NHTSA Vehicle Safety Profiles - Recalls, Complaints, NCAP & VIN

One row per vehicle (make, model, model year) from NHTSA's official public data: every recall with NHTSA's summary, consequence and remedy text, complaint counts by component with crash, fire, injury and death totals, NCAP 5-Star Safety Ratings, and NHTSA defect investigations (open and closed). Add VINs and each one is decoded with NHTSA vPIC and gets the same profile.

The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) publishes recalls, owner complaints, crash-test ratings and defect investigations, but in separate places with different model names and date formats. This Actor puts them together as one comparable row per vehicle, so you can line up model years, rivals or a whole fleet side by side: summary columns (counts, latest dates, top complaint components, star range) open cleanly in Excel or Google Sheets, and the full details (each recall, each rated variant, each investigation) are in nested fields.

Unofficial tool. Not affiliated with or endorsed by NHTSA or the U.S. Department of Transportation. Public information from NHTSA's public APIs and data files. No consumer complaint text and no personal data are returned — complaints are reduced to counts, components, dates and the crash/fire/injury/death fields.

Quick start — verified input

Run on 2026-10-13 on the Apify platform (datacenter IP, no proxy, 256 MB): 4 rows (3 vehicles + 1 VIN), 27 API requests + 1 file download, 36 seconds, SUCCEEDED. An empty input {} runs exactly this.

{
  "vehicles": ["2020 Honda Accord", "2020 Toyota RAV4", "2020 Tesla Model 3"],
  "vins": ["1HGCM82633A004352"]
}

Compare five model years of one model (recalls, complaints and stars only — no investigations download):

{
  "vehicles": ["Toyota RAV4 2018-2022"],
  "sections": ["recalls", "complaints", "ratings"]
}

Every model NHTSA lists for a make and year (one row per model):

{
  "vehicles": ["Honda 2021"],
  "maxItems": 50
}

Bulk VINs (each VIN = one row; VINs of the same car share one profile lookup):

{
  "vins": ["1HGCM82633A004352", "3GCUKREC5FG186345"],
  "sections": ["recalls", "investigations"]
}

The 50 newest complaints of a vehicle as structured records (no written descriptions):

{
  "vehicles": ["2020 Honda Accord"],
  "sections": ["complaints"],
  "maxComplaintRecords": 50
}

Common input mistakes

You typed	What happens
"Honda Accord" (no year)	The run stops before any request: vehicles entry "Honda Accord" has no model year. Write "2020 Honda Accord" or "Honda Accord 2018-2020".
"Honda CRV 2020", "Ford F150 2019", "Chevy Silverado 2015"	Works. Names are matched to NHTSA's spelling (CR-V, F-150, CHEVROLET). "Silverado" has no exact NHTSA model, so you get SILVERADO 1500, 2500 and 3500 rows.
"2020 Honda Corolla"	No row and no charge. The log and RUN_SUMMARY.notFound say why and suggest NHTSA's names.
A VIN with I, O or Q, or not 17 characters	The run stops before any request and names the VIN and the problem. Partial VINs are not accepted.
"sections": ["ncap"]	Use ratings (the four values are recalls, complaints, ratings, investigations).

Empty results?

• A misspelled make or model: see the Not found warnings in the log (with suggestions) or notFound in the RUN_SUMMARY record.
• A model year NHTSA has nothing on file for (brand-new or very old): there is no recall, complaint or investigation under that name. If NCAP rated the vehicle you still get a row with modelMatch: "ncap-only" and zero counts.
• A VIN vPIC cannot decode: listed in RUN_SUMMARY.undecodedVins with vPIC's error text.

Entries that produce no row are not charged.

