Toyota VIN Decoder

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Toyota VIN Check: What is a Toyota VIN?

Toyota isn’t just one of the largest manufacturers in the world, they’re also one of the most influential.

The Corolla is the best selling car in history. The Hi-Lux and Land Cruiser are legendary for their reliability. The Prius almost single handedly created the hybrid market. The Celica, MR-2 and Supra have seen major racing success, while the LF-A is one of the world’s most celebrated supercars.

No matter what type of vehicle you’re looking for, Toyota builds something for you. How can you be sure the car or truck you’re buying is genuine? By using a VIN check to verify factory information matches up with the vehicle you’re being sold. Our decoder translates this 17 digit code into valuable information about when and where the vehicle was manufactured, as well as its original equipment. Want to know more? If you order a VIN report, you’ll get a history of the car drawn from official state and private databases, including previous owners, accidents and more.

List of Toyota Models

Toyota VIN Number Lookup

The VIN is issued by the manufacturer when the vehicle is built. It’s written on stickers, plates and engravings that will last the life of the vehicle. This makes a VIN check invaluable when you need to verify the authenticity of a rare, valuable car. For example, a 90s Supra with a factory-installed 6 speed manual and turbocharged engine is easily worth twice as much as a car with an automatic or a naturally aspirated engine. While it’s possible to do an engine and transmission swap, it will never be as valuable as a genuine car.

Where to Search for the VIN?

There are several places you can find the VIN number on your Toyota. Keep in mind that some tags refer to the VIN as the “frame number”.

  • Look through the windshield at the dashboard. You should see a small metal plate on the driver’s side, close to the front corner of the glass.
  • Open the driver’s door. On the body pillar, you will see a black sticker. This is the service tag. The VIN number is printed on the tag directly above a bar code. If you don’t see this sticker, look at the door below the latch. Here, you’ll find a black or white service tag.
  • On most 1988 and earlier models, there is a metal I.D. plate in the engine compartment. This plate is either on or near the firewall. This plate lists internal model and equipment codes, as well as the VIN. The VIN is the code near the top of the plate, below the country where the vehicle was manufactured. On vans, this plate is riveted to the floor below the front passenger’s seat. It’s covered by a small carpet flap.
  • On 1989 and newer models, the VIN is on a plate or sticker attached to the top center of the firewall.
  • Trucks and vans usually have the VIN etched into the right side frame rail below the engine.

It’s also common to find VIN stickers on hoods, doors and tailgates. This makes it easier to trace stolen parts. However, these stickers may not match. if the vehicle was in an accident, it may have salvage parts from a different vehicle.

Since VINs are unique to each vehicle, this number is used as an I.D. on official documents. You can find the VIN on the title, registration, and insurance policy. Some auto repair shops also put the VIN on service receipts.

Where to find VIN on a vehicle?

Comprehensive VIN Decoder Guide

The VIN Number is 17 digits long. 10 of these digits identify aspects of the vehicle, including the chassis and engine. One digit is used for error correction, while the rest are a serial number. Here’s the information you can get from each of these digits when you decode them.

VIN Decode Guide?

First digit: Country of Manufacture

This is where the vehicle underwent final assembly. Here are the most common country codes for Toyota vehicles.

CodeCountry
1, 4 and 5United States
2Canada
3Mexico
JJapan
VFrance

Second digit: Manufacturer

While most manufacturers use just one code, there are two letters you may find in this position for Toyota products.

T:Toyota
Scion and Lexus vehicles also use “T” as their manufacturer designation.

N:NUMMI
NUMMI was a California-based joint venture between Toyota and General Motors. Corollas were built here from 1987 to 2010, while compact pickups were built at the plant from 1991 to 2010.

Third digit: Vehicle Type

This digit identifies the vehicle category.

CodeVehicle Type
D, G, K, X, 1, 2, 7, NCar
A, B, F, M, 4Truck
E, L, 3Multipurpose passenger vehicles, including SUVs and crossovers
5Convertible

Fourth digit: Body Type and Drivetrain

This digit identifies the body style, as well as whether the vehicle is two wheel or four wheel drive.

Cars

CodeBODY STYLE
ATwo door, two wheel drive sedan
BFour door, two wheel drive sedan
CTwo door, two wheel drive coupe
G, KFour door wagon, two wheel drive
H, LFour door wagon, four wheel drive
ZFive door wagon, two wheel drive
SThree door liftback four wheel drive

Trucks

CodeBODY STYLE
NTwo door, two wheel drive
PTwo door, four wheel drive
TExtended cab, two wheel drive
WExtended cab, four wheel drive
EFour door, two wheel drive
B, D, LFour door, four wheel drive

Other Vehicles

CodeBODY STYLE
XSUV
MFive door, two wheel drive van
YSport van

Fifth Digit: Engine

With so many engines in Toyota’s history, the letters and numbers for this digit are frequently reused. If you want to know which engine the car was built with, use our VIN decoder.

Sixth digit: Vehicle Series

This is based on the vehicle’s chassis code. This code is used internally by Toyota, and is included on the I.D. plate.

