# Vehicle Safety Report — NHTSA Recalls + Complaints (`alaudinburki/vehicle-safety-report`) Actor

A combined recall and complaint safety report per vehicle make/model/year — NHTSA's own 'do not drive' recall flag plus crash/fire/injury/death complaint pattern counts, not just raw lists. Free, official, keyless NHTSA data.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/alaudinburki/vehicle-safety-report.md
- **Developed by:** [alaudin burki](https://apify.com/alaudinburki) (community)
- **Categories:** Developer tools
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $3.00 / 1,000 results

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

An Actor is a serverless cloud program that runs on the Apify platform. It has two run modes.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.

Apify vocabulary and the platform model are defined once, in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md.

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.

Do not guess an integration path. Every one of them is in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md: the Apify MCP server, Agent Skills with the Apify CLI, the JavaScript and Python clients, the REST API, and the account-free path for an agent with no human to sign in. It also carries the rule on stating cost before the first paid run.

For examples already wired to this Actor's own input schema, see the [API](#api) section below.

Each client library has reference documentation the quickstart does not restate: [JavaScript/TypeScript](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md) (`npm install apify-client`) and [Python](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md) (`pip install apify-client`).

# README

## Vehicle Safety Report — NHTSA Recalls + Complaints

A used-car buyer, dealer, or fleet manager currently checks recalls and
complaints separately — NHTSA's own site requires two different lookups
and returns raw lists with no combined verdict. Both are free, public,
keyless. This combines them into one report per make/model/year:
**recall severity** (NHTSA's own "do not drive" flag) and **complaint
patterns** (crash/fire/injury/death counts, not a raw list to read one by one).

### Input

```json
{ "vehicles": [{ "make": "Honda", "model": "Accord", "modelYear": "2023" }] }
```

All three fields are required — NHTSA's API needs make, model, and year
together to return results.

### Sample output

```json
{
  "make": "Honda",
  "model": "Accord",
  "modelYear": "2018",
  "recallCount": 6,
  "recallSeverity": "standard",
  "recallSeverityNote": "Recalls exist but none carry NHTSA's do-not-drive or park-outside flags.",
  "totalComplaints": 1863,
  "complaintsInvolvingCrash": 35,
  "complaintsInvolvingFire": 4,
  "totalDeathsReported": 0,
  "topComplaintComponents": "ENGINE (245); FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE (149); FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE (132)"
}
```

### The three recall severity levels

| Severity | Meaning |
|---|---|
| `do_not_drive` | NHTSA's own flag — at least one recall says stop driving until repaired |
| `park_outside_only` | NHTSA's own fire-risk flag — park away from structures |
| `standard` | Recalls exist, no elevated NHTSA flag |
| `none` | No open recalls on file |

### Typical uses

- **Used-car buying research** — check a specific make/model/year before
  purchase, beyond just "how many recalls."
- **Dealer inventory screening** — flag inventory with `do_not_drive` or
  `park_outside_only` recalls before it's sold.
- **Fleet management** — audit a fleet's makes/models/years for open
  safety issues in bulk.
- **Insurance/claims research** — complaint patterns (crash/fire rates)
  are a real risk signal.

### Pricing

**$0.003 per vehicle report.**

### ⚠️ Read before you act

- **Complaint counts are model-year-wide, not VIN-specific.** NHTSA
  doesn't offer VIN-level complaint lookup — this reflects the pattern
  across every 2018 Honda Accord filed with NHTSA, not confirmation any
  specific car has the issue. It's a real signal about that model-year,
  not a single-vehicle history report.
- **Recall severity flags are NHTSA's own classification**, passed
  through directly — never re-derived or guessed.
- **This does not check open recalls for a specific VIN** (NHTSA has a
  separate VIN-lookup endpoint not covered here) — it's a model-year-wide
  report.

### FAQ

- **Do I need an API key?** No — NHTSA's API is free and keyless.
- **Why do complaint numbers look high?** NHTSA logs every consumer
  complaint nationwide for that model-year — even a well-regarded model
  can show hundreds or thousands over its production life. Compare
  crash/fire counts and top components, not the raw total, for a real
  risk read.
- **What if my make/model/year has zero data?** That's a real, valid
  answer — not every vehicle has recalls or logged complaints.

### Related actors

- **Recall Exposure Monitor** — the same combined-official-feed pattern,
  for CPSC consumer product recalls instead of vehicles.
- **Financial Complaint Monitor** — the same crash/fire-style pattern
  aggregation, for CFPB financial complaints.

# Actor input Schema

## `vehicles` (type: `array`):

Vehicles to check, each with make, model, and modelYear (all three required). Example: \[{"make": "Honda", "model": "Accord", "modelYear": "2023"}]

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "vehicles": [
    {
      "make": "Honda",
      "model": "Accord",
      "modelYear": "2023"
    }
  ]
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

One row per vehicle, ranked by recall severity.

## `qualityReport` (type: `string`):

Vehicles queried, resolution rate, and problems.

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "vehicles": [
        {
            "make": "Honda",
            "model": "Accord",
            "modelYear": "2023"
        }
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("alaudinburki/vehicle-safety-report").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = { "vehicles": [{
            "make": "Honda",
            "model": "Accord",
            "modelYear": "2023",
        }] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("alaudinburki/vehicle-safety-report").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "vehicles": [
    {
      "make": "Honda",
      "model": "Accord",
      "modelYear": "2023"
    }
  ]
}' |
apify call alaudinburki/vehicle-safety-report --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,alaudinburki/vehicle-safety-report"
        }
    }
}
```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/QshUpQ2vLyGG5I6RY/builds/jaJzzVb6mDy80jaFk/openapi.json