Hyundai VIN Decoder
Enter any 17-character Hyundai VIN. Free US-market Hyundai VIN decoder backed by the official NHTSA VPIC database — engine code, assembly plant, model year, body class, and every open recall, in about 30 seconds.
How to read a Hyundai VIN
A Hyundai VIN, like any modern road-vehicle VIN, is 17 characters split into three blocks: the World Manufacturer Identifier (WMI) in positions 1–3, the Vehicle Descriptor Section (VDS) in positions 4–9, and the Vehicle Identifier Section (VIS) in positions 10–17. Here's a real Hyundai VIN broken down position by position.
152N3P4E53647A8F9410K11H120130140150160171
| Position | Chars | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5 | Country of origin 5 = United States. Hyundai VINs starting with K (KMH / KMF / KM8) are Korean-built at the Ulsan complex (the world's largest auto plant) or Asan plant; 5NP / 5NM / 5XY are Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama in Montgomery AL (Sonata / Elantra / Santa Fe / Santa Cruz for the North American market); LJD = Hyundai China; MAL = Hyundai India. |
| 2-3 | NP | Manufacturer (WMI) NP = Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama passenger car (Montgomery AL). Other Hyundai WMIs include KMH (Korea passenger — Sonata / Elantra / Veloster), KM8 (Korea SUV — Santa Fe / Tucson / Kona), 5NM (Alabama SUV — Santa Fe / Santa Cruz), 5XY (HMMA SUV variant), KMF (Korea bus / commercial). Hyundai's luxury sub-brand Genesis uses KMT (Korea passenger) and KMU (Korea SUV) and decodes as Make = GENESIS in VPIC, not HYUNDAI. |
| 4-8 | E34AF | Vehicle Descriptor Section (VDS) Encodes the model line (E = Sonata 7th-gen LF in this VIN), body style, restraint type, and engine (34 = 2.4L Theta-II GDI). Hyundai does not publish a public VDS-to-trim table, so CheckMyVIN reports the Model, Trim and Engine Model that NHTSA VPIC returns directly — for this VIN the Trim field comes back "SEL, Sport, Limited, Limited Turbo" because those four trims share the same VDS prefix and need the production sequence to fully disambiguate. |
| 9 | 4 | Check digit A mod-11 checksum computed from the other 16 positions. NHTSA uses this to reject typos before returning a decode — if the check digit is wrong, VPIC returns ErrorCode 1 and CheckMyVIN treats that as an unreadable VIN. |
| 10 | K | Model year K = 2019. The full year code table is below. The 30-year cycle skips I, O, Q, U, Z and 0 to avoid being confused with similar-looking digits. |
| 11 | H | Assembly plant For this VIN, H maps to Montgomery — Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama (HMMA), where every US-market Sonata, Elantra, Santa Fe, and Santa Cruz is built. CheckMyVIN reads Plant City and Plant Country directly from the VPIC record rather than inferring from this character; Hyundai's other major plants: Ulsan and Asan (Korea — passenger and luxury), Chongqing and Beijing (China JV), Chennai (India), Brno (Czech), Izmit (Turkey), Karoui (Egypt). The position-11 character changes meaning per WMI. |
| 12-17 | 000001 | Production sequence A 6-digit serial number that increments through the model year at that plant. Not useful on its own, but combined with year and plant it confirms the VIN is internally consistent — and for VINs like this one where multiple trims share the same VDS, the dealer can use the sequence to disambiguate the exact build configuration. |
VIN year codes (position 10)
The 10th character of every modern VIN encodes the model year. The cycle skips the letters I, O, Q, U and Z, and the digit 0, to avoid being confused with similar digits. This table covers every model year currently on US roads.
| Code | Year | Code | Year | Code | Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | 2010 | H | 2017 | R | 2024 |
| B | 2011 | J | 2018 | S | 2025 |
| C | 2012 | K | 2019 | T | 2026 |
| D | 2013 | L | 2020 | V | 2027 |
| E | 2014 | M | 2021 | W | 2028 |
| F | 2015 | N | 2022 | X | 2029 |
| G | 2016 | P | 2023 | Y | 2030 |
Full year code chart for all years (1980–2030) →
Hyundai WMI codes (positions 1–3)
The first three characters of the VIN identify the manufacturer and country of assembly. Hyundai uses several WMI codes depending on plant and model line.
