Vin stickers

i don't know what's normal, by my 2012 has a yellow vin sticker facing out when i open the drivers door.

checked all 4, the other three have one on the door and one on body, where they meet at the lock. more permanent types. driver also has one on the door.

 

Take the right front seat's floor mat carpet and pad out and you'll see the vin stamped in 1" tall figures in the metal of the floor pan.

 

I have a 2012, VIN (black & white) on drivers door jam, all major body panels, and the most prominent, the one in lower front left side of the windshield. Interesting, even the small square yellow "vehicle capacity" notice has the VIN. I like the idea of the VIN on the body panels. My wife and I were looking for another vehicle and one dealer was charging for window glass VIN etching ($200). I don't think they had "our" best interest in mind.

 

you need someone with a '14 to confirm. maybe they changed policy to cut weight!

 

I checked 4 doors and the drivers side front had it on a black sticker and yellow sticker. None of the other three have it that I can see.

 

these are not applied at the factory?

 

The small VIN stickers on the replaceable body panels were considered as optional markings by the car manufactures and were placed to discourage the use of stolen parts on high theft rate cars. They were never required by federal law and since the Prius has never been a vehicle subject to high theft rates my guess is Toyota figured they could save a few bucks by leaving them off.
If they add say $5.00 to the cost of production the savings would add up to over a million dollars from a production run of just 250,000 vehicles.

Back in the early 60's, Chevrolet introduced a compact car named the Chevy II. They came in four trim levels called 100, 300, 700, and NOVA SS. They all had chrome plated die-cast metal badges on all four sides with the 300 sporting a thin chrome strip down each side of the car, and the 700 with a larger sculpted chrome strip and interior carpets. Nova SS models had an additional chrome ring around the back face of the trunk lid enclosing contrasting silver paint. After GM discontinued the different models and called them all Nova's and they were able to drop the different model badges along with the Chevy II badges. This change saved Chevy enough to lower their production cost by over $20 per car while finally making things like back-up lights, drivers side mirrors, and seat belts (no shoulder harness though) standard instead of forcing the new car buyer to buy them as high priced dealer installed optional equipment. A cabin heater remained optional at extra cost in Hawaii along with power steering and brakes and a door operated interior light (only one) as separately purchased options for the rest of us. That change saved Chevy several million a year during the Nova's production life.
BTW: The standard brakes were unable to bring the car to a complete stop from speeds above 50 mph with only the driver onboard with a half tank of gas due to brake fade. The power brakes were marginally better if the dealer installed semi-metallic brake shoes at extra cost. Disc brakes on the front only, did not show up until Ralph Nader forced Congress to create the NHTSA and develop minimum expected safety equipment levels along with rules requiring product safety recalls.

 

Once explained, some things make sense. Ironic, I purchased a used 1964 Chevy II Nova as my first car in March 1971 for $400. Four door, four cylinder, three speed, shifter on steering column, AM radio. It defined the term "basic transportation".

 

I only have the black and white sticker with the VIN on the driver door. The other 3 doors no stickers. I guess this is Toyota way of saving $$ ......

 

that car is worth a fortune today!