Background
While vehicle identification numbers (VIN) were introduced in the United States during the 1954 model year, they were not standardized as a 17-character sequence until 1981 under ISO 3779 and 3780.
The modern VIN has three sections:
- WMI: first three characters identify the manufacturer
- VDS: the next five characters describe various proprietary vehicle specifications (VDS) and use a sixth character as a checksum validator
- VIS: the remaining eight characters define the model year, the manufacturing facility, and a vehicle-specific 6-digit serial number
