Check vehicle information with Subaru VIN
Looking for the VIN?
Here is there you’ll find it:
Subaru debuted in North America with the 360, a tiny car that even their marketing team called “cheap and ugly”. Fortunately, they carved out a niche using the four-wheel drive system they developed for mail delivery trucks in their consumer vehicles. By the late 1970s, Subaru's AWD cars were common in snowy areas. This same system made them a significant force in the World Rally Championship through the 90s and 2000s, leading to the high-performance WRX and STi. Today, the company is known for its practical AWD family vehicles and tuner-friendly sports cars.
Save time shopping for your next car using the VIN decoder Subaru fans trust when buying a new vehicle. Our Subaru VIN lookup tool tells you all the information encoded in this number, including engine options, build dates, and more.
When Subaru builds a new car, they assign a federally-mandated identifier called the Vehicle Identification Number (VIN.) This number is unique to the vehicle - it includes information about the car, including the model, equipment, and manufacturing location. Our Subaru VIN lookup decodes this number, turning it into information you can use when shopping for a vehicle
Our DMV VIN check tool translates the numbers and letters in the VIN into a form you can read. Our Subaru VIN number lookup tells you the model, year, engine, and more. This is useful for learning more about vehicles for sale and verifying the seller's information is correct. That way, you don't waste time looking at cars you don't want. It also helps you avoid questionable vehicles, like that “STi” that is really a WRX with some extra badges.
Before you spend your hard-earned cash, order a VIN report on the vehicle you want to buy. Our system can pull information from national, state, and institutional records to create a vehicle history. The report includes vehicle owner lookups, registrations and available data from all 50 states. This helps you avoid vehicles that have been in accidents or may have legal issues due to an unpaid lien or theft report.
Don't have the VIN handy? We also have a license plate lookup service. This uses publicly-available databases to find records on the vehicle. From there, it finds the VIN associated with the license number and gives you the same information you get with our Subaru VIN lookup.
Some sales listings include the VIN number, making it easy to do a VIN check. You can also find it in several places around the vehicle:
Look through the windshield at the dashboard. You should see a plate with the VIN on the driver's side, next to the A-pillar.
Open the driver's door. You should see a sticker on the B-pillar. This sticker may be to the right of the door sill or below the door latch.
Open the hood. There are three locations where you may find a sticker or plate with the VIN printed on it:
The VIN can also be found on the title, insurance policy, and other official documents. This lets you find and decode the VIN without direct access to the vehicle.
Here's what you can learn about a vehicle when you look up the VIN on our website.
First Character: Country of Assembly
| 1, 4 and 5 | United States |
| 2 | Canada |
| 3 | Mexico |
| J | Japan |
Second Character: Manufacturer
Some older Japanese-build models use Subaru's old parent company name, “Fuji Heavy Industries”.
| S | Subaru |
| F | Fuji Heavy Industries |
Third Character: Brand Division
| 3, 4 | Subaru-Isuzu of America |
| 1, 2, 3, 4 and B | Fuji Heavy Industries |
Fourth Character: Model Line
| A | XT, XT6 |
| B | Legacy, Baja |
| C | SVX |
| G | Impreza |
| S | Forester |
| W | B9 Tribeca |
Fifth Character: Body Type
| E | Legacy Sedan |
| G | Legacy Wagon |
| D | Impreza sedan |
| G | Impreza wagon |
| F | Forester |
| K | Legacy wagon |
| L | Legacy sedan |
| P | Outback |
| X | B9 Tribeca |
Sixth Character: Engine and Drive System
Two wheel drive
| 2 | 1.8 liters |
| 3 | 3.0 liters |
Four wheel drive
| 4 | 2.2 liters |
| 6 | 2.5 liters |
| 8 | 3.0 liters |
Seventh Character: Steering Wheel Position
While most automakers only sell left-hand drive vehicles here, Subaru also offers right-hand drive cars for use as mail delivery vehicles.
| L | Left |
| R | Right |
Eighth character: Safety Equipment
This identifies the active crash protection equipment installed at the factory.
| 2 | automatic seat belts |
| 5 | front airbags |
| 6 | front and side airbags |
| C | front, side and side curtain airbags |
Ninth Character: Check Digit
This digit is generated using a standard formula based on other characters in the VIN. This helps identify errors when the VIN is entered into databases.
Tenth Character: Model Year
This alternates between numbers and letters. Some letters, like “I” and “O” are omitted, so they aren't confused with numbers. 2023 model year vehicles use a “P” for this position, while numbers 1-9 were last used from 2001 to 2009.
Eleventh Character: Assembly Plant and Drive System
This identifies the vehicle's final assembly plant, as well as the type of transmission used. Most vehicles have one of 6 characters in this position:
Vehicles built at Subaru of Indiana Automotive (USA)
| 6 | 4×4 manual |
| 7, 8 | 4×4 automatic |
Vehicles built at Ota City, Gunma, Japan
| C | Two wheel drive automatic |
| G | 4×4 manual |
| H | 4×4 automatic |
Older vehicles built in Ota City use “G” for this character, regardless of transmission or drive system.
Characters Twelve to Seventeen: Serial Number
There is no standard for issuing serial numbers, and it's possible for two vehicles from the same model year to have the same number. However, no two vehicles will have a completely identical VIN.
Want to know what you can learn from a Subaru VIN number? Here are some examples:
Locations vary from manufacturer to manufacturer. However, there are three places you can find the code on most vehicles:
- Look through the windshield at the dashboard. On the driver’s side, you should see a small metal plate with the number stamped into it.
- Open the driver’s door. Look at the front and side of the door pillar for an I.D. sticker. It usually has the manufacturer’s logo on it. The code should be on this sticker.
- Open the hood. You may see a sticker on the firewall or near the passenger’s side strut tower. Some cars have the number engraved in one of these areas.
Since this number is used to identify the vehicle on official documents, you can also find it on the title, the window sticker, and on insurance policies.
We also decode numbers for RVs, heavy-duty trucks and motorcycles. If you need to decode an RV number, make sure it’s the one issued by the chassis manufacturer, not the RV outfitter.
No. Canadian and Mexican cars usually use the same format. Other countries use their own formats.
It’s up to the manufacturer to determine what they want to include for some parts of the number. For example, some companies don’t include information about transmissions or trim levels.
Usually, no. A few manufacturers stamp the code into the engine. If the VINs on the engine and car match, then it’s the original engine. On most vehicles, there isn’t anything that ties an engine to a specific vehicle. At most, looking up the vehicle on our website will tell you if a different type of engine was installed. For example, if someone swaps a V8 into a Ford Mustang, our site will tell you it originally came with a V6.
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Read moreLooking for the VIN?
Here is there you’ll find it:
