Something interesting happend today at Toyota...

[zMaN]

I took my car in today to have the belt tensioner replaced. My car is a 2000 GT-S. When I went in I looked at the parts they had ordered for my car and saw that they had ordered parts for a GT instead of a GTS. Actually most of the parts are identical but one part was different so they will have to reorder that part and I will have to have it fixed when that part comes in.


Now, here is the interesting part. The reason that they ordered the wrong part is because they ordered by my VIN number.

GT's have a VIN number that starts with JTDDR32T
GT-S's VIN number starts with JTDDY38T


My car has the GT VIN number prefix. The car is no doubt a GT-S. It has leather seats, premium sound, 6 speed, and it most definitly has LIFT. Why would it have the GT prefix?
Is this something that happened during the first year of production? The Toyota dealer ran my car through their databank and it came up as a GT-S but it is still weird. Even my insurance company thought my car was a GT based on my VIN number. I thought at the time that it was just the insurance company's mistake but now I know Toyota has a descrepancy with their VIN #'s.

Could the GT-S owners out there please check their VIN numbers for me and tell me if any of you have a GT VIN number like I do? If any of you do could you please include your model year. I am wondering if this is just a first year of production issue.

[HilfigerCelica]

I'll go look later. Just do yourself a favor and don't tell the insurance company you have a GTS. The extra money can go towards mods.

[BoonyBoun]

weird...but if the insurance company thinks you have a GT, you are paying cheaper insurance!! haha :) nice

Originally posted by zMaN
[B]Now, here is the interesting part. The reason that they ordered the wrong part is because they ordered by my VIN number.

GT's have a VIN number that starts with JTDDR32T
GT-S's VIN number starts with JTDDY38T

...



VIN # is repetitive.

It's like saying Vehicle Indentification Number Number.

Get it straight. :nono:

-Carla

[Griffin]

Originally posted by AsIaN_HoNeYs_GTS


VIN # is repetitive.

It's like saying Vehicle Indentification Number Number.

Get it straight. :nono:

-Carla

Grins - Y'all have been owned :)

BTW guys - just to clarify the DR and DY are the only important difference - the 32 and 38 just indicates if you have side airbags or not. a GT without side airbags would be DR32T with it would be DR38T.

Griffin

[oldster]

2000 GT-S JTDDY38T

[zMaN]

Originally posted by Griffin


Grins - Y'all have been owned :)

BTW guys - just to clarify the DR and DY are the only important difference - the 32 and 38 just indicates if you have side airbags or not. a GT without side airbags would be DR32T with it would be DR38T.

Griffin

Well, then my Toyota dealer is a moron. I'm not surprised I guess but it sure does not inspire confidence. And also, why would my insureance company also think my car was a GT?

I have a TSB for the belt tensioner that shows the VIN for a GT as a 32 and the VIN for a GTS as 38. It lists the VIN's for effected cars like this:

Celica GT JTDDR32T#10106005
Celica GTS JTDDY38T#10049473
MR2 Spyder JTDFR320#10039271


Now why would they list only the 38 number for the GTS? I doubt that only the GTS's with side airbags are effected by the problem with the belt tensioner. I am not saying you are wrong just that if you aren't wrong Toyota is not being very clear on their TSB's

[zMaN]

I included spaces between the model names and their VIN's but for some odd reason they are not showing up in my post. Oh well, You get the idea.

[zMaN]

Originally posted by AsIaN_HoNeYs_GTS


VIN # is repetitive.

It's like saying Vehicle Indentification Number Number.

Get it straight. :nono:

-Carla

Chalk that one up to 4 hours of sleep last night :)

[thenDOUGsaid]

hey speaking of vin, i got a front plate ticket($100) but the cop wrote down the plate number... couple of the letters were wrong.. but he wrote down the last four digits of my vin. could he trace me?

[Phil C]

Griffin will probably tag me if I am wrong on this but I'm pretty sure the VIN on the TSB indicates at what point the factory started putting on the new parts, everything before it had the old parts everything after it got the new. The important point in the TSB was whether or not your car was produced before the one with the VIN listed not whether it's complete code matches.

[zMaN]

Originally posted by Phil C
Griffin will probably tag me if I am wrong on this but I'm pretty sure the VIN on the TSB indicates at what point the factory started putting on the new parts, everything before it had the old parts everything after it got the new. The important point in the TSB was whether or not your car was produced before the one with the VIN listed not whether it's complete code matches.

Ok, that would explain all the things that seemed strange to me.

The guy at my Toyota dealership is a Moron then.

[Coolwheels00]

Ummm, am I the only one that thinks that if you get in a wreck that your insurance company is only going to pay you what a GT is worth and not your GT-S. If you don't get it fixed, you may get screwed if (god for bid) anything happend to your Celi. Cheaper insurance is nice until you need the ins. co. to pay off your wrecked car...JMO

[oldster]

hmmm..........very interesting point.........that could be a really nasty surprise if the situation arose.

[zMaN]

Oh, sorry, I was not clear. I said they thought it was a GT. I told them it was a GT-S and provided proof that it was. I know that if something happens I want to get what it is worth. I never had cheaper insurance. I have already had my GT-S engine replaced by insuance because my original engine was hydro-locked. (The Celi and a puddle did not get along well) I meant to mention that I straightend everything out, guess I forgot.

[Griffin]

Originally posted by zMaN


Well, then my Toyota dealer is a moron. I'm not surprised I guess but it sure does not inspire confidence. And also, why would my insureance company also think my car was a GT?

I have a TSB for the belt tensioner that shows the VIN for a GT as a 32 and the VIN for a GTS as 38. It lists the VIN's for effected cars like this:

Celica GT JTDDR32T#10106005
Celica GTS JTDDY38T#10049473
MR2 Spyder JTDFR320#10039271


Now why would they list only the 38 number for the GTS? I doubt that only the GTS's with side airbags are effected by the problem with the belt tensioner. I am not saying you are wrong just that if you aren't wrong Toyota is not being very clear on their TSB's

I am 100% correct. the 32 / 38 doesn't matter except for airbag ID - the DR indivates GT and the DY indicates GTS.

As for why the TSB reads that way - they are listing theEXACT VIN at which the change was made. They all come down the same line so the only relevence is the serial number for each model. Sounds like your dealer has a bunch of morons that can't figure out what parts to order.

Griffin

[Griffin]

Originally posted by Phil C
Griffin will probably tag me if I am wrong on this but I'm pretty sure the VIN on the TSB indicates at what point the factory started putting on the new parts, everything before it had the old parts everything after it got the new. The important point in the TSB was whether or not your car was produced before the one with the VIN listed not whether it's complete code matches.

DOH - I REALLY gotta start reading the whole thread before I answer sheet ;) - Yeah you got it 100% right Phil

Griffin

BTW just as a point of interest the last 7 digits are the serial number portion relevent to the info. well technically the last 8 are but the first of teh last 8 is just the checkdigit for model year.

[t2000gts]

i have a GTS Auto, with i'm guessing no side airbags:

JTDDY32T

own3d. :)