NHTSA

About NHTSA

The vPIC (Vehicle Product Information Catalog) API from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration provides programmatic access to vehicle specification data derived from information manufacturers submit through 565 filings. It supports decoding VINs (full and partial, with flat or key-value output formats) into vehicle attributes, and offers lookups for World Manufacturer Identifiers (WMI), makes, manufacturers, and manufacturer details.

The API returns data in XML, CSV, or JSON formats and includes methods such as Decode VIN, Decode VIN Extended, Decode WMI, Get WMIs for Manufacturer, Get All Makes, Get Parts, Get All Manufacturers, and Get Manufacturer Details. Manufacturer results can be filtered by type (e.g., completed vehicle manufacturer, incomplete vehicle manufacturer, vehicle alterer, importer) and are paginated in groups of 100 or up to 1000 records depending on the endpoint.

Requests to the API are subject to an automated traffic rate control mechanism to maintain performance and limit impact on other users. Standalone downloadable versions of the vPIC databases are also available separately from the API. The service is intended for developers and applications that need to decode VIN data or query vehicle manufacturer and parts information.

Key features

• Decode a full or partial VIN into key-value vehicle specification data
• Decode VIN in flat file output format
• Look up World Manufacturer Identifier (WMI) codes and their associated manufacturers
• Retrieve lists of all vehicle makes and manufacturers, filterable by manufacturer type
• Query ORG parts submittals (565/566 filings) by date range and manufacturer
• Supports XML, CSV, and JSON output formats

Frequently asked questions