When BYD Launches in Canada, We Won't Be Able to Decode Their VINs
When BYD Launches in Canada, We Won't Be Able to Decode Their VINs
BYD is already approved to sell vehicles in Canada. They're listed in Transport Canada's Appendix G registry. The regulatory pathway is clear. When tariffs ease, they can move.
But there's a problem nobody's talking about. When those vehicles arrive, Canadian dealerships, insurers, and consumers won't be able to decode their VINs.
How VIN Decoding Works Today
Every platform that decodes VINs in North America pulls from NHTSA's database. When manufacturers sell vehicles in the US, they submit specifications to NHTSA, which publishes them through vPIC for free. Year, make, model, engine, transmission, safety equipment, everything.
Canadian dealerships use this American database. So do Canadian insurers, lenders, and valuation services. We built Corgi, an open source VIN decoder that powers over 1 million decodes per day. It's the fastest offline-first option available and it's completely free. It runs entirely on US government data.
Why? Because Transport Canada collects the same information from manufacturers through CVMSS 115 submissions but won't publish it. The data exists. It's just locked away.
This arrangement works today because most vehicles sold in Canada are also sold in the United States. A Honda CR-V sold in Toronto is the same Honda CR-V sold in Detroit. NHTSA has the data, so Canadians can decode the VIN.
Chinese EVs break this pattern.
The Chinese EV Blind Spot
BYD doesn't sell vehicles in the United States. Neither does NIO, Xiaomi, or Zeekr. When these manufacturers enter Canada, they'll submit CVMSS 115 data to Transport Canada. They won't submit anything to NHTSA because they're not selling there.
That means American databases will have nothing on these vehicles. No specifications. No way to decode what a VIN represents. No data for recalls, valuations, or verification.
Transport Canada will have everything. They just won't share it.
Why This Matters
VIN decoding isn't a nice-to-have. It's infrastructure that enables basic automotive operations.
Recalls depend on knowing exactly what vehicle you have. A recall might apply to vehicles with a specific battery pack or manufactured at a specific plant. Without VIN decoding, you can't match vehicles to recalls.
Valuations require accurate specifications. A base model and a fully loaded version of the same vehicle can differ by tens of thousands of dollars. Valuation tools need to know exactly what they're pricing.
Verification protects buyers. When someone sells you a vehicle, VIN decoding confirms whether the specs match what they're claiming. Without it, you're trusting the seller's word.
Insurance and financing need accurate data. Underwriters and lenders make decisions based on what a vehicle is. If they can't decode the VIN, they can't properly assess risk or collateral.
The Complaints Problem
It's not just specifications. We filed an Access to Information request asking Transport Canada for their vehicle defect complaints database. These are reports Canadians submit when brakes fail, engines catch fire, electrical systems malfunction.
Their response: the database contains over 32,000 complaints from 2015-2026. Releasing them would "unreasonably interfere with operations." They estimate it would take "years."
NHTSA publishes equivalent American data daily. 2.1 million complaints, free to search, updated constantly. Americans can research any vehicle's complaint history before buying. Canadians see nothing.
When BYD vehicles arrive, there will be no complaint history to check. Not because complaints don't exist, but because Transport Canada won't publish them.
The Carfax Problem
Some might point to Carfax or similar services. But these platforms face the same constraint. They pull from available databases. If NHTSA doesn't have Chinese EV data and Transport Canada won't publish CVMSS 115, there's nothing to pull.
There's also the question of where your data goes. Carfax is an American company headquartered in Virginia. Using US platforms means Canadian vehicle data gets processed through American systems. Transport Canada could publish our own data and enable Canadian platforms to serve Canadian consumers. They choose not to.
What Needs to Change
Transport Canada already has the data. CVMSS 115 submissions contain everything needed for VIN decoding. The defect complaints database has 32,000+ records. Publishing this data would cost essentially nothing. NHTSA has done it for years.
The barrier isn't technical. It's policy. Someone decided this data should be secret. That decision is about to collide with a market reality: vehicles are entering Canada that American databases can't support.
We're building workarounds. Corgi is open source specifically so others can build on it. We're working directly with manufacturers to get specification data that governments won't provide. But these are patches on a problem that shouldn't exist.
Transport Canada should publish CVMSS 115. They should publish complaint data. They should give Canadians the same access to vehicle information that Americans take for granted.
Until then, when BYD launches in Canada, we'll be flying blind.