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VIN decoder and recall check

Enter the 17-character VIN to see what NHTSA knows about the vehicle and which recall campaigns exist for its make, model and year.

17 letters and digits. The letters I, O and Q are never used.0 of 17 characters

What the 17 positions mean

Every vehicle sold in the United States carries a VIN built to the same pattern. The decoder reads it position by position.

    1. 1
    2. 2
    3. 3
    Manufacturer
    1. 4
    2. 5
    3. 6
    4. 7
    5. 8
    Vehicle attributes
    1. 9
    Check digit
    1. 10
    Model-year code
    1. 11
    Plant code
    1. 12
    2. 13
    3. 14
    4. 15
    5. 16
    6. 17
    Serial number
Manufacturer positions 1–3
Identifies the manufacturer and the type of vehicle. A 9 in position 3 marks a small builder whose code continues in positions 12 to 14.
Vehicle attributes positions 4–8
Describes the vehicle in the manufacturer’s own code: model, body, engine, restraints. Only a decoder can translate it. For cars and light trucks, position 7 must be a letter.
Check digit position 9
A digit or X calculated from the other characters, to catch typing mistakes. PlateVIN recomputes it for you.
Model-year code position 10
The model-year code. The same letter repeats every 30 years; position 7 tells the two cycles apart.
Plant code position 11
The plant where the vehicle was assembled. The code is the manufacturer’s.
Serial number positions 12–17
The number the manufacturer assigned in production order.

How PlateVIN works

  • Decode from NHTSA

    Your browser asks the NHTSA vPIC service to decode the VIN and shows every attribute NHTSA has, not a trimmed summary.

  • Recalls, stated precisely

    Recalls are listed for the decoded make, model and model year. NHTSA's public API cannot answer for one VIN, so the page links to NHTSA's own VIN lookup.

  • The VIN stays with NHTSA

    The VIN is sent from your browser straight to NHTSA. PlateVIN has no server that receives, stores or logs it.

Browse by make

Dimensions, curb weights and recall campaigns for model years 2015 to 2025, taken from NHTSA data. The pages are in English.

  • Chevrolet

    28 models, 190 model years

  • Ford

    25 models, 195 model years

  • Honda

    14 models, 107 model years

  • Hyundai

    23 models, 125 model years

  • Jeep

    14 models, 84 model years

  • Kia

    19 models, 122 model years

  • Mazda

    8 models, 62 model years

  • Nissan

    21 models, 165 model years

  • Subaru

    10 models, 87 model years

  • Tesla

    5 models, 36 model years

  • Toyota

    29 models, 197 model years

  • Volkswagen

    17 models, 95 model years

Guides

Plain explanations of how a VIN is built and what the data means, with the federal rules and NHTSA pages they rest on.

All guides

NHTSA data snapshot: 17 October 2026