The first three characters of a VIN are the World Manufacturer Identifier (WMI). 4S3 is assigned to Subaru, built in United States (North America). Any VIN that starts with 4S3 decodes to Subaru. The sample VINs below are checksum-valid and start with 4S3.
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| WMI | 4S3 (VIN positions 1–3) |
| Manufacturer | Subaru |
| Country of assembly | United States |
| Region | North America (from the first character, 4) |
| Models seen here | Impreza, Legacy |
Subaru test VINs · Decode a 4S3 VIN →
After the 4S3 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.
4S3 is a Subaru WMI. Every VIN beginning with 4S3 was built by Subaru and decodes to that make.
The first character 4 places the manufacturer in United States (North America region) under the VIN standard.
No. They are synthetically generated but checksum-valid and use the real 4S3 WMI, so a decoder returns Subaru. No real vehicle's VIN is used.