What it does
You enter a 17-character VIN and TeslaVin explains every position: manufacturer, model, body, restraint system, battery, motor, check digit, model year, assembly plant and serial number. It checks the ISO 3779 check digit, suggests a correction when you probably made a typo, compares the result with the US NHTSA database and lists recall campaigns for the model and year.
Where the data comes from
The structure of a VIN is defined by ISO 3779 and, for the check digit, by the US regulation 49 CFR 565. Tesla does not publish a complete code book, so the Tesla-specific tables (position 5–8 codes, plant letters, manufacturer prefixes) are compiled from public sources: NHTSA’s vPIC database, Tesla’s own service documentation where available, and research published by the Tesla community. Where those sources disagree, TeslaVin labels the field Likely or Uncertain instead of guessing. Position 8 does not map reliably to trim names such as “Long Range”, and the site says so.
How it is kept accurate
- The decoding engine has automated tests, including the check-digit algorithm and a set of known VIN structures.
- Results are cross-checked live with NHTSA’s decoder; differences are shown on the page.
- Corrections are welcome. If a code is wrong for your car, send the VIN and what Tesla’s documents say to [email protected].
Photos and credits
Photographs on this site are published under free licences on Wikimedia Commons (CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA). The author, licence and source are shown under every picture. Diagrams were drawn for TeslaVin.
Privacy
See the privacy notice for exactly what is logged when you check a VIN and how analytics consent works.
Disclaimer
Tesla, Model S, Model 3, Model X, Model Y, Cybertruck and Semi are trademarks of Tesla, Inc. Information is provided as is. For purchase decisions, warranty or recall questions, confirm with Tesla or an authorised service centre.