VIN year code: how to read the 10th character

Position 10 is the model year

US rules (49 CFR 565.15) reserve the 10th position of the VIN for the model year. That is the year the maker uses to name the model, whatever calendar year the vehicle was actually built in. A 2026 model can roll off the line in 2025.

Why the codes repeat every 30 years

The year code uses letters and digits, but not all of them. I, O and Q are never used anywhere in a VIN, and the year position also skips U, Z and the digit 0. That leaves 21 letters and the digits 1 to 9: exactly 30 codes for 30 model years. Then the cycle starts again, so A stood for 1980 and stands for 2010 as well.

The rule doesn’t say why U, Z and 0 are left out. Whatever the reason, it helps when you read a VIN off a worn plate: a character in position 10 that looks like 0 is not a valid year code, so check whether you misread it.

VIN model year code chart

Telling 1995 from 2025: check position 7

For passenger cars, and for multipurpose passenger vehicles (such as SUVs) and trucks with a gross vehicle weight rating of 10,000 lb or less, the 7th character tells you which cycle applies. The note to the federal year table says so directly:

• Position 7 is a digit: the model year is in the 1980–2009 cycle.
• Position 7 is a letter: the model year is in the 2010–2039 cycle.

Example: a car with S in position 10 and a digit in position 7 is a 1995 model. With a letter in position 7, it is a 2025 model. NHTSA added the rule when the codes began to repeat in 2010, so that a new VIN would never duplicate one issued 30 years earlier.

Reading the year in four steps

1. Count to the 10th character from the left. The check digit, in position 9, sits just before it.
2. Find that code in the chart. It gives two possible years, 30 years apart.
3. For a car, SUV or light truck, look at position 7: a digit points to the earlier year, a letter to the later one.
4. Compare the result with the title and the ad.

When the position 7 rule doesn’t apply

The rule covers only the vehicle types above. For heavier trucks, buses, trailers and motorcycles, use the title, the registration or a decoder to place the year. Vehicles built for markets outside the US may not follow these rules, so don’t assume their 10th character is a year.

Check the year against the paperwork

The model year in the VIN, the year on the title and the year in the ad should agree. If they don’t, the cause may be a typo, a car described as newer than it is, or a VIN plate that doesn’t belong to the car. Run the full VIN through our VIN decoder, and see what is a VIN to check the other positions.