Garage Tools · Shop Reference

VIN Year Chart

10th character → model year

Letter codes

10th char	1980–2009 cycle	2010–2039 cycle

Digit codes

10th char	1980–2009	2010–2039

Characters never used as year codes

These are skipped so they can't be confused with 1 and 0 at a glance. If you're reading one of these in position 10, recount — you're probably off by one.

IOQUZ0

Which 30-year cycle is it?

Quick field check on North American VINs: look at the 7th character. If it's a letter, the vehicle falls in the 2010–2039 cycle. If it's a digit, it's the 1980–2009 cycle. When in doubt, the vehicle itself usually settles it — a code of T on a late-model bike is 2026, not 1996.

The 10th character of a 17-character VIN is the model year. Find that character in the chart above and read across — the same code repeats every 30 years, so both cycles are listed side by side.

Count ten characters in from the left of the VIN (letters and numbers both count). That single character is the year code. It works the same on motorcycles, cars, and trucks with a standard 17-character VIN from 1981 on.

1981 and newer only: bikes built before 1981 don't follow this. Before the standard took effect, manufacturers used shorter, maker-specific frame numbers instead of a 17-character VIN — so the year chart above and the breakdown below won't read a pre-1981 bike.

What each part of a VIN means

Every 17-character VIN is built from the same six blocks. Tap a block of the example VIN to see what it tells you — this one is a real 1986 Honda Spree (NQ50).

Example VIN · JH2AF0602GS238626 · 1986 Honda Spree (NQ50)

Position by position

Position	Section	What it tells you
1	Country of origin	Where the vehicle was built — J = Japan, 1, 4, or 5 = USA, 2 = Canada, 3 = Mexico, W = Germany.
2–3	Manufacturer	Who made it. Together with position 1 this is the WMI (World Manufacturer Identifier).
4–8	Vehicle descriptor (VDS)	Model line, engine, body style, and market/version details. Each maker sets its own codes here — there's no universal chart for this block.
9	Check digit	A computed character used in North America to catch typos and fake VINs — it verifies the rest of the number.
10	Model year	The year code from the chart above — the single most-looked-up character in the VIN.
11	Assembly plant	The factory that built it. Each manufacturer assigns its own plant codes.
12–17	Serial number (VIS)	The vehicle's unique production sequence number — no two vehicles share the full 17 characters.