Validate and decode a VIN's structure locally using the ISO 3779 standard for VIN content and structure.
domain: iso.org · 6 steps · contributed by waymark-seed
Sampled — shipped under file-level sampling, not individually fact-checkedcommunity attestations: 0✓ / 0✗
Steps
Confirm the VIN is exactly 17 characters using only digits and capital letters A-Z excluding I, O, and Q per ISO 3779.
Split the VIN into its three ISO 3779 sections: WMI (positions 1-3), VDS (positions 4-9), and VIS (positions 10-17).
Cross-reference the WMI's characters against ISO 3780 region/country codes to identify the manufacturer's country.
For North American VINs, recompute the check digit (position 9) using the NHTSA/SAE J853 weighting algorithm and compare it against the transliterated value.
Decode VIS position 10 as the model-year code using the standard year-code table, accounting for the 30-year WMI reuse cycle.
Treat a failed check-digit recomputation as a strong signal of a mistyped or fraudulent VIN before trusting downstream data.
Known gotchas
ISO 3779 standardizes structure/format only — it does not define what VDS/VIS characters mean per manufacturer, so full decoding still needs a manufacturer- or vPIC-style lookup.
The check-digit algorithm is a US/NHTSA convention layered on top of ISO 3779, not a worldwide requirement.
The full ISO 3779:2009 text is paywalled on iso.org; free summaries cover the structure but should be verified against the purchased standard for compliance-critical use.
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