Auto Manufacturers Running Out Of Unique IDs

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."

Comments

Extend the character set?

[SIGALRM]

The 17-digit codes that identify the origin, make, model and attributes of cars, trucks, buses -- even trailers -- worldwide will be exhausted by the end of the decade.

How about extending the allowable characters in a VIN to include certain ASCII or Unicode symbols? Perhaps make them case-sensitive? That would preserve uniqueness--at least for awhile longer--although it might make the codes harder to verbalize (i.e. to an insurance agent).

Re:Extend the character set?

[tomhudson]

Even 10-year-old VINs are sometimes hard to read - (hello, Toyota Tercel, GM and Ford pickups...)

'Longer codes would require a major overhaul of computer systems that would dwarf the challenges and expenses spawned by the Y2K computer dilemma.'

No it wouldn't. We've been through this before, in the '70s - when each manufacturer made their VIN any way they wanted to - and most were 13 digits, some less.

Computer systems today still handle VINs of less than 17 digits with no problems, provided they've been designed correctly.

So just expand the VIN field by adding a second field of, say, 6 more digits. Vehicles with a VIN of 17 digits or less don't have anything in the second field, those with more than 17 digits do.

The overflow field doesn't even have to be in the same table - just a lookup to see if there's an entry there for the VIN.

Or make the first character of the VIN an arbitrary value - say 'O' (the letter 'o', not the number zero, which means "Made in USA", 2="Made in Canada", 3="Made in Mexico", J="Made in Japan, K="Made in Korea", etc... The letters 'I, O, and Q' are forbidden in the current VIN scheme, as they are too easy to confuse with zero and one. Tell the software that anything beginning with an 'O' should be searched for using the new, longer VIN.

Heck, you could even use a zero, since nobody uses it as the country origin code.

As I said, it's not that big a deal, as we've been there before.

Re:Extend the character set?

[DAldredge]

I did read the article, you did not. If you have you would have learned to following.

Of 1,056 WMI codes available to U.S. manufacturers, 594 remain, according to SAE.

One solution that will be considered when the committee votes on a final recommendation in September or October is to reclaim WMI codes that are going unused in other regions.

More than two dozen countries, from Armenia to Zimbabwe, have up to 288 WMI codes each. All are dormant.

The group may also reclaim WMI codes from U.S. trailer, motorcycle and other manufacturers no longer in business. SAE doesn't have a precise count, but such defunct companies could be the source of enough WMI codes to supplement another 30 years of use, said Steve Ezar, manager of government and industry standardization at SAE.

Another possible solution: the WMI code could be revamped so that the third digit, which now indicates brand, will be freed up to denote different information.

For example, a VIN beginning with 5G1 now describes a Chevrolet built in the United States, while 5G2 identifies a Pontiac.

But in the future, 5G1 could be used to cover all GM products, freeing 5G2 for -- perhaps -- another manufacturer.

VIN numbers as SSNs?

[Michael Pigott]

Maybe one could use VIN numbers as SSNs: when a car "dies" recycle it's VIN number.

Good for speeders!

[Just Some Guy]

I got clocked once at a pretty decent rate on an interstate highway. I was in the military at the time and in uniform, and the nice highway patrolman wrote the ticket for 5 mph over the limit (which was significantly under my real speed, unless you're my insurance agent, in which case I was framed, darn it, framed!).

I had recently upgraded my car and my home state lets you move your license plates to your new car as long as you sell your old one at the same time. Fortunately for me, the state hadn't gotten around to turning my '68 Mustang into a '92 Prizm and the patrolman copied the information straight from the computer to the ticket.

When I received a summons in the mail, I disputed it with the cause being that I was in a '92 Prizm and did not even own a '68 Mustang, and the complaint was completely dropped.

The moral of the story: if I find out that I share a VIN with an Edsel on blocks in some farmer's pasture, then the police will have to use a spectrometer to measure my speed. I'll be driving my "get out of jail free" car until the sonic booms shake it apart.

Re:Good

[no reason to be here]

Why does the government feel that it needs to know the "ID" of my vehicle? What business is it of theirs?
Because they have an interest in making sure that that vehicle is safe to drive (safety inspections). Also, it makes it a little more likely that your car could be recovered if it were ever stolen. Also, I believe (not certain) that VINs are global, voluntarily created by automotive manufacturers; therfore, they wouldn't be just a US thing. Furthermore, the gov't provides all the roads on which you would be driving. The gov't identifies your car by its license plate. You give your VIN when you register your car so that there is something else to match it against other than the plates if it is stolen, in an accident, etc.

This is no different than other government-mandated identity programs such as Social Security numbers.
Yes it is. One has to have an SSN in the US, no matter what. One doesn't have to own a car (well, in some instances one DOES have to own a car, but people in a large enough metropolitan area don't have to).

Not to get tin-foil-hatty,
too late

but if you've read books like 1984 or studied leaders like Hitler, you will know that programs like this (even if they start with the best of intentions) end up going way down the slippery slope, usually with disastrous results.
A VIN isn't going to lead the SS to your door step. No one knows the VIN on a particular automobile unless they are standing right next to it and looking right at where it is printed. Now if you smash your car into a bus load of orphans, and you flee the scene on foot, then maybe the cops could check the VIN to see to whom the car is registered, and then come arrest you later. Of course, they could just as easily check the license plate.

Slashdotters were (rightfully) up in arms a few years back when Intel planned on embedding unique IDs into their Pentium III chips. Yet we blindly accept VINs and other intrusions into our privacy without question. Why?
Maybe, just maybe, /.ers see VINs as just a serial number on a car, not some sort of gov't tracking system devised by the Illuminati. I think most /.ers don't like SSNs (to use your other example), but they are way, WAY too entrenched to just rebel against. Pick your battles, as they say.