| WMI | Meaning |
|---|---|
| KMH | Hyundai passenger car — South Korea |
| KM8 | Hyundai SUV — South Korea |
| 5NP | Hyundai passenger car — Montgomery, AL USA |
| 5NM | Hyundai SUV (Santa Fe) — Montgomery, AL USA |
Hyundai build sheet & options
A full Hyundai build sheet — original Monroney sticker options, package contents (Premium / Tech / Ultimate), exterior color code, dealer-installed accessories — is not part of the federal NHTSA VPIC dataset. CheckMyVIN can confirm the model, trim level (when VPIC can disambiguate — sometimes the VDS shares a prefix across trims, see above), engine family (Theta II 2.4L / Gamma 1.6L Turbo / Lambda V6 / Smartstream / Nu 2.0L MPI), assembly plant, model year, body class, and recall history pulled live from NHTSA. For the full Monroney your authoritative source is a Hyundai dealer, who can pull the build sheet from the VIN through Hyundai's service system — the MyHyundai account at myhyundai.com also retains the original sale configuration when the VIN is linked. CheckMyVIN never claims options data it cannot verify against the NHTSA record.
Hyundai VIN decoder FAQ
Is the Hyundai VIN decoder free?
Yes — every Hyundai VIN lookup on CheckMyVIN is free, no signup, no email gate, no usage cap on individual users. Data comes from the public NHTSA VPIC API. The optional "full vehicle history report" link at the bottom of each report is an affiliate to a paid third-party history service; you can ignore it.
How do I read a Hyundai VIN (Sonata, Elantra, Santa Fe, Tucson, Kona)?
A Hyundai VIN is 17 characters: position 1 is the country (K = Korea, 5 = USA HMMA), positions 2-3 are the WMI (KMH = Korea passenger, KM8 = Korea SUV, 5NP = USA passenger Montgomery AL, 5NM = USA SUV), position 10 is the model year (K = 2019 in the example above), and position 11 is the plant. Enter any 17-character Hyundai VIN above and CheckMyVIN reads every field via the official NHTSA database.
How do I tell if my Hyundai has the Theta II engine (recall-relevant)?
The Theta II is a 2.0L / 2.4L gasoline 4-cylinder family used in 2011-2018 Sonata, 2013-2018 Santa Fe Sport, 2014-2018 Tucson, 2015-2018 Elantra (some markets), plus the Kia siblings Optima, Sorento, Sportage. NHTSA returns the engine designation in the Engine Model field — for this worked example it reads "GDI THETA-II". Multiple large NHTSA campaigns covered Theta II engine failures (rod bearing, oil consumption, fire risk) over 2015-2023; the year + engine model from the VIN tells you immediately whether your specific car is in the affected population. Run the VIN above and the report will show every open Hyundai recall for the year / model / make combination.
Where is the Hyundai VIN located?
Three places on every modern Hyundai: the dash plate at the base of the windshield (visible from outside, driver side), the driver-door jamb certification sticker, and on the title / registration. The MyHyundai app (linked to the VIN) also displays it under Vehicle Information.
Can CheckMyVIN show the Hyundai window sticker, options, or build sheet?
Partially. The decoder shows what NHTSA VPIC stores: model, trim (e.g. SEL / Sport / Limited — sometimes returned as multiple options sharing one VDS prefix), engine, body class, plant, year. It does NOT show the original Monroney window sticker — the priced options list with package contents and exterior color code. For that, your authoritative source is your Hyundai dealer (they can print the original Monroney from the VIN through Hyundai's service system) or your MyHyundai account at myhyundai.com. CheckMyVIN never invents options data we cannot verify against NHTSA.
What does the 10th character of a Hyundai VIN mean?
The 10th character is the model year code, following the ISO 3779 cycle every manufacturer uses: A = 2010, B = 2011, … K = 2019 (the worked example above), … Y = 2030. The cycle skips the letters I, O, Q, U, Z and the digit 0 to avoid being confused with similar-looking characters.
Does CheckMyVIN cover Hyundai IONIQ (5 / 6 / 9), Kona EV, and Genesis?
Yes — every Hyundai in the NHTSA VPIC database is supported. IONIQ 5 / 6 / 9 and Kona Electric decode with Electrification Level = BEV and the report switches to the EV view (battery kWh, no oil / spark / timing rows). Sonata Hybrid / Tucson Hybrid / Santa Fe Hybrid decode as hybrids. Genesis is Hyundai's luxury sub-brand and uses its own WMIs (KMT, KMU); a Genesis VIN returns Make = GENESIS rather than HYUNDAI in the report, but the decoder flow is the same.