Decode Your VIN
Enter your vehicle's VIN code to discover all technical specifications. The VIN consists of 17 alphanumeric characters.
Cadillac Escalade VIN Decoder
Decode any Cadillac Escalade VIN free in under three seconds. Type the 17-character vehicle identification number into the decoder above and pull the generation, model year, engine, trim, transmission, factory options, plant of origin, and open NHTSA recalls. No account, no credit card, no email gate.
This page is the dedicated Cadillac Escalade hub. Every fact below, generation years, plant locations, WMI codes, and engine codes, was checked against NHTSA’s vPIC decoder using real, checksum-valid Escalade VINs pulled from dealer listings and auction sites, not guessed from a template. Where the record does not line up cleanly, that gets called out directly instead of papered over.
About the Cadillac Escalade
The Escalade launched for 1999 as Cadillac’s answer to the Lincoln Navigator, essentially a badge-engineered GMC Yukon Denali rushed to market in about ten months. It has since gone through five generations, plus a long-wheelbase ESV and a now-discontinued EXT pickup variant:
| Generation | Years | Escalade | ESV | EXT | Common platform name |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | 1999-2000 | Yes | No | No | GMT400 (Yukon/Suburban-based) |
| 2nd | 2002-2006 | Yes | 2003-2006 | 2002-2006 | GMT800 |
| 3rd | 2007-2014 | Yes | 2007-2014 | 2007-2013 | GMT900 |
| 4th | 2015-2020 | Yes | 2015-2020 | Discontinued | K2XX (GMT K2XX) |
| 5th | 2021-present | Yes | 2021-present | Discontinued | T1XX (GMT T1XX) |
A few things worth flagging honestly. First, the Escalade EXT was never revived after 2013; anyone shopping a “used Escalade EXT” today is looking at an 11-plus-year-old truck at minimum. Second, a two-mode Escalade Hybrid existed from 2009 through 2013 on the GMT900 platform, but that detail was not independently VIN-verified for this page. Third, the Escalade-V high-performance trim (2023-present, supercharged 6.2L V8, roughly 682 horsepower) and the 3.0L Duramax diesel option (2021-2024) are both variants within the 5th generation, not separate generations, confirmed below by decoding real Escalade-V and diesel VINs.
One structural note: Cadillac does not spell the platform name into the VIN the way some Asian manufacturers do. There is no character string in an Escalade VIN that literally reads “T1XX” or “K2XX.” The generation has to be inferred from the model year at position 10, explained in the next section.
Cadillac Escalade WMI codes (positions 1 to 3)
The first three characters of a VIN form the World Manufacturer Identifier. Decoding real VINs across every generation turned up exactly two WMIs for the Escalade family, and the split is not the one most sources describe:
| WMI | Country | Plant | What’s built here |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1GY | USA | Arlington, Texas | Escalade and Escalade ESV, every generation, 1999-present, confirmed on VINs from 1999 through 2024 |
| 3GY | Mexico | Silao, Guanajuato | Escalade EXT only, 2002-2013 |
This is worth stating plainly because general reference sources often lump the ESV and EXT together as “extended variants built in Mexico.” That is not what the VINs say. Decoding actual ESV VINs from 2018 and 2022 returns Arlington, Texas as the plant every time, the same as a standard-wheelbase Escalade. It’s only the EXT, the pickup-bed Sport Utility Truck body style, that carries the Mexican 3GY prefix and the Silao plant. If your Escalade or ESV VIN starts with anything other than 1GY, or your EXT VIN starts with anything other than 3GY, treat it as suspect and run it through the decoder above.
How to read a Cadillac Escalade VIN, position by position
Every Escalade built since 1999 uses the 17-character ISO 3779 standard.
Positions 1 to 3: World Manufacturer Identifier
See the table above. The first character is the country of assembly (1 = USA, 3 = Mexico), the second identifies General Motors, and the third (Y, in both WMIs) identifies the Cadillac SUV/truck division. The country digit tracks the factory, not where the car was sold; a 3GY Escalade EXT built in Silao could easily have been titled and driven its whole life in the United States.
