VIN decoder by brand

A VIN follows one international layout, but every manufacturer fills it in its own way. The first three characters, the World Manufacturer Identifier, name the maker and the region where it registered the code; positions 4 to 8 follow a scheme each manufacturer defines for itself. A brand page explains that scheme for one maker: which WMI codes it uses, what its VIN positions mean where the maker has published them, where to find the number on the vehicle, and the questions owners ask most often.

For the 52 brands sold in the United States since 1995, the page also summarises the public safety record: the vehicle recall campaigns and owner complaints NHTSA holds for the brand, with a separate page for each model, 2,777 in all. Model pages break complaints down by model year and component and list every recall with its defect, safety risk and remedy.

The directory covers 17 North American, 27 European and 15 Asian brands. Citroën, Dacia, Opel, Peugeot, Renault, SEAT and Škoda haven’t been sold in the U.S. under their own names in that period, so their pages rely on VIN notes and manufacturer codes instead of NHTSA statistics.

Recall and complaint figures come from NHTSA’s recall and complaint flat files, and WMI lists from NHTSA’s vPIC database. The brand notes draw on manufacturers’ VIN filings with NHTSA, national registries such as Germany’s Federal Motor Transport Authority, and owner handbooks. Nothing is estimated: where a source has no data, the page says so. To understand the codes themselves, start with the WMI code guide or how to decode a VIN.