Seventh digit: Safety features

This position in the VIN covers the different types of seat belts and air bags installed at the factory.

Eighth digit: Model or Platform

Here are the codes for Toyota’s most popular models.

CodeMODEL
1Tundra
AHighlander, Sequoia, Celica and Supra
BAvalon
ECorolla and Matrix
KCamry
NTacoma and compact trucks
PCamry and Solara
R4Runner and Corolla
UPrius
VRAV4

Ninth digit: Check digit

This digit is calculated using a mathematical formula based on other digits in the VIN. It verifies the authenticity of the vehicle identification number.

Tenth digit: Model Year

This alternates between numbers and letters. 1-9 was used from 2001-2009. I, O and Q aren’t used, so they won’t be confused with 1 and 0. 2022 models use the code “N”, while the following year uses “P”.

CodeYearCodeYearCodeYearCodeYear
E1984R199442004E2014
F1985S199552005F2015
G1986T199662006G2016
H1987V199772007H2017
J1988W199882008J2018
K1989X199992009K2019
L1990Y2000A2010L2020
M199112001B2011M2021
N199222002C2012N2022
P199332003D2013P2023

Eleventh digit: Manufacturing Plant

This is where the vehicle was manufactured. Toyota operates plants all over the world. Here are the most common factory codes.

CodePLANT
0-9, KJapan
CCambridge, ON
RLafayette, IN
SPrinceton, IN
UGeorgetown, KY
WWoodstock, ON
YSan Antonio, TX
ZFremont, CA

Twelfth through Seventeenth Digit: Serial Number

This number is usually issued sequentially. Occasionally, the company occasionally jumps to higher numbers during the model year.

Toyota VIN Samples

Here are some examples of the information you’ll get when you look up your VIN on our site:

  • JTEZU5JR8H5150230: 2017 4Runner with a 4.0l 1GRE-FE engine built in Japan
  • JTDFPRAEXLJ018251: 2020 Corolla with a 1.8l 2ZR-FAE engine built in Japan
  • JT4RN56S2F0139246: 21985 Pick-up with a 2.4l 22R engine built in Japan
  • 1994 TOYOTA Corolla

    1994 TOYOTA Corolla

    VIN 1NXAE00B3RZ205577
    Listed for sale on:
    02/15/2017
    Price:
    $0
    Odometer:
    643,963 km
  • 1994 TOYOTA Corolla

    1994 TOYOTA Corolla

    VIN 1NXAE04B5RZ172740
    Listed for sale on:
    01/18/2010
    Price:
    $0
    Odometer:
    241,795 km
  • 1994 TOYOTA Corolla

    1994 TOYOTA Corolla

    VIN 1NXAE04B5RZ140256
    Listed for sale on:
    11/21/2013
    Price:
    $1,969
    Odometer:
    339,147 km
  • 1995 TOYOTA Corolla

    1995 TOYOTA Corolla

    VIN 1NXAE00B9SZ248486
    Listed for sale on:
    05/26/2015
    Price:
    $2,408
    Odometer:
    327,958 km
  • 1995 TOYOTA Corolla

    1995 TOYOTA Corolla

    VIN 1NXAE04B3SZ275340
    Listed for sale on:
    01/27/2014
    Price:
    $1,150
    Odometer:
    428,371 km
  • 1994 TOYOTA Corolla

    1994 TOYOTA Corolla

    VIN 1NXAE04B5RZ188128
    Listed for sale on:
    08/02/2013
    Price:
    $3,171
    Odometer:
    119,180 km
  • 1994 TOYOTA Corolla

    1994 TOYOTA Corolla

    VIN 1NXAE04B4RZ173278
    Listed for sale on:
    11/12/2013
    Price:
    $2,275
    Odometer:
    267,220 km
  • 1994 TOYOTA Corolla

    1994 TOYOTA Corolla

    VIN 1NXAE04B8RZ167886
    Listed for sale on:
    04/22/2013
    Price:
    $1,224
    Odometer:
    496,388 km
  • 1994 TOYOTA Corolla

    1994 TOYOTA Corolla

    VIN 1NXAE00B5RZ128985
    Listed for sale on:
    12/06/2007
    Price:
    $0
    Odometer:
    361,574 km
  • 1995 TOYOTA Corolla

    1995 TOYOTA Corolla

    VIN 1NXAE04B4SZ253363
    Listed for sale on:
    06/30/2016
    Price:
    $0
    Odometer:
    348,438 km
  • 1995 TOYOTA Corolla

    1995 TOYOTA Corolla

    VIN 1NXAE04B3SZ286564
    Listed for sale on:
    10/12/2015
    Price:
    $1,266
    Odometer:
    331,701 km
  • 1994 TOYOTA Corolla

    1994 TOYOTA Corolla

    VIN 1NXAE04B3RZ216797
    Listed for sale on:
    09/28/2016
    Price:
    $1,991
    Odometer:
    218,790 km

Frequently Asked Questions

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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