Positions 4 to 8: Vehicle Descriptor Section (VDS)
This is where GM encodes body style, series, restraint system, and engine, but unlike the WMI or the model-year character, GM has never published a public decode key for these five characters, and they do not stay consistent across the model’s 25-plus-year run. Rather than invent a table, here is what decoding real VINs actually returned:
| VIN characters (4-8) | Model year | Trim (NHTSA) | Verified engine |
|---|---|---|---|
| EK13R | 1999 | Base | 5.7L Vortec V8 |
| EC63T | 2004 | Luxury | 5.3L LM7 V8 |
| EK63N | 2006 | Luxury | 6.0L LQ9 V8 |
| S4BEF | 2011 | Luxury | 6.2L L94 V8 (flex-fuel) |
| S4BKJ | 2018 | Luxury | 6.2L L86 V8 |
| S4CKJ | 2020 | Premium Luxury | 6.2L L86 V8 |
| S4BKL | 2021 | Premium Luxury | 6.2L L87 V8 |
| S4GKL | 2024 | Sport Platinum | 6.2L L87 V8 |
| S4HK9 | 2023 | V-Sport (Escalade-V) | 6.2L supercharged LT4 V8 |
| S4JKT | 2023 | Luxury, ESV | 3.0L LM2 turbo-diesel I6 |
The honest catch here: position 8 does not cleanly and permanently encode engine displacement the way it does on some brands. The character T means the 5.3L LM7 in a 2004 VIN, but the same character T means the 3.0L Duramax diesel in a 2023 VIN. You cannot read position 8 in isolation; it only means something once you already know the model year from position 10. Positions 4 and 5 are similarly unreliable as a stand-alone generation marker: the string S4 shows up on GMT900, K2XX, and T1XX-generation trucks alike, so it identifies a body/series family, not a specific generation on its own.
Position 9: Check digit
The check digit catches typos. It is calculated from the other 16 characters using a fixed weighting formula and modulo-11 math defined in ISO 3779 / SAE J853. Every VIN decoded for this page returned “Check Digit (9th position) is correct” from NHTSA, which is what confirms each one above is a genuine, non-fabricated VIN rather than a made-up string.
Position 10: Model year
The 10th character maps to model year on a repeating 30-year cycle, and because the Escalade has existed since 1999, its VINs span two different cycles that reuse the same letters for different years. Every entry below was confirmed against a real decoded Escalade VIN where one was available (marked with an asterisk); the rest follow the same ISO 3779 cycle used industry-wide.
1998-2009 cycle (covers the 1st and 2nd generation, and the early 3rd generation):
| Char | Year | Char | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| W | 1998 | 3 | 2003* |
| X | 1999* | 4 | 2004* |
| Y | 2000 | 5 | 2005 |
| 1 | 2001 | 6 | 2006* |
| 2 | 2002 | 7 | 2007 |
| 8 | 2008* | ||
| 9 | 2009 |
2010-2026 cycle (covers the 3rd generation onward, including every 4th and 5th generation Escalade and the Escalade-V):
| Char | Year | Char | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | 2010 | L | 2020* |
| B | 2011* | M | 2021* |
| C | 2012 | N | 2022* |
| D | 2013 | P | 2023* |
| E | 2014 | R | 2024* |
| F | 2015 | S | 2025 |
| G | 2016 | T | 2026 |
| H | 2017 | ||
| J | 2018* | ||
| K | 2019 |
The letters I, O, and Q are never used, since they can be misread as 1 and 0. No character repeats within a single 30-year span, and no Escalade VIN predates 1998, so read position 10 off the 2010-2026 table for anything from the 3rd generation forward, and off the 1998-2009 table only for 1st- and 2nd-generation trucks and early 3rd-generation ones built in 2007-2009.
Position 11: Assembly plant
A single character identifies the specific factory:
| Char | Plant | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| R | Arlington, Texas | Escalade, Escalade ESV, and Escalade-V, every generation, 1999-present |
| G | Silao, Guanajuato, Mexico | Escalade EXT only (2002-2013) |
Positions 12 to 17: Serial number
The final six characters are the sequential production number assigned as your specific Escalade came down the line at Arlington (or Silao, for an EXT). Combined with the previous eleven characters, this makes every Escalade VIN globally unique, even two trucks built the same day with the same trim and engine.
