The first three characters of a VIN are the World Manufacturer Identifier (WMI). 3FM is assigned to Ford, built in Mexico (North America). Any VIN that starts with 3FM decodes to Ford. The sample VINs below are checksum-valid and start with 3FM.
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| WMI | 3FM (VIN positions 1–3) |
| Manufacturer | Ford |
| Country of assembly | Mexico |
| Region | North America (from the first character, 3) |
| Models seen here | Bronco Sport |
Ford test VINs · Decode a 3FM VIN →
After the 3FM WMI, positions 4–8 describe the model, body and engine; position 9 is the mod-11 check digit; position 10 is the model year; position 11 is the assembly plant; and positions 12–17 are the serial number. See the full 17-digit VIN format.
3FM is a Ford WMI. Every VIN beginning with 3FM was built by Ford and decodes to that make.
The first character 3 places the manufacturer in Mexico (North America region) under the VIN standard.
No. They are synthetically generated but checksum-valid and use the real 3FM WMI, so a decoder returns Ford. No real vehicle's VIN is used.