Enter the 17-character VIN of your Acura to see the factory basics. Free, with no registration.
Look on the dashboard, the driver's door frame or in the registration document.
Type all 17 characters. The letters I, O and Q are never used in a VIN.
See the factory basics for free, and order a full report for the history behind the VIN.
Enter a 17-character VIN and the Acura decoder tells you who built the car, which model year it belongs to and in which country it was made. Our data covers 16 Acura models, from the CL, CSX and EL to the NSX, TLX and ZDX, with version data for model years 1951 to 2024. The body styles in it are Sedan, Hatchback, Coupe, SUV and Wagon, and the highest power figure we hold is 520 hp.
The decoder reads only the VIN itself, so it does not show accidents, mileage, theft records or previous owners. That information comes from a paid vehicle history report. The decoder is free and needs no registration.
The first three characters are the World Manufacturer Identifier, or WMI. For Acura we recognise seven of them: 19U, 2HH, 2HN, 5FR, 5J8, JAE and JH4. The first character points to the country. A 1 or 5 means the United States, a 2 means Canada and a J means Japan, which is why this brand's codes span all three countries. The list is the set of codes we know for Acura, so it is not a full register.
Characters 4 to 8 describe the vehicle, and character 9 is a check digit. North American VINs are required to carry it, while some VINs from other regions fill that position differently. Character 10 is the model year. A J stands for 2018, an R for 2024 and a 1 for 2001. Letters run from B for 1981 through Y for 2000, and then digits take over for 2001 to 2009 before the letters start again at A for 2010.
Character 11 marks the assembly plant, and characters 12 to 17 are the serial number. The letters I, O and Q are never used in a VIN, so they will not appear in any position. If you type one, check the entry for a misread character, since a 1 or a 0 is easily mistaken for them.
Every VIN has six parts. This is what each of them means.
| Part | Characters | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| WMI | 1 to 3 | World manufacturer identifier: who built the vehicle and where |
| VDS | 4 to 8 | Vehicle descriptor: model, body type and engine, as set by the manufacturer |
| Check digit | 9 | Control value that helps confirm the VIN is valid |
| Model year | 10 | Code for the model year |
| Plant | 11 | Code for the assembly plant |
| Serial | 12 to 17 | Production sequence number of this vehicle |
On the driver's side, visible through the windshield.
On a sticker on the door frame or the edge of the door.
Printed in the vehicle registration or title.
Stamped on the firewall or the frame on many models.
A VIN is built from six parts, and each one says something about the vehicle. Our guides explain how to read it and what it can and cannot tell you.
Enter the 17-character VIN and see the factory basics in seconds.
Look at the base of the windscreen on the driver's side, where it can be read from outside, and on the sticker on the driver's door pillar. It is also printed on the registration papers and the insurance documents.
The first three characters are the manufacturer code. We map 19U, 2HH, 2HN, 5FR, 5J8, JAE and JH4 to Acura, and they belong to the United States, Canada and Japan. A VIN that starts differently is simply not in our list.
Use the 10th character. For example, J means 2018, P means 2023 and R means 2024. For years 2001 to 2009 the character is a digit, such as 5 for 2005.
It cannot show accidents, mileage, theft records or the number of owners, because none of that is stored in the VIN. It gives you the manufacturer, model year and country of manufacture.
Make sure the VIN on the car matches the one in the documents, and that the 10th character fits the model year in the advert. Then find out the car's history separately, since the VIN alone says nothing about past damage or mileage.