Auto Manufacturers Running Out Of Unique IDs

Posted by timothy on Thursday July 1, 2004 @08:27AM from the hence-the-stupid-car-names dept.

wakebrdr writes "Y2K all over again? A story in today's Detroit News explains how the vehicle ID numbering system (VIN) will soon run out of unique numbers. According to the article, a member of the Society of Automotive Engineers says, 'Longer codes would require a major overhaul of computer systems that would dwarf the challenges and expenses spawned by the Y2K computer dilemma.' Golly, if it's that serious maybe I should start stocking up on MREs and ammunition in preparation for the day the assembly lines come to a screeching halt."

2 of 567 comments (clear)

Min score:

Reason:

Sort:

Re:Extend the character set? by Kallahar · 2004-07-01 08:34 · Score: 5, Informative

reprogramming every device that read's VIN's to accept case sensitivity would be just as hard as adding an extra few digits.
Re:Extend the character set? by matguy · 2004-07-01 08:48 · Score: 5, Informative

Right, the big thing here is the tooling to punch the codes in to sheet metal or solid metal parts. The tooling is set up to punch certain length codes, just adding another number isn't as simple as just putting another punch on the rack, the whole mechanism would need to be changed in most situations.

--

matguy(.com)