What the decoder checks
A VIN for a vehicle built for the 1981 model year or later has exactly 17 characters, set out in federal regulation 49 CFR Part 565. The first check runs entirely in your browser:
- Characters. Only digits and the letters A–Z except I, O and Q. Those three are excluded so they cannot be confused with 1 and 0.
- Check digit. Position 9 is calculated from the other 16 characters. A mismatch almost always means a typing or transcription error. How the check digit works.
- Model year. Position 10 encodes the model year in a 30-year cycle, so “L” means 1990 or 2020. For cars, SUVs, vans and trucks up to 10,000 lb GVWR, a letter in position 7 points to the later cycle and a digit to the earlier one (49 CFR 565.15). Full model-year code table.
The 17 positions
| Positions | Section | What it tells you |
|---|---|---|
| 1–3 | World manufacturer identifier (WMI) | The manufacturer and, through the code assignment, the region. Assigned through SAE International for NHTSA. |
| 4–8 | Vehicle descriptor section | Vehicle attributes such as model line, body, engine and restraint system, coded by the manufacturer. |
| 9 | Check digit | A calculated digit (0–9 or X) that catches transcription errors. |
| 10 | Model year | Model year code (letters and digits; never U, Z or 0). |
| 11 | Plant of manufacture | Assembly plant, using the manufacturer's own code list. |
| 12–17 | Production sequence | Production sequence number. Small manufacturers (third character 9) use positions 12–14 as an extra identifier. |
Where the full details come from
When you choose “Get full details from NHTSA”, your browser asks NHTSA's vPIC API to decode the VIN. vPIC holds the VIN-decoding information manufacturers submit under 49 CFR Part 565: make, model, body class, engine, plant, safety equipment and more. NHTSA notes that a missing value means it has no data on that variable, not that the feature is absent. Specifications describe how a vehicle was built; they are not a history report and say nothing about accidents, title brands, mileage or ownership.
Recalls: what a VIN check can and cannot tell you
This site lists every recall campaign NHTSA publishes for popular models and years. Whether a specific vehicle still needs a recall repair is tracked by manufacturers and shown only through NHTSA's VIN search or the manufacturer's own lookup. How the VIN recall search works and what it leaves out.