Where to find the VIN on a Cadillac Escalade
- Lower-left corner of the windshield, visible from outside the vehicle
- Driver’s side door jamb sticker (open the door and look at the B-pillar)
- Stamped into the frame rail near the front of the engine bay
- Vehicle title, registration, insurance card, and the myCadillac or OnStar app
The windshield and door jamb labels are the fastest to check on a used-car lot; they should match exactly. The frame stamp is the one to check if you suspect a cloned or re-titled vehicle, since it is physically welded to the chassis and far harder to swap than a sticker.
Check Cadillac Escalade recalls and safety information
The Escalade has been the subject of several NHTSA recall campaigns, including a front-driver air bag inflator replacement affecting certain 2015 models, a 2021-model-year fix for front passenger seat belt and air bag warning lights that could be hard to see at night, and a transmission fire-risk campaign covering certain 2018-2020 Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, and Buick vehicles with a faulty start/stop accumulator end cap.
To check your specific Escalade:
- Decode the VIN with the tool above to confirm the exact model year, engine, and trim
- Cross-reference the 17-character VIN with NHTSA’s recall database
- Contact your nearest Cadillac dealer service department to schedule any open campaign repair
Recall repairs are free of charge regardless of the vehicle’s age, mileage, or ownership history.
Frequently asked questions
How do I decode a Cadillac Escalade VIN?
Type the 17-character VIN from the windshield, door jamb, or title into the decoder at the top of this page. Results return in under three seconds and include model year, generation, engine, trim, drivetrain, assembly plant, and any open NHTSA recalls. No sign-up required.
Where is the VIN on a Cadillac Escalade?
The two fastest spots are the lower-left corner of the windshield, readable from outside the vehicle, and the driver-side door jamb sticker. Both are federally required labels. The frame stamp near the engine bay carries the same number and is the one to check if you suspect a title or plate swap.
Were Escalade, Escalade ESV, and Escalade EXT all built in Arlington, Texas?
No, and this is a common misconception. The regular Escalade and the long-wheelbase Escalade ESV have been built in Arlington, Texas across every generation, confirmed directly on decoded VINs from 1999 through 2024. The discontinued Escalade EXT pickup, however, was built in Silao, Guanajuato, Mexico, and carries a different WMI (3GY instead of 1GY) to prove it.
What engine does my Escalade have based on the VIN?
You cannot read the engine off position 8 alone, because GM reuses that character for different engines in different model years. Decode the full VIN with the tool above instead; it cross-references position 8 against the model year to return the correct verified engine code, whether that is the early 5.3L LM7, the 6.0L LQ9, the 6.2L L94/L86/L87 family, the supercharged 6.2L LT4 in the Escalade-V, or the 3.0L Duramax diesel offered from 2021 to 2024.
How do I tell the generation of my Escalade from the VIN?
There is no single character that spells out the generation the way some other brands encode a platform name. The most reliable method is to decode position 10 for the model year, then match it to the generation table above: 1999-2000 is 1st gen, 2002-2006 is 2nd gen, 2007-2014 is 3rd gen, 2015-2020 is 4th gen, and 2021-present is 5th gen.
Is the Cadillac Escalade VIN decoder really free?
Yes. VinDecoderPlus decodes every Cadillac Escalade VIN free of charge with no sign-up. The basic decode covers everything the factory encoded into the VIN. A full vehicle history report (accident records, odometer history, prior ownership, salvage status) is available as a paid upgrade if you need it.
Can a Cadillac Escalade VIN be faked?
The 17 characters can be reprinted on a counterfeit plate, but the check digit at position 9 catches most single-character alterations through math, and the frame stamp is physically welded to the original vehicle. If the windshield and door-jamb VINs match each other but not the frame stamp, the vehicle has likely been cloned. The guide on how to check if a car is stolen by VIN walks through the verification steps.
Decode any Cadillac Escalade VIN free
Type your 17-character Escalade VIN into the decoder at the top of this page for an instant breakdown. To go deeper into VIN structure or check other Cadillac models:
- Cadillac VIN decoder hub for the brand-wide guide
- How to read a VIN number for the general standard
- What every character in a VIN means for a position-by-position reference
- Classic car VIN decoder for pre-1981 formats and older GM trucks
- VIN decoder vs. vehicle history report for what a decode covers versus what it doesn’t
- How to check if a car is stolen by VIN for theft and clone verification steps
