🚘 VIN Decoder + NHTSA Recalls & Complaints: One Call

One VIN in. Full recall and complaint history out. Decode any US VIN, or search by make, model, and year, and get every open NHTSA recall and consumer complaint for that vehicle in one record.

🔍 Know what you're buying Full spec decode from the VIN before you sign anything.

⚠️ Catch every open recall See safety recalls the seller might not mention.

📋 Read real owner reports Crash, fire, and injury flags from actual drivers.

🧩 No VIN? No problem Search by make, model, and year instead.

Most VIN and recall tools on the Store only give you one piece at a time: a VIN decoder here, a recall checker there, a complaints database somewhere else. NHTSA Vehicle Intelligence Monitor merges all three into one call, using official US government safety data.

🔍 What does NHTSA Vehicle Intelligence Monitor do?

This Actor is a three-in-one vehicle safety lookup. Give it a VIN and it decodes the vehicle's specs using the same official database used by dealers and insurers, then automatically looks up every open safety recall and every consumer complaint filed against that make, model, and year.

The Apify Store's other NHTSA tools split this into single-purpose actors: a VIN decoder, a recall scraper, a complaints scraper, each priced and run separately. This Actor bundles all three into one API call and one merged output record, so you don't have to run three actors and stitch the results together yourself.

Run it manually, on a schedule to re-check a fleet for new recalls, or call it from your own app through the Apify API. No login, no paywall, and no proxy required: this data is publicly available from the US government and stays that way.

💡 Why use it?

• Used-car buyers and dealers can vet a VIN before purchase and see recall and complaint history alongside the decoded spec sheet.
• Fleet operators and insurers can screen vehicles for outstanding safety recalls before they become liability problems.
• Marketplaces and listing sites can enrich vehicle listings with verified specs and safety history instead of relying on seller-entered data.
• Recall-monitoring teams can re-run the Actor on a schedule and catch new recalls the moment NHTSA publishes them.

🚀 How to use NHTSA Vehicle Intelligence Monitor

STEP 1 Add a VIN or vehicle Paste a VIN, or enter make, model, and year.

STEP 2 Run the lookup Decode, recalls, and complaints fetch together, automatically.

STEP 3 Export one clean record Download as JSON, CSV, or Excel, ready to use.

⚙️ Input

Field	Type	Required	Description
vins	array of strings	no*	One or more 17-character VINs to decode and look up.
vehicles	array of objects	no*	Make/model/year combinations, e.g. { "make": "Honda", "model": "Accord", "year": 2003 }, for lookups without a VIN.
complaintSeverityFilter	enum	no	Only attach complaints matching this severity: all (default), crashOnly, fireOnly, crashOrFireOnly, or injuryOrDeathOnly. Applied after fetching, since NHTSA's API has no server-side severity filter, so it narrows the output, not the fetch.
complaintComponentFilter	string	no	Only attach complaints whose component field contains this text (case-insensitive), e.g. AIR BAGS or ENGINE. Same client-side caveat as the severity filter.
includeRecalls	boolean	no	Fetch and attach recall data. Turn off to skip the recalls API call and cut runtime/cost. Default true.
includeComplaints	boolean	no	Fetch and attach complaint data. Turn off to skip the complaints API call and cut runtime/cost. Default true.
maxComplaintsPerVehicle	integer	no	Caps how many individual complaints are attached to each record. Popular models can have thousands on file; the true total is always reported separately. Default 50.
maxConcurrency	integer	no	How many vehicles to process in parallel. Default 5.

* At least one of vins or vehicles must be provided.

When includeRecalls or includeComplaints is turned off, the corresponding fields (recalls, recallsCount, or complaints, complaintsTotalCount, etc.) are omitted from the output entirely rather than set to empty placeholders.

📤 Output

Each dataset item is one merged vehicle record combining decode, recall, and complaint data.

