Short answer: the diagram is in your owner's manual, in the section on changing a wheel, and it is the only source that is correct for your specific car. On most unibody vehicles the designated points sit along the reinforced pinch weld under the sill, just behind the front wheels and just ahead of the rear wheels, and they are marked by a notch, an arrow, a triangle stamped into the sill, or a thicker section of seam. Body-on-frame trucks and SUVs use the frame rails or the axle instead. Do not guess. Pinch welds are folded sheet metal and they bend under a jack saddle that is in the wrong place. And once the car is up, remember that the jack only raised it. Never work under a car supported only by a jack. Jack stands hold it.
This page is about locating and protecting the jack point. The full lifting procedure, the chocking, the stand placement and the order it all happens in, is in how to safely lift a car at home.
Why there is no universal jack-point map, and why you should distrust anyone who publishes one
Jacking points are structural design decisions. They differ between unibody and body-on-frame construction, between manufacturers, between model generations of the same nameplate, and sometimes between trim levels of the same model year where a different floor pan or battery pack is involved.
We are not going to publish a diagram that claims to cover your car, because no such diagram exists. Any page offering one is generalizing, and the cost of that generalization is a punctured floor pan, a crushed fuel or brake line, a damaged battery tray on a hybrid or EV, or a folded sill.
What we can do is tell you how to find the real one.
Where to look, in order
1. The owner's manual, wheel-change section. This is the primary source and it is usually a labeled diagram. If the physical book is missing, most manufacturers publish the manual as a free PDF on their own owner support site, searchable by model year or by VIN. That is worth ten minutes.
2. The vehicle itself. Manufacturers mark the designated points physically. Look for:
- A notch or cutout in the pinch weld seam
- A triangle or arrow stamped or printed on the sill or plastic rocker trim
- A reinforced section of seam, visibly thicker or double-folded compared with the seam on either side of it
- On some cars, a plastic block or molded pad attached to the underside near the sill
3. Where the car already carries load. On body-on-frame trucks and larger SUVs, the frame rails and the solid rear axle are structural and are commonly designated. On unibody cars, subframe mounting points and the seam reinforcements are the structure. Suspension arms, floor pan, exhaust, oil pan, transmission pan, differential cover, plastic underbody trays and jacking on the sill anywhere other than the marked point are all wrong, and some of them are wrong expensively.
4. A model-specific owners' forum, as corroboration only. Forums are genuinely useful for finding a photograph of the right spot on your exact car. They are not a substitute for the manual, and confident forum advice is sometimes confidently wrong. Use them to confirm what the manual told you, not to replace it.
The distinction that causes most bent pinch welds
Here is the thing the search results almost never separate, and it is the root of the problem.
The point marked on your car was designed for the jack that came with your car. That jack has a small, slotted, hard lifting pad shaped to straddle the pinch weld seam. The seam sits in the slot, and the load is carried on the flat shoulders either side of it. That is why the notch is narrow, and it is why the factory jack does not damage it.
A floor jack does not have that pad. It has a broad, flat or shallow-dished round saddle, usually with a rubber or plastic cushion, sometimes bare steel. Put that saddle against a pinch weld and the entire load of one corner of the car goes into the thin folded edge of the seam, concentrated across a couple of inches of contact. The seam is strong in shear along its length. It is weak as an edge being pressed into a flat plate.
So the seam folds over. Usually not dramatically. Usually a slight crush and a bend that you notice the next time you look under the car.
Two consequences follow:
- The right jack point for the factory jack is not automatically the right contact method for a floor jack. Same location, different interface.
- The jack point is not always the stand point. Once the car is up, a jack stand's saddle is a different shape again, and many vehicles have a designated support point separate from the jacking point. The manual usually shows both. Where it does not, forums for your specific model are the practical source, and the general principle is that a stand belongs under structure, spread across as much contact area as you can get.
Why a bent sill is worth avoiding
It is easy to file this under cosmetic. It is not, entirely.
A pinch weld is a factory seam, sealed with seam sealer and protected by the paint and coating over it. Bending it cracks the sealer and the coating, which opens the folded edge of two pieces of steel to water. That is one of the classic places rust starts on a unibody car, and it is a place you cannot easily treat because the corrosion is between the folds.
It also makes the next lift worse. A deformed seam no longer sits cleanly in the slot of the factory jack, and it gives a floor jack saddle an uneven surface to grip.
Protecting the point
The fix is a pad between the saddle and the car, and there are three common approaches.
A slotted jack pad. A rubber or polyurethane puck with a groove cut across it. The seam sits down inside the groove, and the load is carried on the flat surfaces on either side of it, which is exactly what the factory jack pad does. This is the correct-shaped answer for a pinch weld and it is cheap.
A flat rubber pad. Better than bare steel, because rubber deforms and spreads contact. Not as good as a slotted pad, because the seam still concentrates the load in one line.
A dedicated jack point adapter for your vehicle. Some cars, including many with a plastic block or dedicated lift pad location, have model-specific adapters made for them.
Which of these you need depends entirely on what your car's jack points look like, and we go through that decision in jack pads, pucks and adapters: which cars actually need them.
What not to use: a block of wood with no groove, which spreads load but does not accommodate the seam and can split; and anything that raises the saddle without being firmly located, which introduces a new thing that can shift.
Checking the point before you lift
A short habit that costs a minute:
- Look at the seam. Is it already bent, crushed, rusty or flaking? A corroded pinch weld can tear rather than hold. If it is badly deteriorated, that specific point is not usable and you need to find the alternative structural point for your car, which is a model-specific question.
- Clear it. Road dirt and undercoating debris between the saddle and the seam is a contaminated contact patch.
- Check what is next to it. Brake lines, fuel lines, wiring looms and on hybrids and EVs, high voltage cabling and battery structure, often run close to the underside. This is a strong reason not to place a jack somewhere the manual did not name.
- Set the saddle square. The jack should meet the point at right angles, not on a tilt. A tilted saddle is a saddle with a smaller contact patch and a sideways component to its load.
- Lift an inch, then stop and look. If the saddle is walking sideways, if the seam is deforming, or if the jack is not sitting flat, lower it and start again. Almost every bad outcome announces itself in the first inch.
The rule that outranks everything on this page
Getting the jack point right is about protecting your car. Getting the support right is about protecting you.
A jack raises the vehicle. Stands, ramps or a lift hold it. Hydraulic jacks lower under sustained load, quietly, with no warning. That is not a maintenance issue or a cheap-tool issue, it is how they work. The full version is in a floor jack is not a support. Nothing goes under the car until it is resting on stands.
Frequently asked questions
Where are the jack points on my car?
In the wheel-change section of your owner's manual, shown as a diagram for your specific vehicle. On the car itself they are marked with a notch, arrow, triangle or a visibly thicker seam. No general diagram is safe to apply to an unknown vehicle.
Can I put a floor jack directly on the pinch weld?
You can, and it commonly bends the seam, because a broad round saddle concentrates the load into a thin folded edge. Use a slotted jack pad that lets the seam sit in a groove.
Is the jack point the same as the jack stand point?
Not always. Many vehicles designate separate points, and the manual often shows both. Where it does not, look for structure with enough area to take a stand's saddle, and check a model-specific source.
What if my pinch weld is already bent or rusted?
Treat that specific point as unusable, especially if the metal is flaking or perforated. Find the alternative structural point documented for your vehicle rather than moving along the sill and hoping.
Can I jack up a car on the suspension arm or the oil pan?
No to the oil pan, the transmission pan and any plastic underbody tray. Some vehicles do designate a suspension or subframe point, and the only way to know whether yours is one of them is the manual.
