What do the last 4 digits of a VIN number mean?
Why is my VIN number not 17 long?
How can you tell the year of a car by VIN number?
How many characters are in the VIN decoder?
Do VINs have 1 or I?
How many characters are in a VIN number?
The 10th Digit VIN Chart
Identify the 10th character of the VIN. Characters first cycle through the alphabet (A-H, J-N, P, R-T, W-Y) and then the numbers (1-9) to represent the vehicle model’s year. With 30 possible characters, “A”, for example, represents the year 1980 and 2010.
1981
In 1981, VINs were standardized under the auspices of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration as a 17-digit string of letters and numbers.
The last six digits of a VIN reveal the vehicle’s regular production options (RPO) and is also commonly referred to as its serial number. While many car enthusiasts note that these last six digits represent the sequential production number (which is true), there’s more to the story.
Digits in position 4 through 9 make up the Vehicle Description Section (VDS). The fourth through eighth digits describe your vehicle’s model, body type, restraint system, transmission type, and engine code. The ninth digit is the check digit, which is used to detect fraudulent VINs.
