I've been reading through a few articles about the components of a VIN, and I understand that the 10th character is meant to be the year, corresponding to a list like the following: https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Vehicle_Identification_Numbers_(VIN_codes)/Model_year
However, I've had a look at a few VINs, some manufactured in South Africa and others manufactured in South Korea or Germany, and it doesn't seem reliable.
Check the following:
- WBA7C22010G766xxx - BMW manufactured 2017?
- AFAPXXMJ2PFL78xxx - Ford manufactured 2015
- AFAEXXMJJE5C03xxx - Mazda manufactured 2005
- KMHDH41CLCU439xxx - Hyundai manufactured 2012
Would I be making a mistake writing software that determines year of manufacture from a VIN? It seems that some serial numbers take up an extra digit, pushing the year to an earlier position.