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How to Decode a Nissan VIN: Read Every Character

September 08, 2026

A Nissan VIN spells out where the car was built, what it is, and its model year in 17 characters. Nissan uses the same ISO 3779 layout as every automaker, so an Altima built in Tennessee and a GT-R built in Japan start with different characters for a reason. Once you know which position holds what, the number reads plainly. Here is how to decode a Nissan VIN one character at a time.

The Three Parts of a Nissan VIN

Every VIN breaks into three blocks: the manufacturer, the vehicle description, and the unique unit.

Positions 1-3: The Nissan WMI

The first three characters name the maker and the country of assembly. Nissan builds in North America and Japan, so it uses several prefixes. A US-built Nissan often starts with 1N4, while a Japan-built one starts with JN1.

So a VIN starting JN1 is a Japanese-built Nissan before you read another character. The first character is the country (1 and 5 are the USA, 3 is Mexico, J is Japan), and the next two identify Nissan and the vehicle type. Look up any prefix on our WMI code reference.

Positions 4-8: The Vehicle Description

This block, the VDS, carries the model-specific details: the model line, body style, engine, and restraint system. Nissan assigns these codes per model and year, so the same letter means one thing on an Altima and another on a Rogue. In broad terms:

• Positions 4-5 cover the model and body type.
• Position 6 often marks the body style or grade.
• Position 7 relates to the restraint system.
• Position 8 is the engine code, tied to a specific engine family.

These charts are Nissan-specific, so the fastest way to turn them into plain English is a decoder that reads them for you. Paste the VIN into our VIN Decoder to see the make, country, and year without a lookup table.

Position 9: The Check Digit

The ninth character verifies the whole VIN. It is a single value from 0 to 9 (or X for 10), calculated from every other character with a fixed formula. If one character is wrong, the check digit stops matching, which flags typos and tampering. Our VIN Validator runs the calculation, and how to check if a VIN is valid walks through the math.

Position 10: The Model Year

The tenth character is the model year. It cycles through letters and numbers, skipping I, O, Q, U, Z, and 0. The recent codes:

The same letters repeat every 30 years, so a decoder uses position seven to separate a 1995 from a 2025. The full chart back to 1980 is in our VIN model year codes chart.

Position 11: The Assembly Plant

The eleventh character is the plant code, the specific factory that built the car. For Nissan that might be Smyrna or Canton in the United States, Aguascalientes in Mexico, or a plant in Japan. It is most useful for matching a VIN to a production record or a recall.

Positions 12-17: The Serial Number

The last six characters are the sequential production number, the unit’s unique serial. Two identical-looking Altimas built on the same day differ here. Combined with the year and plant, it makes the VIN one of a kind.

Try It on a Real Nissan VIN

You can decode a Nissan VIN by hand once you know the blocks, but a tool is faster and catches mistakes. Paste any VIN into the VIN Decoder for the country, maker, and year, or use the VIN Validator to confirm the check digit before you rely on it. To see all 17 positions mapped out, try the VIN Breakdown Visualizer.

Keep Reading

• How to Read a VIN: What All 17 Characters Mean
• What a VIN Tells You: Decoding Make, Model, and Year
• VIN Model Year Codes: The Full Chart (1980-2031)
• WMI Codes: VIN Country and Manufacturer Reference

Free VIN tools: VIN Generator · VIN Decoder · VIN Validator · Bulk Generator · QR Code Generator · Visualizer

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