What one row contains

Group	Fields
Vehicle	vehicle ("2020 HONDA ACCORD"), make, model, modelYear (NHTSA's spelling), input (what you typed), rowType (vehicle or vin), modelMatch (how the name was matched), nhtsaUrl (the vehicle's page on nhtsa.gov)
Recalls	recallCount, vehicleRecallCount (vehicle campaigns only, without aftermarket-equipment/tire/child-seat campaigns), recallCampaignNumbers, doNotDriveRecallCount (NHTSA "Park It"), parkOutsideRecallCount (fire risk), overTheAirRecallCount, latestRecallDate, recallComponents, and recalls[]: campaign number and type, report date, components, NHTSA's summary, consequence and remedy, flags, manufacturer
Complaints	complaintCount, complaintCrashCount, complaintFireCount, complaintInjuryCount and complaintDeathCount (people reported), complaintsWithInjuries, complaintsWithDeaths, firstComplaintDate, latestComplaintDate, topComplaintComponents, complaintsByComponent[], complaintsByYear[] (by filing year), optional complaintRecords[] (ODI number, dates, components, crash/fire/injury/death fields)
NCAP ratings	ncapRated, ncapVariantCount, ncapOverallRatingMin / Max (1-5 stars), ncapVariants[]: every tested variant with overall, frontal (driver/passenger), side, side pole and rollover stars, rollover probability, ESC/FCW/LDW availability and links to NHTSA's crash-test photos and videos
Investigations	investigationCount, openInvestigationCount, investigationNumbers, investigations[]: NHTSA action number, type (PE preliminary evaluation, EA engineering analysis, DP defect petition, RQ recall query, AQ audit query, others as-is), open/closed, opened and closed dates, components, recall campaigns it led to, NHTSA's subject line
VIN rows	vin, vinCheckDigitValid, vinDecode: make, model, year, series, trim, body, drive, doors, fuel, electrification, engine (cylinders, litres, hp, model), transmission, GVWR, manufacturer, plant city/state/country, and safety equipment (ABS, ESC, traction control, TPMS, air bags, forward collision warning, automatic emergency braking, lane departure/keeping, blind spot, backup camera, adaptive cruise)
Meta	sections (what you asked for), incompleteSections (sections that could not be read for this row), source, sourceUrl, license, retrievedAt

A section you did not ask for is null. A section that NHTSA has nothing for is 0 / empty, not null.

Output example (real row, nested lists shortened)

