Paste a 17-character VIN to see the manufacturer, country, model year and whether the check digit is right. For US vehicles, pull specs and recalls from NHTSA.
The VIN (Vehicle Identification Number) has 17 characters and uses only letters (except I, O and Q) and digits, as defined by ISO 3779. The first three are the WMI, which identifies the manufacturer and country: 1HG is Honda USA, 9BW is Volkswagen do Brasil, WBA is BMW Germany. Positions 4 to 8 describe the vehicle in a code each manufacturer defines. Position 9 is the check digit: each character becomes a number, is multiplied by a weight (8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 10, 0, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2), the sum is divided by 11, and the remainder is the digit, with X for 10. On the Honda 1HGCM82633A004352 the sum is 311, the remainder is 3 and the digit is 3. Position 10 is the model year, in a 30-year cycle: A means 1980 or 2010, T means 1996 or 2026. In the US, position 7 breaks the tie: a letter means 2010 to 2039, a digit means 1980 to 2009. Position 11 is the plant and positions 12 to 17 are the serial number. The check digit is mandatory only in the US and Canada. In Brazil, CONTRAN Resolution 968/2022 requires the model year in position 10 but does not define that calculation, so a Brazilian chassis whose digit does not match is not necessarily wrong. The tool shows that instead of failing it.
Paste the code into your HTML and the tool shows up on your page, without J-Kit's navigation and ads. It still runs in the browser of whoever visits your site.
<iframe
src="https://jkit.tools/embed/en-US/vin-decoder"
width="100%"
height="600"
style="border:0"
loading="lazy"
title="VIN Decoder with Recall Check"
></iframe>These references help contextualize formulas, standards, APIs and limitations used on this page. They do not replace professional validation when a result has legal, financial, medical or operational impact.
The 17 characters split into six parts: WMI (positions 1 to 3, manufacturer and country), VDS (4 to 8, vehicle description), check digit (9), model year (10), plant (11) and serial number (12 to 17). The tool's table shows each position in its own color. The letters I, O and Q do not exist in a VIN so they cannot be confused with 1, 0 and 0.
| Section | Positions | Value | What it means |
|---|---|---|---|
| WMI | 1-3 | 1HG | Identifies the manufacturer and the country of origin (WMI). |
| VDS | 4-8 | CM826 | Describes model, body, engine and restraints. The code is each manufacturer's own, so it can only be decoded with their table (NHTSA publishes the US ones). |
| Check digit | 9 | 3 | Control digit computed over the other 16 characters (ISO 3779). |
| Model year | 10 | 3 | Position 7 is a number: under the NHTSA rule (49 CFR 565.15) the code means 1980 to 2009. |
| Plant | 11 | A | Code of the factory where the vehicle was assembled, set by each manufacturer. |
| Serial | 12-17 | 004352 | The vehicle's production serial number. |
The decoding above runs in your browser, without contacting any server.
Optional. Sends this VIN to NHTSA's public database (US government) and shows make, model, engine, plant, safety equipment and recall campaigns. Works best with vehicles sold in the US.
Need a VIN for testing? VIN generator
Decoding runs in your browser and no VIN leaves it. Only the NHTSA lookup button sends the VIN, straight from your browser to NHTSA, without going through our server.