The NHTSA vPIC (Vehicle Product Information Catalog) is the U.S. government’s authoritative database of vehicle manufacturers, makes, and models. This free lookup lets you browse it without writing code or signing up for an API key. Pick a vehicle type and a model year, choose a manufacturer, and see the complete model list NHTSA has on record — useful for dealers, fleet managers, insurers, and developers building VIN or vehicle tools.
How it works
The tool calls two keyless NHTSA vPIC endpoints directly from your browser:
GetMakesForVehicleType/<type>?format=json
GetModelsForMakeYear/make/<make>/modelyear/<year>?format=jsonWhen you change the vehicle type, the first endpoint returns every manufacturer NHTSA links to that type, which populates the make dropdown. When you choose a make and year and press the button, the second endpoint returns the models for that exact make-and-year combination. Both lists are sorted alphabetically for easy scanning.
Vehicle types in the NHTSA vPIC database
The database organises manufacturers by the kind of vehicle they produce:
| Type label | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Passenger car | Sedans, coupes, hatchbacks, wagons |
| Truck | Pickups, full-size vans, SUVs (some) |
| Multipurpose passenger vehicle (MPV) | SUVs, crossovers, minivans |
| Motorcycle | Road bikes, cruisers, scooters |
| Low speed vehicle | Neighbourhood EVs, golf carts |
| Bus | Coaches, transit buses, school buses |
| Trailer | Utility, cargo, and specialty trailers |
A manufacturer may appear under multiple types — Ford appears under both trucks and passenger cars, for example — but a brand that only makes motorcycles (like Harley-Davidson) will not appear under passenger cars.
Who uses NHTSA vPIC data
Auto dealers and used-car platforms use vPIC to normalise make and model strings from disparate data sources, since the same vehicle is entered inconsistently in different databases.
Fleet managers and insurers query it to verify a VIN’s make and model year before rating a policy or scheduling maintenance.
Developers building VIN decoders, recall lookups, or parts-compatibility tools use vPIC as the primary vehicle identity layer, since it is the same database NHTSA uses internally for safety ratings and recall matching.
Researchers track model introductions and discontinuations by querying which models NHTSA lists for a given make across consecutive model years.
Tips and limitations
- NHTSA only records makes and models relevant to U.S. safety regulation, so some grey-market, limited-production, or non-U.S.-spec vehicles may not appear.
- Model availability is keyed to the exact model year NHTSA uses (which may differ by one year from the manufacturer’s own labelling for early-production vehicles).
- If a make returns an empty model list for a year, try the adjacent year — a model may be recorded under the year it was introduced rather than the calendar year.
- For VIN-level detail, use this alongside the VIN decoder, which calls the vPIC
DecodeVinValuesendpoint and returns body style, engine, trim, and plant of manufacture.