{
  "vin": "1HGCM82633A004352",
  "decodeStatus": "decoded",
  "make": "HONDA",
  "model": "Accord",
  "modelYear": "2003",
  "trim": "EX-V6",
  "bodyClass": "Coupe",
  "vehicleType": "PASSENGER CAR",
  "fuelTypePrimary": "Gasoline",
  "transmissionStyle": "Automatic",
  "manufacturer": "AMERICAN HONDA MOTOR CO., INC.",
  "plantCity": "MARYSVILLE",
  "plantState": "OHIO",
  "plantCountry": "UNITED STATES (USA)",
  "recallsCount": 24,
  "recalls": [
    {
      "campaignNumber": "19V182000",
      "component": "AIR BAGS:FRONTAL:DRIVER SIDE:INFLATOR MODULE",
      "summary": "Honda is recalling specific vehicles equipped with a replacement driver air bag inflator...",
      "consequence": "An explosion of the inflator may result in serious injury or death.",
      "remedy": "Honda will notify owners and replace the affected inflator free of charge.",
      "reportReceivedDate": "06/03/2019"
    }
  ],
  "complaintsTotalCount": 2013,
  "complaintsIncludedCount": 10,
  "complaints": [
    {
      "odiNumber": 11746949,
      "components": "AIR BAGS",
      "summary": "The vehicle was rear-ended. The front driver airbag did not deploy...",
      "crash": true,
      "numberOfInjuries": 1,
      "dateOfIncident": "06/18/2026"
    }
  ],
  "scrapedAt": "2026-08-20T04:11:29.512Z"
}

You can download the dataset in various formats such as JSON, HTML, CSV, or Excel.

📊 Data table

Field	Type	Description
vin	string	The VIN you supplied, if any.
decodeStatus	string	decoded, partial, failed, or skipped (no VIN was supplied).
make / model / modelYear	string	Resolved vehicle identity, from the VIN decode or your vehicles input.
trim, bodyClass, vehicleType	string	Vehicle body and trim details.
fuelTypePrimary, transmissionStyle, driveType, doors	string	Powertrain and configuration details.
engineCylinders, engineHP, displacementL	string	Engine specifications.
manufacturer, plantCity, plantState, plantCountry	string	Manufacturing origin.
recallsCount	integer	Total number of open safety recalls found.
recalls	array	Recall details: campaign number, component, summary, consequence, and remedy.
complaintsTotalCount	integer	Total complaints on file for this make/model/year, regardless of any filter or cap.
complaintsMatchingFilterCount	integer	How many complaints matched your complaintSeverityFilter/complaintComponentFilter, before the cap. Only present when a filter is active.
complaintsIncludedCount	integer	How many complaints are attached to this record.
complaints	array	Complaint details: components affected, summary, and crash/fire/injury flags.
scrapedAt	string	Timestamp of when the record was built.

Any field the underlying government data does not report for a given vehicle is simply left out of that record, so you never see placeholder or made-up values.

💰 Pricing

This Actor runs on Apify's pay-per-event pricing: you only pay for vehicle records actually returned. An empty or failed run costs nothing beyond a few seconds of compute, and there is no subscription. One price covers the VIN decode, recalls, and complaints together instead of billing each separately. Check the Pricing tab for the current rate and any plan discounts.

⭐ Enjoying NHTSA Vehicle Intelligence Monitor?

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🛠️ Tips and advanced options

• Keep maxComplaintsPerVehicle low (10 to 25) when you only need a risk signal, and raise it when you need the full complaint text for a specific vehicle.
• Batch VINs in groups of a few hundred per run rather than thousands, so you can review results and adjust before scaling up.
• Combine vins and vehicles in the same run: decode the VINs you have, and look up recalls and complaints directly for models you're researching without a specific VIN yet.
• Schedule the Actor to re-run monthly against a fixed fleet list to catch new recalls as soon as they're published.

❓ FAQ

Does this Actor need a VIN for every vehicle? No. You can supply a make, model, and year directly in vehicles and skip the VIN decode step entirely. Recalls and complaints will still be looked up.

Where does this data come from? All three data sources (VIN decode, recalls, and complaints) come from official, publicly available US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration data. This Actor only covers vehicles sold in the US market.

Why is complaintsIncludedCount lower than complaintsTotalCount? High-volume models can have thousands of complaints on file. To keep records a manageable size, only the first maxComplaintsPerVehicle are attached. The total count is always reported so you know how many exist.

What if a VIN is invalid or can't be decoded? The record is still returned with decodeStatus set to partial or failed and whatever information could be resolved. Nothing is guessed or filled in with placeholder text.

Why not just use a separate VIN decoder and recall checker? You can, but you'll pay for and run two or three separate actors, then merge their output yourself. This Actor does the VIN decode, recall lookup, and complaint lookup in one run and returns one record per vehicle, so there's nothing to stitch together after the run finishes.

Found a bug or want a feature added? Open an issue on the Actor's Issues tab, or reach out for a custom version of this Actor.

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