IATF 16949® Certified Sites Worldwide as of August 2024

Our creative design team has turned the latest numbers of IATF 16949® certified sites in regions across the world into a colorful simpleQuE infographic. The Asian countries take the lead with 72,126 sites followed by Europe with 10,899 IATF 16949® sites.  The Americas total 7,700 with the United States taking 4^th place overall with 3,662 certified sites holding this automotive quality standard. Worldwide as of August 2024, there was an impressive total of 93,444 IATF 16949® sites (of which China holds more than 55%).

How IATF 16949® Evolved

The IATF 16949® certification numbers have been growing steadily since 2002, when the International Automotive Task Force (IATF) announced that QS-9000 would be replaced with ISO/TS 16949. This organization had representatives from GM, Ford, Chrysler, VW, Fiat, Renault, Peugeot Citroen, BMW, and Daimler Benz, who consolidated requirements for all international manufacturers.  At that time there were 374 certified sites.  By 2009 the number had grown to 41,072, and the IATF® released ISO/TS 16949:2009, which was updated to be compliant with ISO 9001:2008.  With feedback from the OEMs and stakeholders, the IATF® released the latest version – IATF 16949:2016 to fully comply with ISO 9001:2015. By that time the number of sites had grown to more than 67,000 as more companies were recognizing the value of certification and more customers were requiring it.

While the total number of IATF 16949® certifications issued globally has increased steadily over the years, in the United States, the number of certifications has been declining since 2019. In Europe there has been a similar decline in recent years.  Only the Asia Pacific countries have shown an increase in certifications. From our experience with automotive suppliers across the U.S., we see how some companies are struggling to keep up with the complexities of the IATF 16949® requirements, especially when resources are limited or there is a high rate of turnover. With the updates to Customer Specific Requirements, Sanctioned Interpretations and changes in Rules, companies are finding it difficult to be fully compliant and are losing their certification. The number of IATF 16949® certifications may also have been affected by lower tier suppliers choosing ISO 9001 and/or MAQMSR (Minimum Automotive Quality Management System Requirements) compliance as an intermediate step to full IATF 16949®.

Obtaining and maintaining IATF 16949® certification, and meeting all of the related Customer Specific Requirements (CSRs), is difficult, which is why we’ve created free IATF 16949® tools, checklists and resources for your use. 

How To Become IATF® Certified?

If you’re searching for an IATF 16949:2016 consultant, our team at simpleQuE is well-positioned to support your IATF 16949® and MAQMSR consulting (Minimum Automotive Quality Management System Requirements), implementation, maintenance, training, and internal auditing needs. Our consultants are qualified, certified, competent, and are experts on the automotive standards, customer-specific requirements, and AIAG® or VDA core tools. In addition, many are current or former 3rd party auditors who bring valuable insight because of the knowledge gained from auditing for certification bodies.

SimpleQuE also offers a full line-up of IATF 16949® training courses which includes AIAG and VDA Core Tools, Root Cause Analysis and Problem Solving, Requirements and Implementation.  With IATF® also putting a major focus on internal auditor competency, it is essential to have IATF 16949® Internal Auditor Training. Our IATF 16949® auditor training utilizes the process audit approach. Contact Our IATF® consultants to learn more about the customized services offered to match your certification and training needs.

SimpleQuE is not associated with the IATF®, IAOB, ANAB®, IAQG®, and is not a certification body. SimpleQuE is an independent consulting, training, and second-party auditing service provider that assists a company on a path for the company to obtain and maintain certification through accredited certification bodies.