Toyota VIN decoder: reading the plant, the engine letter and the model line
Toyota WMIs: the first three characters
The world manufacturer identifier tells you the plant group before anything else. 4T1 is a passenger car from Toyota Motor Manufacturing Kentucky in Georgetown, and 4T3 an SUV or minivan from the same plant. 5TD marks an SUV or minivan from the Indiana plant, 5TF a truck from Texas, and 2T3 an SUV from Toyota’s Canadian plants. 7MU belongs to Mazda Toyota Manufacturing USA in Huntsville, Alabama.
Japanese-built cars start with J. JTD and JTN are Toyota passenger cars, JTE and JTM Toyota SUVs, and JTH and JTJ Lexus cars and SUVs. A GR86 starts JF1, because Subaru builds it in Gunma alongside the BRZ.
Toyota VIN decoder: positions 4 to 8 on North American builds
US rules require positions 4 to 8 of a car or SUV VIN to identify attributes that include the engine type and the restraint system. On North American Toyotas from the 2010 model year, position 4 carries the body type and drive wheels (on some lines the grade too), position 5 the engine, position 6 the restraint system, position 7 the series and position 8 the vehicle line.
Position 8 is the anchor. K is Camry, V is RAV4, N is Tacoma, H is Highlander and E is Corolla. From 1996 to 2009 Toyota used a similar layout with positions 6 and 7 swapped, so a table written for a 2012 Camry will misread a 2008 one.
One engine letter, several engines
Toyota reuses engine letters across model lines. F in position 5 is the 2.5-liter 2AR-FE in a 2010 to 2017 Camry and a 2010 to 2018 RAV4, and K is the 3.5-liter 2GR-FE V6 in the Camry V6, Highlander and Sienna of the same years.
A covers far more ground. On a 2010 to 2019 Highlander it is the 2.7-liter 1AR-FE, on a 2022 Corolla Cross the 2.0-liter M20A-FKS, and on a current Tundra the twin-turbo V35A-FTS V6. Read position 5 together with positions 8 and 10 before you order an oil filter, a water pump or a set of plugs.
Model year and the plant letter in position 11
Position 10 is the model year on North American VINs: P is 2023, R 2024, S 2025 and T 2026. Position 11 names the plant. U is Georgetown, Kentucky, S is Princeton, Indiana, X is San Antonio, Texas, and P is Blue Springs, Mississippi. C and W are Cambridge and Woodstock in Ontario, V is Huntsville, Alabama, T is Guanajuato and M is Tijuana.
A digit in position 11 points to a Japanese plant, and some Japanese plants use letters, such as J for Takaoka and A for Motomachi. A RAV4 from Woodstock and a RAV4 from Japan can share a model year and still differ in equipment, so the plant is worth noting on the job card.
European Toyotas and Japanese frame numbers
Toyotas built for Europe follow the international VIN standard, which leaves the middle of the VIN to the manufacturer and requires neither a check digit nor a model-year character. SB1 marks Burnaston in the UK, VNK Valenciennes in France and NMT Sakarya in Turkey. YAR appears on the ProAce vans that Stellantis builds for Toyota. The North American tables above do not apply to these cars.
Cars built for the Japanese home market often carry no 17-character VIN at all. They use a frame number made of the model code and a serial, where a code such as ZVW30 marks a third-generation Prius. Enter the whole frame number, hyphen included, and see VIN vs chassis number for where to find it on an import.
The Toyota catalog decode: from VIN to part number
The free VIN decoder reads the maker, country and model year from any Toyota VIN. The Toyota EPC goes further: it resolves a VIN or a Japanese frame number to the model code, engine, transmission and grade of that one car, and shows the genuine part numbers with their supersessions against exploded diagrams. The same catalog covers Lexus, which matters because the two brands share many parts, as we explain in are Lexus parts the same as Toyota.
The catalog does not show recall status, wiring diagrams or repair procedures. Recalls come from NHTSA’s lookup or the dealer, and wiring and procedures from Toyota’s service information. See the Toyota EPC hub for coverage.
Frequently asked questions
Which digit of a Toyota VIN is the engine?
Position 5 on Toyotas built for North America. The letter depends on the model line in position 8, so F on a 2015 Camry is the 2.5-liter 2AR-FE while A on a Highlander of the same year is the 2.7-liter 1AR-FE.
How do I tell where my Toyota was built?
Read the first character and position 11. A VIN starting with J was built in Japan. In position 11, U is Georgetown, Kentucky, S is Princeton, Indiana, X is San Antonio, Texas, and C or W is Ontario, Canada.
Why does my Japanese import Toyota have no 17-digit VIN?
Home-market Toyotas often use a frame number instead, built from the model code and a serial. The Toyota catalog accepts the frame number, so enter it in full.
Does a Toyota VIN decoder show the trim level?
Partly. On North American VINs the grade is folded into position 4 on some model lines. The catalog decode shows the grade for the specific car.