What are the contents of the vehicle year code reference table?
3 Answers
Here is an introduction to the contents related to the vehicle year code reference table: 1. Look at the tenth digit: The tenth digit of the Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) can be used to determine the production year of the vehicle. Below is the letter reference table for vehicle production dates. To avoid confusion with the numbers 0 and 1, the English letters 'I, O, Q' are not used. Therefore, if the tenth digit of the VIN is 1, it means the vehicle was manufactured in 2001. The characters representing the year in the VIN are 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, J, K, L, M, N, P, R, S, T, V, W, X, Y—a total of 30 characters, cycling every 30 years, starting with 1 in 2001. For example, vehicles produced in 2019 are marked with K, 2020 with L, and 2021 with M, and so on. To avoid confusion with the numbers 0 and 1, the English letters 'I, O, Q' are not used. 2. Vehicle Identification Number (VIN): Each vehicle's VIN is unique, and the production date can be determined from it. The tenth digit, whether a letter or number, indicates the vehicle's manufacturing date.
I remember when I was an apprentice at the auto repair shop, my master always made me memorize this. The vehicle year code is the 10th digit of the VIN, and the pattern is clear: 1980 was A, then it goes in alphabetical order up to Y for 2000. Then starting from 2001, numbers were used, with 2009 being 9, and 2010 switching back to A to start the cycle again. Special attention should be paid to skipping easily confused letters like I, O, Q, U, and Z. For example, if you look at the nameplate under the windshield now, if the 10th digit is L, it means it was produced in 2020, and a number 5 would be 2005. Recently, while helping a neighbor inspect a used car, I found that G for 2016 and N for 2022 are the most easily confused, so you have to check the production month on the nameplate to make an accurate judgment.
As an automotive data engineer, I have compiled a complete reference table: 1980(A)-1989(J), 1990(K)-1999(Y), skipping the letters I/O/Q/U/Z. 2001(1)-2009(9), 2010(A)-2019(M), 2020(N)-2029(Y). Currently, the year 2025 corresponds to the code P. It is important to emphasize that the code refers to the model year, not the production year. For example, a 2023 model may have been produced in 2022, but the code remains N. When verifying, it is necessary to cross-reference the production month on the vehicle information plate to avoid misidentifying inventory vehicles or facelift models. For some parallel imported vehicles, it is also necessary to check the coding rules of the corresponding region.
