What Number on a VIN is the Year?

Until 1981, auto manufacturers didn’t use a standard format for VIN numbers. Before this, manufacturers used a variety of formats, from 5 to 13 digits, and there was no way to decode VIN numbers to determine what year a vehicle was manufactured.

Key Takeaways

  • VIN numbers were standardized in 1981, and they can be decoded to determine a wealth of information.
  • The tenth digit in the VIN is a code for the year a vehicle was manufactured. You can decipher the year of a vehicle by referring to the VIN year codes.

Which Number on a VIN code is the Year?

The tenth character in the VIN sequence, which encodes the model year, can be either a number or a letter. Some letters aren’t included in the following code table because VINs don’t use the letters I, O, Q, U, and Z, as they can be easily confused with numbers.

Model Year Code Table

CodeYearCodeYear
A198062006
B198172007
C198282008
D198392009
E1984A2010
F1985B2011
G1986C2012
H1987D2013
J1988E2014
K1989F2015
L1990G2016
M1991H2017
N1992J2018
P1993K2019
R1994L2020
S1995L2021
T1996N2022
V1997P2023
W1998R2024
X1999S2025
Y2000T2026
12001V2027
22002W2028
32003X2029
42004Y2030
5200512031

Manufacturers in the US began using VIN numbers in 1954. Each manufacturer used its own format until VINs were standardized in 1981, which is why year code tables for VINs start with that year.

Conclusion

It’s easy to find the model year in a VIN, and there’s more information available when you use a decoder to decipher a VIN. Check out these top VIN decoders that we’ve reviewed to learn more.

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