{
  "rowType": "vehicle",
  "input": "2020 Honda Accord",
  "vin": null,
  "vinCheckDigitValid": null,
  "vinDecode": null,
  "make": "HONDA",
  "model": "ACCORD",
  "modelYear": 2020,
  "vehicle": "2020 HONDA ACCORD",
  "modelMatch": "exact",
  "modelCandidates": null,
  "recallCount": 5,
  "vehicleRecallCount": 5,
  "recallCampaignNumbers": "26V332000 | 24V064000 | 23V858000 | 21V215000 | 20V771000",
  "doNotDriveRecallCount": 0,
  "parkOutsideRecallCount": 0,
  "overTheAirRecallCount": 0,
  "latestRecallDate": "2026-05-21",
  "recallComponents": "AIR BAGS (2) | FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE (2) | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM (1)",
  "recalls": [
    {
      "campaignNumber": "26V332000",
      "campaignType": "vehicle",
      "reportReceivedDate": "2026-05-21",
      "components": [
        "AIR BAGS:SENSOR:OCCUPANT CLASSIFICATION:FRONT PASSENGER"
      ],
      "summary": "Honda (American Honda Motor Co.) is recalling certain 2018-2021, 2023 Acura TLX, 2019-2024 RDX, 2017-2020, 2022-2026 MDX, 2017-2021, 2023, 2025 Honda Ridgeline, 2017-2022 Pilot, 2019-2021 Passport, 2018-2026 Odyssey, 2019-2022 Insight, 2019-2021 HR-V, 2018-2020 Fit, 2020-2022 CR-V Hybrid, 2017-2022 CR-V, 2017-2018, 2021 Civic Type R, 2017-2021 Civic hatchback, 2016-2020 Civic coupe, 2016-2022 Civic, 2017-2022 Accord Hybrid, and 2016-2022 Accord vehicles. The front passenger seat weight sensor may crack and short circuit, which can cause the air bags to deploy unintentionally during a crash.",
      "consequence": "Air bags that deploy unintentionally during a crash increase the risk of injury.",
      "remedy": "Dealers will replace the seat weight sensors, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed July 7, 2026. Owners may contact Honda's customer service at 1-888-234-2138. Honda's numbers for this recall are BOL, WO9, OOA, WOM, XOH, NOC, POD, BOE, UOF, POB, EOG, AOI, QO8, TOJ, DO7, and SOK. This recall expands previous NHTSA recall number 24V064. Vehicle Identification Numbers (VINs) involved in this recall will be searchable on NHTSA.gov beginning May 29, 2026.",
      "doNotDrive": false,
      "parkOutside": false,
      "overTheAirUpdate": false,
      "manufacturer": "Honda (American Honda Motor Co.)"
    }
  ],
  "complaintCount": 363,
  "complaintCrashCount": 14,
  "complaintFireCount": 2,
  "complaintInjuryCount": 11,
  "complaintDeathCount": 1,
  "complaintsWithInjuries": 8,
  "complaintsWithDeaths": 1,
  "firstComplaintDate": "2020-01-14",
  "latestComplaintDate": "2026-10-05",
  "topComplaintComponents": "FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE (103) | ENGINE (72) | SERVICE BRAKES (56) | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM (52) | FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM (51) | UNKNOWN OR OTHER (42) | AIR BAGS (35) | STEERING (23) | LANE DEPARTURE (17) | POWER TRAIN (16)",
  "complaintsByComponent": [
    {
      "component": "FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE",
      "count": 103
    },
    {
      "component": "ENGINE",
      "count": 72
    },
    {
      "component": "SERVICE BRAKES",
      "count": 56
    }
  ],
  "complaintsByYear": [
    {
      "year": 2024,
      "count": 59
    },
    {
      "year": 2025,
      "count": 105
    },
    {
      "year": 2026,
      "count": 76
    }
  ],
  "complaintRecords": null,
  "ncapRated": true,
  "ncapVariantCount": 1,
  "ncapOverallRatingMin": 5,
  "ncapOverallRatingMax": 5,
  "ncapVariants": [
    {
      "vehicleId": 14818,
      "description": "2020 Honda ACCORD 4 DR FWD",
      "overallRating": 5,
      "overallFrontCrashRating": 5,
      "frontCrashDriverSideRating": 5,
      "frontCrashPassengerSideRating": 5,
      "overallSideCrashRating": 5,
      "sideCrashDriverSideRating": 5,
      "sideCrashPassengerSideRating": 5,
      "sidePoleCrashRating": 5,
      "rolloverRating": 5,
      "rolloverPossibility": 0.093,
      "dynamicTipResult": "No Tip",
      "electronicStabilityControl": "Standard",
      "forwardCollisionWarning": "Standard",
      "laneDepartureWarning": "Standard",
      "vehiclePictureUrl": null,
      "frontCrashPictureUrl": "https://static.nhtsa.gov/crashTest/images/2020/v10191P080.jpg",
      "frontCrashVideoUrl": "https://static.nhtsa.gov/crashTest/videos/2020/v10191C017.wmv",
      "sideCrashPictureUrl": "https://static.nhtsa.gov/crashTest/images/2020/v10193P104.jpg",
      "sideCrashVideoUrl": "https://static.nhtsa.gov/crashTest/videos/2020/v10193C013.wmv",
      "sidePolePictureUrl": "https://static.nhtsa.gov/crashTest/images/2020/v10192P072.jpg",
      "sidePoleVideoUrl": "https://static.nhtsa.gov/crashTest/videos/2020/v10192C013.wmv"
    }
  ],
  "investigationCount": 1,
  "openInvestigationCount": 1,
  "investigationNumbers": "EA24002",
  "investigations": [
    {
      "actionNumber": "EA24002",
      "type": "EA",
      "typeLabel": "Engineering Analysis",
      "status": "open",
      "openedDate": "2024-04-15",
      "closedDate": null,
      "components": [
        "FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING",
        "FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE",
        "FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: SENSING SYSTEM: CAMERA",
        "FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: SENSING SYSTEM: RADAR",
        "FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE:SOFTWARE"
      ],
      "recallCampaignNumbers": [],
      "subject": "Inadvertent Automatic Emergency Braking",
      "manufacturer": "Honda (American Honda Motor Co.)"
    }
  ],
  "sections": [
    "recalls",
    "complaints",
    "ratings",
    "investigations"
  ],
  "incompleteSections": [],
  "nhtsaUrl": "https://www.nhtsa.gov/vehicle/2020/HONDA/ACCORD",
  "source": "NHTSA (U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration): recalls, complaints, NCAP 5-Star Safety Ratings, defect investigations and vPIC",
  "sourceUrl": "https://www.nhtsa.gov/nhtsa-datasets-and-apis",
  "license": "Public information from NHTSA's public APIs and data files (U.S. Department of Transportation). NHTSA Terms of Use: \"Information presented on this web site is considered public information and may be distributed or copied.\" NHTSA makes no guarantee about the accuracy or completeness of the data. Terms: https://www.nhtsa.gov/about-nhtsa/terms-use. Unofficial tool, not affiliated with or endorsed by NHTSA or the U.S. Department of Transportation.",
  "retrievedAt": "2026-10-12T23:36:47.135Z"
}

How names are matched

NHTSA uses its own model names, and each dataset spells them the same way. The Actor first reads NHTSA's make list for the year ("land rover" -> LAND ROVER, "mercedes benz" -> MERCEDES-BENZ, "Chevy" -> CHEVROLET, "VW" -> VOLKSWAGEN), then NHTSA's model list for that make and year:

• exact: the name you typed (any case) — "accord" -> ACCORD
• normalized: equal once punctuation is ignored — "CRV" -> CR-V, "F150" -> F-150
• variant: NHTSA models that start with your words, used when there is no exact match ("Silverado" -> SILVERADO 1500/2500/3500) or always with includeModelVariants ("Civic" -> also CIVIC HATCHBACK, CIVIC SI...)
• all-models: you gave a make and year only
• vin / vin-series: the VIN decode's model, or model + series ("Silverado" + "1500" -> SILVERADO 1500)
• ncap-only: not in NHTSA's recall/complaint list (nothing on file), but NCAP rated it
• unlisted (VIN rows only): the decoded model could not be matched to one NHTSA model; the row carries the VIN decode and modelCandidates, and the profile sections are left empty

Recalls are per model year, not per VIN

NHTSA's recall data says which make, model and year a campaign covers. It does not say whether one particular vehicle is included or has been repaired (NHTSA's own per-VIN lookup is a separate website tool, not part of these APIs). VIN rows therefore show the recalls of the VIN's make, model and year. Some campaigns cover only part of a model year.

