Vehicle Identification Numbers

Beginning with the 1981 model year, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Department of Transportation, required manufacturers selling over-the-road vehicles to the United States to produce the vehicles with a 17-character Vehicle Identification Number (VIN).

This standard establishes a fixed VIN format including a check-digit and applies to all passenger cars, multipurpose passenger vehicles, trucks, buses, trailers, incomplete vehicles and motorcycles with a gross vehicle weight of 10,000 pounds or less.

The first three characters of the VIN are designated the World Manufacturer Identification (WMI).  The WMI uniquely identifies the Nation of Origin, Manufacturer, Make and Type of Vehicle.

The second section has five characters and has been designated the Vehicle Description Section (VDS).  The VDS uniquely identifies the attributes of the vehicle such as Model, Body Style, Engine, etc.

The third section of the VIN is located after the check-digit.  It is eight characters in length and is called the Vehicle Identification Section (VIS).  The first character represents the vehicle model year; the second character represents the plant of manufacture; and the last six characters represent the sequential production number.

Let's use 1FABP28A6FF143890 as a sample VIN.

1FA is the World Manufacturer Identification - 1 is the Nation of Origin, F is the manufacturer, A is the make and model.

BP28A is the Vehicle Description Section - 6 is the check-digit.

FF143890 is the Vehicle Identification Section.

The check-digit will always be the 9th character in the VIN.  Assign to each numeric in the VIN its actual mathematical value and assign to each alphabetic the value specified below:

A = 1
B = 2 
C = 3 
D = 4 
E = 5 
F = 6 
G = 7
H = 8 
J = 1 
K = 2 
L = 3 
M = 4 
N = 5 
P = 7 
R = 9
s = 2 
T = 3 
U = 4 
V = 5 
W = 6 
X = 7 
Y = 8 
Z = 9

Multiply the assigned value for each character in the VIN by the weight factor specified for it below:

 1st = 8 
 2nd = 7 
 3rd = 6  
 4th = 5 
 5th = 4
 6th = 3 
 7th = 2 
 8th = 10 
 9th = 0 (check-digit)
10th = 9
11th = 8
12th = 7
13th = 6
14th = 5
15th = 4
16th = 3
17th = 2

Add the resulting products and divide the total by 11.  The remainder is the check-digit.  If the remainder is 10, the check-digit is X.

VIN Example - 1G4AH59H45G118341

                                  C
VIN Characters:  1 G 4 A H 5 9 H  4 5 G 1 1 8 3 4 1
Assigned Values: 1 7 4 1 8 5 9 8  4 5 7 1 1 8 3 4 1
Multiply By:     8 7 6 5 4 3 2 10 0 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2
                 ----------------------------------
                 8 4 2 5 3 1 1 8  0 4 5 7 6 4 1 1 2
                   9 4   2 5 8 0    5 6     0 2 2

Add Products:    8+49+24+5+32+15+18+80+0+45+56+7+6+40+12+12+2 = 411

Divide by 11:    411/11 = 37 4/11

Check-Digit:     4 (compare to character in 9th position)

The check-digit (9th position) will always be a number or an X.

The 10th position indicates the model year as follows:

B = 81
C = 82
D = 83
E = 84 
F = 85
G = 86
H = 87
J = 88
K = 89
L = 90
M = 91
N = 92
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