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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."
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).
Sigs cause cancer.
Just use NAT.
"Prefiero morir de pie que vivir siempre arrodillado!"
I'm not worried about the assembly lines coming to a screeching halt... I'm more worried about the assembly robots revolting and attacking the population!
*Duck and cover*
Actually maybe they already do? If so, then start using the !@#$#$%^%^&*)(*& symbols!
Those symbols are usually reserved for use *after* the accident with the uninsured driver.
Mod Karma -1: I sed bad wurds. If I cep my mouf shut, I wud be at riyses.
The second character signifies the manufacturer (General Motors is G, Ford is F, Chrysler is C)
Why not just give GM, Ford, and Chrysler another letter? GM can have G and H, Ford E and F, and Chrysler B and C
Surely every manufacturer doesn't produce as many cars as the top few
Maybe one could use VIN numbers as SSNs: when a car "dies" recycle it's VIN number.
Let's see... how many manhours can a consultant charge the PHB to run the following SQL query
alter table VEHICLES modify column VIN varchar(50);
Yup.. that took countless manhours.
As a software developer for a gargantuan insurance company, let me assure you that I would be rather grumpy (to say the least) if I came into work one day and was told we have to overhaul our VIN-handling code. That would suck. Royally.
However, automakers could start mixing some alphas into the numeric vehicle-identifier portions of VINs...this could provide a few million (at least...too lazy to do math) more string combinations, and wouldn't affect the parts that IT people care about.Just once I'd like someone to call me 'Sir' without adding 'You're making a scene.'
>> do with an odometer in kilometers though, so my title says 9,999,999 miles on it.
Obviously it's not a ford.
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.
Dewey, what part of this looks like authorities should be involved?
I wouldn't worry too much about it. Every industry eventually hits this dilemma and every industry deals with it in their own way. Just a few years ago (actually prior to Y2K), some of the companies in the business of Livestock Genetics were worried they'd run out of Bull numbers. (I think the standard was something like AC0023 where the first two digits identified the company and the last four were the bull's number.)
The various companies formed an IT standards committee and came to an agreement on extending the numbers. It took a year or two, but the systems got converted and life went on. It really wasn't that big of a deal. As a bonus, a real standard for data processing showed up. The previous number scheme was designed for paper and allowed for certain variations which gave computer systems a fit. e.g. Sometimes the number might be written as AC23 or simply 23. This made it difficult for a computer to decide if the code was the domestic code or the international code.
Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
- a claim that the VIN system was created in 1981, and expected to last 30 years
- a claim that the numbers could run out by the end of the decade
So, they expected it to last 30 years, and now somebody says it'll probably only last 29 years and you say, "I really hate to see somone that points out that 'It'll Last for X years' and it never does.'I don't know about anybody else, but if 23 years ago, someobdy engineered a system that was expected to last 30 years...and they were only off by one year...I'd cut them some slack.
Granted, they should've thought about what would happen after thirty years, but they probably did. In fact, they probably thought long and hard about it and decided either:
(a) we'll all be teleporting everywhere by then and cars won't matter anymore; or,
(b) we'll all be retired by then so who gives a rat's ass.
Why does the government feel that it needs to know the "ID" of my vehicle? What business is it of theirs?
/.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.
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,
my pet machine