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The Scooter Parts Registry

Guide

Where is the emission sticker on a Chinese scooter, ATV or go-kart?

Everything on your machine that identifies it can be replaced or removed except this label. It carries the engine family number, which is the key to the whole registry. The problem is that the official guidance on finding one was written for cars.

Why the usual advice does not help

California's Air Resources Board publishes a page on locating a vehicle's test group or engine family number. It tells you to look in the engine compartment, most often on the underside of the hood. That is sound advice for a car. A step-through scooter has no engine compartment and no hood, and the page has nothing to say about two-wheelers, three-wheelers, ATVs or go-karts.

What does apply is the underlying requirement: the label must be attached somewhere readily visible, in a position where it will not need to be removed for normal servicing, and it must stay legible for the life of the machine. On a small powersports vehicle that means a flat, protected, painted or plastic surface out of direct spray — which narrows the search considerably once you know to think that way.

What you are looking for

A small printed label, typically white, silver or yellow, usually between about the size of a credit card and a postcard. The heading normally reads Vehicle Emission Control Information or Emission Control Information, and it will name the EPA, often alongside California standards.

On it you are looking for the line labelled engine family — a block of letters, a full stop, then digits and more letters, such as VGSCC.278RAE. Ignore the line labelled evaporative or permeation family; that is a different code and it will not find your machine.

Where to look, by body style

Search these in order. On most machines the label is in the first or second place listed. Have a torch and a damp cloth — a decade of road film hides a lot of print.

Step-through scooter (50cc–150cc)

  1. 1Inside the front leg shield, facing the rider
  2. 2Under the seat, on the floor of the helmet bucket or on the underside of the seat pan
  3. 3On the frame downtube, visible once the seat is up
  4. 4On the engine casing itself, above the CVT cover
  5. 5Behind the rear body panel on the left side

Maxi-scooter (150cc and above)

  1. 1Inside the helmet compartment, on the front or side wall
  2. 2Under the seat on the frame crossmember
  3. 3Inside the glovebox door in the leg shield
  4. 4On the frame near the steering head, behind the front cowl

ATV / quad

  1. 1On the frame under the seat — lift or unclip the seat first
  2. 2Inside a rear fender well, facing inward
  3. 3On the frame tube near the rear shock mount
  4. 4Underneath the front rack, on the frame crossmember

UTV / side-by-side

  1. 1Under the hood or bonnet panel, on the firewall
  2. 2Under the passenger seat, on the frame or seat base
  3. 3Inside the engine bay access panel behind or under the bed
  4. 4On the roll cage lower tube on the driver's side

Go-kart / buggy

  1. 1On the engine shroud or recoil housing
  2. 2On the frame tube behind the seat
  3. 3On the fuel tank mount or its bracket

Pit bike / off-road motorcycle

  1. 1On the frame downtube under the tank
  2. 2On the swingarm or the frame near the shock mount
  3. 3Under the seat on the rear frame loop

If the label is missing or unreadable

Labels get lost when bodywork is replaced after a crash, when a machine is repainted, or when years of pressure washing take the print off. You have three fallbacks, in order of usefulness.

1. The VIN

Stamped into the frame, so it survives what stickers do not — commonly on the steering head or the frame tube under the seat. The first three characters identify the manufacturer and position 10 gives the model year. Decoding a Chinese VIN prefix

2. Castings and stampings on the engine

Chinese engine cases usually carry a cast or stamped code. It is not the engine family number and it is not in the federal record, but it identifies the engine type well enough to buy consumables against once you have measured them.

3. The badge and a measurement

Weakest, but not useless. Search the brand in the registry, find the years it imported, and use engine size to narrow to a cohort. Then measure everything before ordering. Start from the badge

Photograph it now

Whatever you find, take a clear photograph of the label and of the VIN, and keep them somewhere that is not the machine. These labels do not get more legible with age, and the moment you need the number is usually the moment the machine is in pieces.

Related in the registry

Source. US EPA annual certification data — EPA Certified Highway Motorcycle Test Results, MY2006-present; EPA Certified Off-Road Motorcycle / ATV / UTV / Rec Vehicle, MY2006-present. Retrieved 2026-09-07. Label locations are search guidance compiled for this site, not a manufacturer specification; corrections are welcome. Full provenance and method.