NHTSA Recalls US Scraper

This Apify actor provides structured access to the official National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) vehicle recall and complaint datasets. It allows users to search for safety recalls, view consumer complaints, and decode Vehicle Identification Numbers (VINs).

Note: This actor is unofficial and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by NHTSA or any government agency.

Features

• Vehicle Search: Find all recalls or complaints for a specific make, model, and year.
• Direct Lookup: Retrieve specific records using NHTSA campaign numbers, ODI numbers, or VINs.
• Browse Hierarchy: Navigate the dataset via a structured hierarchy: Model Years $\rightarrow$ Makes $\rightarrow$ Models $\rightarrow$ Records.
• VIN Decoding: Decode a VIN to get detailed vehicle specifications and manufacturer information.

Supported Operations

1. Probe (probe)

Verifies the connection to the NHTSA API and returns high-level coverage metadata.

• Input Example:

{
  "operation": "probe"
}

2. List Root Categories (categories)

Returns the starting points for browsing (usually model year lists for recalls and complaints).

• Input Example:

{
  "operation": "categories"
}

3. Browse Category (category)

Navigate through the hierarchy using a category_id.

• Hierarchy Levels:
  • years:recall or years:complaint $\rightarrow$ List of years.
  • makes:recall:2012 $\rightarrow$ List of makes for 2012 recalls.
  • models:recall:2012:BMW $\rightarrow$ List of models for BMW 2012 recalls.
  • records:recall:2012:BMW:3-SERIES $\rightarrow$ List of actual recall records.
• Input Example:

{
  "operation": "category",
  "category_id": "years:recall",
  "limit": 5
}

4. Search (search)

Search for records using various filters.

By Vehicle:

{
  "operation": "search",
  "record_type": "recall",
  "make": "Acura",
  "model": "RDX",
  "model_year": 2012,
  "limit": 5
}

By Campaign Number:

{
  "operation": "search",
  "campaign_number": "12V176000",
  "limit": 5
}

By ODI Complaint Number:

{
  "operation": "search",
  "odi_number": "11184030",
  "limit": 5
}

By VIN:

{
  "operation": "search",
  "vin": "5YJSA1E26HF000337",
  "limit": 5
}

5. Item Detail (item)

Retrieve a single detailed record by identifier.

• Input Example:

{
  "operation": "item",
  "campaign_number": "12V176000"
}

Output Schema

The actor outputs normalized records to the Apify dataset.

Common Output Fields

Field	Description
id	Unique identifier (Campaign #, ODI #, or VIN)
record_type	Type of record: recall, complaint, or vin
campaign_number	NHTSA Campaign Number (for recalls)
odi_number	ODI Complaint Number (for complaints)
vin	Vehicle Identification Number
make	Vehicle manufacturer (normalized to uppercase)
model	Vehicle model (normalized to uppercase)
model_year	Vehicle model year
manufacturer	Official manufacturer name
summary	Detailed description of the issue
consequence	Potential risk or result of the issue
remedy	How the issue is fixed
received_on	Date the report was received
source_url	Link to the official NHTSA record
decoded_fields	Technical specs (for VIN decode only)

Example Output (Recall)

{
  "id": "12V176000",
  "record_type": "recall",
  "campaign_number": "12V176000",
  "title": "2012 BMW 3-SERIES recall 12V176000",
  "manufacturer": "BMW OF NORTH AMERICA, LLC",
  "make": "BMW",
  "model": "3-SERIES",
  "model_year": 2012,
  "component": "SEATS:FRONT ASSEMBLY:HEAD RESTRAINT",
  "summary": "BMW IS RECALLING CERTAIN MODEL YEAR 2012 BMW 3-SERIES...",
  "consequence": "IN THE EVENT OF A VEHICLE CRASH...",
  "remedy": "BMW WILL NOTIFY OWNERS...",
  "received_on": "20/04/2012",
  "source_url": "https://api.nhtsa.gov/recalls/campaignNumber?campaignNumber=12V176000",
  "source": "nhtsa_recalls_us"
}

Limits and Capping

• Default Limit: 5 items per page.
• Maximum Limit: 100 items per page.
• Pagination: Use the page parameter (1-based) to retrieve subsequent results.

Error Handling

• Invalid Identifiers: If a campaign, ODI, or VIN number is not found, the actor returns an empty dataset and structured OUTPUT.status=not_found.
• Missing Fields: Vehicle searches require make, model, and model_year. Missing fields produce OUTPUT.status=invalid_input.
• Unknown Operation: Blocked by the input schema validation.

Run status, totals, and structured errors are stored in the default key-value store under OUTPUT. Probe checks do not create billable result rows.

Use Cases

• Recall Monitoring: Automatically track new recalls for specific vehicle fleets.
• VIN Auditing: Decode VINs to verify vehicle specifications for insurance or sales.
• Safety Research: Analyze consumer complaints (ODI) for specific models.
• Market Analysis: Discover available models and makes via the category hierarchy.

Ready-to-run use cases

Public Saved Tasks provide bounded examples for Tesla Model 3 recall monitoring, Tesla Model 3 complaint research, and VIN decoding. Recall campaigns, consumer complaints, and VIN decode records remain separate record types and should not be interpreted as one-to-one matches without a shared official identifier.