You must already know every vehicle including your Honda ATV has a VIN – Vehicle Identification Number.
It is a safety measure for any automotive vehicle and includes a set of details including information about the manufacturer, vehicle specifications, and more.
VIN is a unique identification number. Two VINs will never be the same! The 17-digit code may draw your attention to ask yourself, how do I decode my Honda ATV VIN? After all, all the numbers and letters should have a meaning!
Continue reading and figure out what the ATV VIN means yourself!
Where to Look for?
You have to look at the left side. Generally, Honda attaches the VIN on the left side of the frame near the front of your ATV. Some ATVs have the VIN on the frame behind the front wheel or under the seat.
As mentioned earlier, Honda ATV VIN generally has 17 characters with a combination of letters and numbers. It must sound surprising but each character has a special meaning,
To find out what they mean, keep reading our article.
How Do I Decode My Honda Atv Vin Number?
All 17 characters have significant meaning in your ATV VIN. We will start with the first one,
- First Character: The first character represents the country where the vehicle was manufactured. For Honda ATVs, this is often represented by the letter “1,” indicating the United States.
- Second Character: The second one in a row is usually a letter. It represents the manufacturer of your vehicle. For Honda, the letter is usually H.
- Third Character: The third VIN digit represents the vehicle type or the manufacturing division. It will vary for different manufacturers.
- Fourth to Eighth Character: The four characters represent the vehicle type, configuration, and model. It is a combination of five letters and numbers; and unique for each ATV.
- Ninth Character: It is the check digit, and you have it for a reason – security. It is calculated mathematically based on the previous characters.
It confirms that your ATV is authorized by official Honda makers and is not a fabrication.
- Tenth VIN Character: The tenth represents the year of the model. Different years have different codes, starting from 1971. It can either be a letter or a digit.
For example, in Honda “J” represents 2018, “K” for 2019, and so on. Earlier years such as 1971 to 1979 are presented with numbers – 1, 2, 3, and so on.
- Eleventh Character: The eleventh character from your ATV VIN indicates the plant your vehicle has been assembled on. It is most likely to be a letter.
- Twelve to Seventeen: The last four ATV VIN characters are always numbers and grow by one for each vehicle that spins off the production line.
The numbers provide details about the manufacturing location and the specific order in which the manufacturer built the ATV.
To know and decode your Honda ATV VIN can prove to be useful for you especially when you are trying to purchase aftermarket parts. Here is what an ATV VIN looks like, 1HFTE340X64012345
Now that you understand the structure of the VIN, you can decode the individual characters and gather more information about your Honda ATV.
Additionally, you can also collect official recourses from Honda to interpret the characters and learn specific details about your ATV.
The official website of Honda or any other VIN decoder tool can be a great place to start from.
Do you like our guide? To get more useful covers like this, keep in touch with us. Also, share this article with your friends and other Honda ATV riders.
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