distinct vehicles per run and kind (the rest are skipped).

Non-US VINs

The check digit is a North American rule. A European or Asian VIN has no check digit to validate, so valid only means the VIN has 17 allowed characters, and checkDigitChecked is false. vPIC decodes VINs from other regions only partially (usually make, model year and plant country, sometimes the model). When it resolves the make and the model year (or the model) the row is returned and charged, with partial: true if one of the three is missing, and says so in note. A North American VIN with a wrong check digit is almost always a typo, so it is not decoded: the row is free, valid is false, and note says the check digit is wrong.

How it is billed

One vin-decoded event per VIN for which vPIC returned a real answer: its result code is 0 (decoded clean) or 14 (decoded, with a warning that the manufacturer gave no data for some characters), it resolved the make and the model year or the model, it has a correct check digit if it is North American, it is not a repeat in the same run, and, when includeRecalls is on and the model year, make and model are known, its recalls were fetched.

Free, with the reason in note and vPIC's own errorCode and errorText: VINs that are not 17 valid characters; repeats of an earlier VIN; a wrong check digit on a North American VIN (vPIC code 1); any other vPIC code: 2 to 4 (vPIC changed a character, so the answer is for another VIN), 5 (errors in a few positions), 6 and 11 (incomplete VIN), 7 (manufacturer not registered), 8 (no detailed data), 400 and 401 (invalid characters), or a code vPIC adds later; a VIN where vPIC returned no make; and decoded VINs where the recalls lookup failed (run those again). A free row carries no vehicle fields, only the reason. If vPIC does not answer, the run stops with the rows saved so far counted and charged only once; if the recalls API does not answer for any lookup, the run fails and nothing is charged for those rows. The run stops at your cost limit and says how many inputs were left. A run that fails and is restarted continues after the rows already saved and does not charge them twice.

Input

• VINs (vins): a list, one VIN per entry (an entry may hold several, separated by commas, semicolons or line breaks).
• Or paste a list (text): a column from a spreadsheet, one VIN per line.
• Include recalls (includeRecalls, default on).
• Include NHTSA safety ratings (includeSafetyRatings, default off).
• Include EPA fuel economy (includeFuelEconomy, default off).

Up to 50,000 inputs per run. An input field the actor does not know stops the run before anything is charged, so a misspelt setting never gives you a result that ignored it.

{
  "vins": ["1HGCM82633A004352", "5YJSA1E27HF000337"],
  "includeRecalls": true,
  "includeSafetyRatings": true,
  "includeFuelEconomy": true
}

Where the data comes from, and how politely

• Specs: the NHTSA vPIC DecodeVinValuesBatch endpoint, 50 VINs per request, two requests at a time at most. vPIC states that it applies an automated traffic rate control, so the actor keeps its request rate low, waits and retries on HTTP 429 and 5xx answers (honouring Retry-After), and identifies itself with a User-Agent.
• Recalls: the NHTSA recalls API (recallsByVehicle), one request per distinct make, model and model year in your list, three at a time at most, and never repeated within a run.
• Safety ratings: the NHTSA SafetyRatings API (official, free), two requests per distinct make, model and year. Fuel economy: the fueleconomy.gov web services (US DOE and EPA, public domain), two requests per distinct make, model, year and engine. Two lookups at a time per kind, each distinct vehicle once per run.
• All are free public US government data. A VIN is vehicle data. The actor never looks up or returns an owner, a name, an address or a plate.

Limits

• vPIC covers vehicles sold in the US market best. It can lack data on older, rare, or non-US vehicles. A missing value in vPIC means NHTSA has no data on it, not that the vehicle lacks the feature.
• Only the vehicle data listed above is returned: no listings, prices, mileage, accident history or owner data.

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