VIN Model Year Codes: The 10th Character, 1980–2039

Find the 10th character of the VIN in the first column. The two other columns give the two possible model years. If the vehicle is a car, SUV, van or pickup built for North America, use position 7 to pick the right one, as explained below.

Because only 30 characters are available for it. A VIN may use 23 letters (the alphabet minus I, O and Q) and 10 digits. For the year code, NHTSA also excludes the letters U and Z and the digit 0, leaving 21 letters and 9 digits: exactly 30 codes. After Y (2000) the cycle switches to digits, and after 9 (2009) it returns to A.

The repeat is deliberate. NHTSA describes its 2008 rewrite of Part 565 as the change needed to keep the VIN system working for the next 30 years. The VIN stayed at 17 characters, the year codes were reused, and position 7 became the marker that tells the two cycles apart.

Look at the 7th character. For passenger cars, and for multipurpose vehicles and trucks with a gross vehicle weight rating of 10,000 lb (4,536 kg) or less, U.S. rules say: if position 7 is a digit, the year code refers to 1980–2009; if position 7 is a letter, it refers to 2010–2039. The rule became mandatory for vehicles built from April 30, 2009, which is why it lines up with model year 2010.

The rule does not cover every vehicle. NHTSA notes that position 7 on motorcycles, buses, trailers and heavier trucks may be a letter or a digit, so it carries no year information. For those, use the date of manufacture on the certification label, the title or common sense about the vehicle's age. Motorcycles still use the same year codes: a 2025 CPSC recall notice for KTM-group off-road motorcycles told owners that 2024 models have R in position 10 and 2025 models have S.

Decoders face the same ambiguity. NHTSA's vPIC API documentation recommends always sending the model year along with the VIN, because the year code alone can match more than one cycle. When you already know the year from the title, a decode that agrees with it is a useful cross-check; one that disagrees is a reason to re-read the VIN.

Not necessarily. U.S. rules define the model year as the year a manufacturer uses to designate a model, regardless of the calendar year in which it was actually produced, as long as the production period does not exceed 24 months (49 CFR 565.12). A car coded as a 2027 model can roll off the line in 2026.

The actual build date is on the certification label on the driver's door frame, which must show the month and year of manufacture (49 CFR 567.4). The National Insurance Crime Bureau notes that most manufacturers begin new model-year production in August or September, and gives the example of a label dated 10/2009 on a 2010 model. A build date a few months before the model year is normal; one years apart is worth questioning.

Not reliably. EU rules require a manufacturer code, a vehicle descriptor, an identifier section and, for newer vehicles, a check digit, but they have never required a model-year code. A manufacturer may still choose to encode a year, but nothing obliges it to, so reading position 10 on a European-market VIN as a year is a guess unless the manufacturer documents its scheme.

Decoders built on U.S. data can make that guess look authoritative. NHTSA's vPIC decoder applies the North American table and, when the result is uncertain, adds a note that the model year decoded for this VIN may be incorrect and asks you to enter the known year. Our European VIN guide explains what else to expect, and the pre-1981 guide covers older vehicles, whose numbers predate the year code altogether.

Getting the year right matters beyond curiosity. NHTSA organises recalls and owner complaints by make, model and model year, and its public recall and complaint APIs, which our recall lookup uses, ask for exactly those three values. Read the year code wrong and you will look at the wrong recall list.

• The 10th character is never I, O, Q, U, Z or 0. If you see one of these, the VIN was copied wrongly.
• V follows T: 2026 is T and 2027 is V, because U is skipped.
• A digit in position 10 means 2001–2009 or 2031–2039, never the 1980s or 1990s.
• A model year that disagrees with the title is a red flag worth investigating; the NICB lists it among signs of an altered VIN.
• Our VIN decoder applies the position-7 rule automatically and shows both candidate years when the rule doesn't apply.