What the window sticker can tell you

It’s a treasure trove of vital information about a car

That sticker you see affixed to the window of a new vehicle documents much more than just its price. It’s officially called a “Monroney” sticker. It is named for Sen. Almer Stillwell Monroney, who sponsored the 1958 federal law that mandated equipment and pricing information be affixed to every new vehicle sold in the U.S.

For starters, each Monroney sticker documents the car or truck’s year, make, model and applicable trim level, along with its interior and exterior colors and the vehicle identification number.

You’ll also find a comprehensive list of that model and trim level’s standard features, and it’s broken down according to mechanical, interior and exterior items. The pricing section lists all of the vehicle’s optional equipment and/or packages, along with the manufacturer’s suggested retail price for each of them. At the end of the list, you’ll find the car’s base price, the total cost of factory-installed options and the vehicle’s bottom-line price, along with the manufacturer’s mandatory delivery charge.

This section also details the automaker’s warranty, which is expressed in years/ thousands of miles (36 months/36,000 miles, for instance). Comprehensive coverage applies to parts and labor costs for all covered repairs, while the powertrain warranty is for major mechanical components like the engine and transmission. There’s also corrosion coverage, which applies to body panels that have been completely rusted through, and the manufacturer’s roadside assistance program, if offered.

There’s a section at the bottom of the sticker that notes the name and location of the dealership to which the vehicle was delivered, the final-assembly plant, from what country the engine and transmission were sourced and, if it’s been imported, the point of entry into the U.S. A separate box documents the car’s percentages of domestic (U.S. and Canada) and imported content.

A separate section details the vehicle’s front -and sideimpact crash test and rollover ratings, as conducted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Vehicles are rated on a five-star basis, with more stars indicating better performance. It should be noted, however, that frontal crash test results are useful only when comparing vehicles within a specific size and weight class. All else being equal, larger and heavier vehicles will typically protect occupants better in a frontal collision than will smaller and lighter ones.

The sticker also features a large box that details the vehicle’s fuel economy, as verified by the Environmental Protection Agency. It’s expressed in terms of miles per gallon in city, highway and combined city/highway driving, If it’s an electric car, this will be represented in an equivalent measure called “MPGe,” and will also note how many miles it can operate on a charge, and how long it takes to fully charge the battery via a 240-volt (“Level 2”) charger.

You’ll also find out how many gallons of fuel or kilowatts of electricity are necessary to drive 100 miles in city/ highway driving.

This section also includes the projected annual cost to run the vehicle, based on 15,000 miles driven at a predetermined cost for fuel or electricity. It also shows how the car or truck’s fuel economy compares to other vehicles in its size class.

The fuel economy section also provides a model’s environmental impact via smog and greenhouse gas ratings, based on its tailpipe emissions as measured by the EPA. It also includes a QR code that smartphone users can scan and to link to a website and enter information about their commutes and driving habits to get a better estimate of their fuel costs.