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Buick VIN decoder

Paste the 17-character VIN from your Buick SUV to see how General Motors registered it with NHTSA: model year, model, body style, engine, drivetrain and assembly plant, plus every safety recall NHTSA lists for that year and model. Free, no signup.

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Enter all 17 characters. The decoder reads the make, model and year from the whole VIN, not just the first three characters.

Buick WMI codes

The first three characters of a VIN are the World Manufacturer Identifier. NHTSA lists 8 of them for Buick: each code below is one whose NHTSA record lists Buick as a make. All of these codes are registered to General Motors or Shanghai General Motors, and LRB is also listed for Cadillac. They were issued across 3 countries: Canada, China and United States (USA). A few carry no stated country. They span 3 vehicle types, listed separately below.

The country shown is where the identifier was issued, which usually but not always matches where a given vehicle was assembled. The eleventh character identifies the specific plant. A single WMI can cover more than one vehicle type, so some codes appear in more than one table.

Passenger Car 3 codes

Buick WMI codes — passenger car
WMI	Registered entity	Country
1G4	GENERAL MOTORS LLC	United States (USA)
2G4	GENERAL MOTORS LLC	Canada
3G4	GENERAL MOTORS LLC	United States (USA)

Multipurpose Passenger Vehicle (MPV) 4 codes

Buick WMI codes — multipurpose passenger vehicle (mpv)
WMI	Registered entity	Country
3G5	GENERAL MOTORS LLC	United States (USA)
5GA	GENERAL MOTORS LLC	United States (USA)
KL4	GENERAL MOTORS LLC	—
LRB	SHANGHAI GENERAL MOTORS CORP LTD.	China

Incomplete Vehicle 1 code

Buick WMI codes — incomplete vehicle
WMI	Registered entity	Country
4GL	GENERAL MOTORS LLC	United States (USA)

Source: NHTSA vPIC, DecodeWMI, which gives the makes each code covers. Retrieved 2026-11-01.

Common Buick models

Some of the Buick models you are most likely to be decoding, as NHTSA spells them. Recall searches by year, make and model need that exact spelling.

Enclave
Encore GX
Envision
Envista
Encore

Model names checked against NHTSA vPIC.

Notable Buick recalls since 2018

A few of the largest or most serious recent safety recalls covering Buick vehicles. They are examples, not a complete list: a single model year can have a dozen campaigns. A recall on the model does not mean it is still open on a particular car, so check the VIN at NHTSA's recall lookup, or see every campaign for a year and model with our recall lookup.

Back-over prevention: rearview camera

Vehicles: Certain 2024-2025 Buick Envista and 2024-2026 Buick Encore GX vehicles; the campaign also covers the Chevrolet Trailblazer and Trax.

The rearview camera may show a distorted or blank image, which reduces the driver's view behind the vehicle and raises the risk of a crash.

Dealers inspect the camera and replace it as needed at no charge; owner letters were mailed 30 September 2026.

NHTSA campaign 26V539000, reported 20 August 2026, about 306,511 vehicles across every brand in the campaign.

Exterior lighting: daytime running lights

Vehicles: Certain 2021-2023 Buick Envision vehicles; the GM campaign also covers Cadillac, Chevrolet and GMC models from 2020 to 2023 (years vary by model).

The daytime running lights may stay on when the headlights are on, which can cause glare and reduce visibility. NHTSA's record says these vehicles do not meet the federal lighting standard.

The body control module software is updated by a dealer or over the air at no charge.

NHTSA campaign 22V903000, reported 8 December 2022, about 740,108 vehicles across every brand in the campaign.

Service brakes: rear caliper pistons

Vehicles: Certain 2018-2019 Buick LaCrosse and Regal vehicles; the GM campaign also covers Cadillac, Chevrolet and GMC models from 2018 and 2019.

The rear brake caliper pistons may have too little coating, letting gas pockets form and reducing rear braking, which raises the risk of a crash.

Dealers bleed the brake system at no charge.

NHTSA campaign 18V576000, reported 30 August 2018, about 210,628 vehicles across every brand in the campaign.

Power train: transmission accumulator endcap bolts

Vehicles: Certain 2018-2019 Buick LaCrosse and 2019-2020 Buick Encore and Enclave vehicles; the GM campaign also covers Cadillac, Chevrolet and GMC models from 2018 to 2020 (years vary by model).

Bolts may be missing from the start/stop accumulator endcap on the transmission. That can cause an oil leak and, in time, a loss of drive power, and leaking fluid near an ignition source raises the risk of fire.

Dealers inspect the accumulator and replace it if any bolts are missing, at no charge.

NHTSA campaign 20V668000, reported 29 October 2020, about 194,105 vehicles across every brand in the campaign.

Recall details from the NHTSA recalls API, checked 1 November 2026.

Reading the rest of a Buick VIN

Characters 4 to 8 describe the vehicle — model, body style, engine, restraint system. Buick assigns that scheme itself and files it with NHTSA, which is why decoding requires a lookup rather than arithmetic. Character 9 is the check digit, character 10 is the model year, and character 11 is the assembly plant.

See how to read a VIN for the full breakdown, or model year codes for the position 10 table.

Where the VIN is on a Buick

On the driver's side dashboard, readable through the windshield, and on a sticker in the driver's door jamb. The door jamb sticker usually carries a scannable barcode, which is more reliable than transcribing 17 characters by eye — the decoder can read it with your camera.

More detail in where to find the VIN.