Can't find VIN number on F150 Lightning

[Yellow Buddy]

Hi Yellow Buddy, so underneath the truck?

Correct, best if you put the truck up on the lift.

Typically stamped vin locations will be on the frame rail, the engine/trans, or the firewall.

Our firewall is covered up with reflective barriers, and we don't have an engine trans. I would personally put the truck up on a lift and inspect the motors for the VIN# and battery pack, but I'm not sure either would qualify as "Chasis" and they're likely not stamped.

The only location I think would actually be stamped would be the truck cab, which would be the window plate or the frame. I would check the frame rail and if that fails, I'd probably pull out the frunk tub to see if there's a stamping underneath there.

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[bmwhitetx]

Munro completely disassembled a Lightning and video'd it. One discusses frame. You might also reach out to them (directly or through YT to comments) to ask your question.
Click here for the complete playlist. The one below that might show frame (video 9). I haven't watched them so one of the other vids might show.

 

[Nikkit]

Correct, best if you put the truck up on the lift.

Typically stamped vin locations will be on the frame rail, the engine/trans, or the firewall.

Our firewall is covered up with reflective barriers, and we don't have an engine trans. I would personally put the truck up on a lift and inspect the motors for the VIN# and battery pack, but I'm not sure either would qualify as "Chasis" and they're likely not stamped.

The only location I think would actually be stamped would be the truck cab, which would be the window plate or the frame. I would check the frame rail and if that fails, I'd probably pull out the frunk tub to see if there's a stamping underneath there.

Thank you Yellow Buddy, I couldn't find anything on the frame rails, will

I think SOME vehicles have a stamped VIN on the frame somewhere (usually in the engine bay) just in case of tampering of the more visible VINS.

ON searching for f150 stamping locations it sounds like it's some sort of secret.

Hi Cyclops, I contacted Ford and spent the past 2 hours and even Ford don't know where the VIN is stamped. I'm exhausted trying to find it.

 

[Nikkit]

Thank you Green1, Ford are going to write me a letter stating that they have 3 locations for the VIN, The windshield.,the sticker on the door pillar and the vehicle log book. Hopefully this will work.

 

[TaxmanHog]

Gotta love intractable bureaucrats ......

 

[Nikkit]

The dash plate and door jamb sticker are the only places where the unique VIN are placed according to the service manual.

Tank you for this John, I'm going to try to explain this to the Tax people tomorrow, hopefully I'll have good news!

 

[invertedspear]

This is a bonkers thread. They won't accept the VIN that is clearly placed? Or do they not accept that those are the places where the VIN is? You can look all over the truck, all the VIN stamps will be the same unless you have some crazy Frankencar put together from wrecks.

Can you run your VIN from the wind screen or door plate through this tool?
https://www.fordpro.com/en-us/fleet-vehicles/vin-decoder-and-guides/
If so, it's a legitimate VIN. Likely they're running it against some old decoder that twitches out at either the "lightning" series or the fuel type being an unrecognized value because it's never heard of an F150 Electric.

FWIW the decoder is flawed as well, it thinks my XLT is a pro, but I'm willing to bet the bigger problem with whatever the agency is using is an unrecognized fuel type.

 

[Henry Ford]

This is a bonkers thread. They won't accept the VIN that is clearly placed?

Different country, different rules. In the US it's nearly impossible to import any vehicle that is less than 25 years old. There's an exception for "Show and Display" that wealthy collectors use to import low volume sports cars.

 

[Lucky Larry]

There is an interesting article on the Motortrend website that may help you find the confidential vin locations on your Lightning. According to the article all vehicles built after 1980 are required to have 18 confidential vin's hidden throughout the vehicle. Confidential vin's are used by law enforcement and insurance companies to identify vehicles. Here is a link to the article:

Confidential or Secondary Vin's - Motortrend Article

 

[Nikkit]

This is a bonkers thread. They won't accept the VIN that is clearly placed? Or do they not accept that those are the places where the VIN is? You can look all over the truck, all the VIN stamps will be the same unless you have some crazy Frankencar put together from wrecks.

Can you run your VIN from the wind screen or door plate through this tool?
https://www.fordpro.com/en-us/fleet-vehicles/vin-decoder-and-guides/
If so, it's a legitimate VIN. Likely they're running it against some old decoder that twitches out at either the "lightning" series or the fuel type being an unrecognized value because it's never heard of an F150 Electric.

FWIW the decoder is flawed as well, it thinks my XLT is a pro, but I'm willing to bet the bigger problem with whatever the agency is using is an unrecognized fuel type.

Thanks invertedspear, it's crazy alright, I checked using the online tool and I got all the production info about my lightning.

There is an interesting article on the Motortrend website that may help you find the confidential vin locations on your Lightning. According to the article all vehicles built after 1980 are required to have 18 confidential vin's hidden throughout the vehicle. Confidential vin's are used by law enforcement and insurance companies to identify vehicles. Here is a link to the article:

Confidential or Secondary Vin's - Motortrend Article

Hi Larry, It makes sense to have multiple locations for the VIN in case of theft, but I've looked everywhere, even taking out the plastics in the frunk, all to no avail, I've even spoken to a mechanic in Palm Coast FL the Ford dealer and he doesn't know. :-(

 

[TaxmanHog]

There is an interesting article on the Motortrend website that may help you find the confidential vin locations on your Lightning. According to the article all vehicles built after 1980 are required to have 18 confidential vin's hidden throughout the vehicle. Confidential vin's are used by law enforcement and insurance companies to identify vehicles. Here is a link to the article:

Confidential or Secondary Vin's - Motortrend Article

One would assume that the TAX AUTHORITY would knows where to look!

I'm still baffled why industry standard vin plates and sticker's aren't honoured.

 

[bmwhitetx]

There is an interesting article on the Motortrend website that may help you find the confidential vin locations on your Lightning. According to the article all vehicles built after 1980 are required to have 18 confidential vin's hidden throughout the vehicle. Confidential vin's are used by law enforcement and insurance companies to identify vehicles. Here is a link to the article:

Confidential or Secondary Vin's - Motortrend Article

Interesting article. But according to the article these confidential VINs are only partial VINs, e.g., the last 6 digits. So would likely also not be accepted by a tax office.

 

[FirstF150InCasco]

We lived in Ireland from 2001 to 2005. We loved living there and we loved the many Irish friends we made. That said, I am not at all surprised at this thread. The bureaucracy on stuff like this is crazy. I found the only way to get around such bureaucracy is NOT through logic. As an American we expect logic to work. But in Ireland it did not work. Rather what worked was calm, repeat talking. The Irish love to talk. Talk to a different person at the agency. And just keep talking calmly, saying the same thing over and over (but using different words, of course.) Eventually they will cave.

 

[Nikkit]

We lived in Ireland from 2001 to 2005. We loved living there and we loved the many Irish friends we made. That said, I am not at all surprised at this thread. The bureaucracy on stuff like this is crazy. I found the only way to get around such bureaucracy is NOT through logic. As an American we expect logic to work. But in Ireland it did not work. Rather what worked was calm, repeat talking. The Irish love to talk. Talk to a different person at the agency. And just keep talking calmly, saying the same thing over and over (but using different words, of course.) Eventually they will cave.

Thank you First 150, I absolutely will, I'm now also armed with a letter of conformity from Ford USA. I'll let you guys know how I get on next week. Thanks again to everyone on this thread, I'm very grateful.

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