AutoTrader US — NHTSA Vehicle Catalog Scraper

Scrape US vehicle data from the NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) free public APIs. Get vehicle makes, models, safety recalls, NCAP crash test ratings, and full VIN decodes for any US-market vehicle. No authentication, no proxy, no API key required.

Data source: NHTSA VPIC API + NHTSA Safety API — the official US federal vehicle database, updated continuously.

What this actor does

• Search vehicles by make and year — list all model variants for a given manufacturer and model year, filtered by vehicle type (car, truck, motorcycle, etc.)
• Get all models for a make — full historical catalog of every model ever produced by a manufacturer
• Get safety recalls — official NHTSA recall campaigns with component details, risk descriptions, and remedies
• Get NCAP safety ratings — government crash test star ratings (overall, front crash, side crash, rollover)
• Decode a VIN — extract full vehicle specs from a 17-character VIN (make, model, year, engine, trim, plant, etc.)

Input fields

Field	Type	Description
mode	Select	searchByMakeYear (default), getModels, getRecalls, getSafetyRatings, decodeVin
make	String	Vehicle manufacturer (e.g. Toyota, Ford, Honda)
model	String	Vehicle model (e.g. Camry, F-150) — required for recall and rating modes
modelYear	Integer	4-digit model year (default: 2020)
vehicleType	Select	car, truck, motorcycle, bus, trailer, mpv
vin	String	17-character VIN for decodeVin mode
maxItems	Integer	Maximum records to return (1–1000, default: 50)

Output fields

Each record includes sourceUrl, scrapedAt, and recordType. Additional fields by mode:

Vehicle model records:

• make, makeId, model, modelId, modelYear, vehicleType, vehicleTypeId

Recall records:

• campaignNumber, manufacturer, make, model, modelYear, subject, component, consequence, remedy, reportReceivedDate, parkIt, parkOutside, overTheAirUpdate

Safety rating records:

• vehicleId, vehicleDescription, overallRating, overallFrontCrashRating, frontCrashDriversideRating, frontCrashPassengersideRating, overallSideCrashRating, sideCrashDriversideRating, rolloverRating, rolloverPossibility

VIN decode records:

• vin, make, model, modelYear, bodyClass, cylinders, engineDisplacementL, fuelTypePrimary, driveType, transmissionStyle, vehicleType, trim, series, doors, plantCountry, manufacturer

Example use cases

• Automotive research — get all vehicle models from a specific brand for a model year
• Safety compliance — pull all active recalls for a fleet of vehicles by make/model/year
• Pre-purchase checks — decode a VIN to verify vehicle specs before buying
• Data enrichment — add crash test ratings to vehicle listings

FAQs

Is this free to use? Yes. The NHTSA APIs are free public federal government APIs with no rate limits or authentication required.

How fresh is the data? NHTSA updates recall and safety data continuously. Vehicle catalog data reflects the VPIC database, updated regularly.

What makes are available? All vehicles sold in the US market — Toyota, Ford, Honda, Chevrolet, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Tesla, and thousands more including commercial vehicles, motorcycles, and trailers.

Can I get recalls for all makes at once? Use mode=getRecalls with a specific make/model/year. For bulk recall data across many models, run multiple searches.

What VIN formats are supported? Standard 17-character North American VINs. Pre-1981 vehicles (shorter VINs) may return partial data.