Attribution and terms

• Data: NHTSA's public APIs — recalls, complaints and NCAP ratings from api.nhtsa.gov, VIN decoding from vPIC at vpic.nhtsa.dot.gov — and NHTSA's defect investigations file (static.nhtsa.gov/odi/ffdd/inv/FLAT_INV.zip; NHTSA offers no investigations API). All are listed on NHTSA's Datasets and APIs page.
• NHTSA Terms of Use: "Information presented on this web site is considered public information and may be distributed or copied." and "The NHTSA/DOT makes no claims, promises or guarantees about the accuracy, completeness, or adequacy of the contents of this web site and expressly disclaims liability for errors and omissions in the contents of this web site."
• vPIC FAQ: "NHTSA is a government agency and the services provided on the API are free for use by the public as an offering as a part of our Open Data initiatives" and "There is no need to register your application to use the services". vPIC also notes: "Any missing decoded values should be interpreted as NHTSA does not have data on the specific variable. Missing value should NOT be interpreted as an indication that a feature or technology is unavailable for a vehicle."
• Every row carries source, sourceUrl, license (the terms above) and retrievedAt. Recall texts are NHTSA's own wording (spacing normalised only). "NHTSA" is used only to name the data source; no NHTSA or DOT logo or seal is used.

Privacy and GDPR

• NHTSA complaints include the owner's written description and part of the vehicle's VIN. Neither is ever copied into the output (enforced by automated tests). NHTSA does not publish complainants' names.
• Investigations and recalls are about vehicles and manufacturers. Manufacturer names and their customer-service numbers inside NHTSA's recall text are business information.
• VINs you enter are sent only to NHTSA's vPIC decoder and are returned in your own dataset. If you link VINs to people (for example a customer list), you are responsible for that processing under GDPR and similar laws.

How it reads NHTSA

• One request at a time, at least 1.2 seconds apart, with a hard budget (maxApiRequests). Server errors are retried with backoff, Retry-After is honoured, an HTTP 403 or a persistent 429 stops the run politely, and only NHTSA's documented endpoints are ever called.
• One VIN = one standard vPIC decode request, as NHTSA's vPIC FAQ recommends for many VINs ("use a programmed routine on the standard decode APIs").
• NHTSA's vPIC FAQ asks that large batch jobs run "either at night (based on EST, or on the weekend)". For lists of thousands of VINs, please schedule your runs accordingly.
• A vehicle costs about 4 to 6 requests: recalls, complaints, the NCAP variant list and one request per rated variant. NHTSA's make and model lists are read once per year and make, and each vehicle is looked up once per run however many VINs share it.
• The investigations file (about 4 MB, 390 MB unpacked) is downloaded at most once per run and read as a stream, so runs fit in 256 MB.
• If something stops the run early (budget, timeout, NHTSA errors), the rows already produced are kept, the run still succeeds, and RUN_SUMMARY shows complete: false with the reason. A row whose section could not be read lists it in incompleteSections.

Limits

• NHTSA's data, as published: complaints are unverified reports from owners; recall and complaint counts for popular models include equipment campaigns that list the vehicle as compatible (see vehicleRecallCount); investigations name every make/model/year NHTSA attached to them.
• NCAP overall ratings exist from model year 2011 on; earlier tests have frontal and side stars only. Up to 16 rated variants per vehicle are read.
• Model years from 1949 to two years after the current year. Up to 500 vehicle entries and 5,000 VINs per run.
• Speed: one request every 1.2 seconds, so about 2,500-3,000 VINs (decode only, repeated cars) or about 500-700 distinct vehicles fit in the default 1-hour run timeout. Larger lists: raise the run timeout or split the list — a run that reaches its timeout keeps every row produced so far.

Disclaimer

This Actor reads only public data that NHTSA publishes for public use. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by NHTSA or the U.S. Department of Transportation. You are responsible for how you use the data and for complying with NHTSA's terms and the laws that apply to you, including data-protection laws such as the GDPR. The data is provided as is, without any warranty of accuracy or completeness — always check safety-critical decisions against nhtsa.gov.