Federal law requires every vehicle “manufactured in one stage” (e.g., where one manufacturer makes the parts and assembles them into a completed vehicle) to have a unique VIN consisting of seventeen alphanumeric characters. VINs help the government regulate vehicles in important ways, including:
- Gathering data about risks associated with particular makes and models of vehicles.
- Identifying which vehicles are subject to a safety recall.
- Determining which vehicles are or are not insured.
- Determining which vehicles are subject to safety inspections and whether they have, or have not, been inspected.
- Detering vehicle theft by providing a means for officers to quickly determine if a particular vehicle has been reported as stolen.
To make VINs as useful as possible, federal regulations require the VIN of every vehicle to appear “clearly and indelibly” on the vehicle. For most passenger vehicles, the VIN must be placed inside the passenger compartment so that a person with normal vision standing outside the vehicle by its left windshield pillar in daylight conditions can read the VIN without moving any part of the vehicle. Additionally, the VIN usually must also be affixed to either the vehicle’s hinge pillar, door-latch post, or the door edge that meets the door-latch post, next to the driver’s seating position.
Courts have provided some guidance on how the Fourth Amendment applies to a peace officer’s inspection of a vehicle’s VIN.
An individual does not have a reasonable expectation of privacy in the location of a VIN on the vehicle’s dashboard or doorframe. So, law enforcement officers may look through the windshield of a vehicle parked in a public area to check the vehicle’s VIN. However, an officer may not, without a search warrant, enter the curtilage of a home to check a vehicle’s VIN number. Also, no Missouri case has expressly authorized police officers who lack a warrant or probable cause to open a vehicle door to check a doorjamb VIN, even if the dashboard VIN is covered and the vehicle is unlocked.
During a traffic stop, a law enforcement officer is entitled to inspect the vehicle’s VIN. If the dashboard VIN is covered with materials and there is no VIN on the doorjamb, an officer may reach within the passenger compartment to uncover the dashboard VIN. However, Missouri law is unclear as to whether a law enforcement officer may cross-check a clearly visible dashboard VIN with a doorjamb VIN. Some cases appear to suggest that this might be allowed if the officer opens the driver’s door but remains outside of the passenger compartment while inspecting the doorjamb VIN, but no controlling Missouri appellate court decision has expressly authorized officers to do this.
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