Besides the VIN displayed under the windshield, do other parts have ID? could the police ID this vehicle some other way?
About 2 weeks ago, there was a fatal hit-and-run of a pedestrian somewhere in eastern Massachusetts. It was caught on a surveillance camera and identified the make/model/color(?)/year. There was significant damage. Within 24 hours the vehicle was found abandoned in a parking lot. It had been “stripped” of identification, but the media report did not explain what was stripped.
My assumption: Even if all ID numbers were stripped, somewhere, somehow, there would be enough information to find the owner. Even if it takes a year or two, eventually, the owner won’t re-register the car or get an inspection sticker. If (s)he is really stupid, (s)he cancelled his insurance and returned the plates to the RMV the following week.
What are other ways to ID the vehicle?
I tried to google the event, but can’t find the right keywords to come up with less than 10000 hits.
The first World Trade Center bombing was famous for identifying the van that carried the bomb by the VIN on the axle. According to this (definitely non-definitive) article I found, the VIN is on at least two places in every vehicle’s drive train. I believe they try to keep the exact locations a secret, but there must be lots of mechanics who know. If they really did strip the VIN from the unpublicized spots on the car, then I guess the police know they are looking for a mechanic or a close family member of a mechanic.
I searched for fatal hit and runs in Boston, and I turned up a depressing number, but none that mentioned the car being found. Do you remember the town?
The VIN may also appear in a number of other locations. Here is a list of some of the possible places to look:
At the front of the engine block. This should be easy to spot by popping open the hood, and looking at the front of the engine.
At the front of the car frame, near the container that holds windshield washer fluid.
At a rear wheel well. Try looking up, directly above the tire.
Inside the driver-side doorjamb. Open the door, and look underneath where the side-view mirror would be located if the door was shut.
At the driver-side doorpost. Open the door, and look near the spot where the door latches, not too far from the seatbelt return.
Underneath the spare tire.
Until some of our mechanics stop by to discuss…I checked my car (2011 BMW 3-series convertible).
I was able to quickly find it by the windshield washer fluid and the driver-side doorpost. The windshield washer one is engraved in the metal. The doorpost is just a label.
The engine has a hard plastic cover over it, and I didn’t feel like taking it off.
The VIN is definitely in the engine control computer, and likely in other computer modules throughout the car. It’s also going to be on the engine, transmission, axle (if separate from the transmission), stamped in several places on the sheet metal. Many other components have ID numbers on labels or stickers, and with the manufacturers help they could trace them to a specific vehicle or a small group.
My guess is that the police know who it is, and are just waiting to see if the person will take further incriminating action. Or maybe they are waiting for the manufacturer to confirm their findings. Either way, they are not going to get away with it.
The engine block should have the engine number stamped into it.
Even if the surface of the stamped area was ground down to depth of the stamp , an acid etching may reveal the changes to grain of the metal … depending how much was ground away.
All the fenders, hood and trunk, doors etc. should have labels with the VIN number on them. Some cars even have it in the glass. Tires also have ID numbers on them, but not the vin number.