NHTSA Recall Monitor

Store Positioning

Store title: NHTSA Recall Monitor

Short description: Monitor public vehicle recall data by make, model, year, component, and keyword.

SEO title: NHTSA Recall Monitor — official public data extraction and monitoring

SEO description: Monitor public vehicle recall data by make, model, year, component, and keyword. Use it to normalize official public data into clean Apify datasets with source-specific fields and report artifacts.

Categories: AUTOMATION, NEWS

Keywords: nhtsa, recall, monitor, data qa, public data, official/public-data actor

Fixed-Inclusive PPE Pricing

This actor uses pay-per-event pricing. Event prices include Apify platform usage; users are not expected to pay a separate platform-usage pass-through charge for the configured pricing model.

• Tier: D1 — Official/public-data actor
• Primary event: record-checked at $0.00908 base
• Default max charge: $15.00
• Store discounts: FREE/BRONZE base, SILVER discounted, GOLD deepest approved discount

Event set:

• actor-start: base $0.02000, GOLD $0.01760. Nhtsa Recall Monitor: charged when actor start is completed. The price includes Apify platform usage; no separate usage pass-through is intended.
• record-checked: base $0.00908, GOLD $0.00799. Nhtsa Recall Monitor: charged when record checked is completed. The price includes Apify platform usage; no separate usage pass-through is intended.
• event-detected: base $0.01300, GOLD $0.01140. Nhtsa Recall Monitor: charged when event detected is completed. The price includes Apify platform usage; no separate usage pass-through is intended.
• report-generated: base $0.05000, GOLD $0.04400. Nhtsa Recall Monitor: charged when report generated is completed. The price includes Apify platform usage; no separate usage pass-through is intended.

Public Task Concepts

• Check official NHTSA recalls for one vehicle
• Monitor one vehicle for NHTSA recall matches
• Build a fuel-pump recall digest from NHTSA
• Prioritize NHTSA recall campaigns by component
• Export normalized NHTSA campaign rows

Query and normalize official NHTSA vehicle recall campaigns for explicit make, model, and model-year watchlists.

What This Actor Does

NHTSA Recall Monitor sends bounded vehicleQueries to the official NHTSA Recalls API. It normalizes campaign number, manufacturer, make, model, year, component, summary, consequence, remedy, report date, and affected-unit evidence. Returned rows are checked against the requested vehicle identity and optional watch terms.

An official empty response produces an explicit no-recalls-found evidence row instead of inventing a campaign. Supplied records remain available for deterministic fixtures or previously captured official data.

What This Actor Does Not Do

• It does not query by VIN or determine whether one specific vehicle is affected.
• It does not provide safety, repair, legal, or compliance advice.
• It does not replace NHTSA's recall lookup or manufacturer instructions.
• It does not crawl third-party recall sites or bypass access controls.

Best Use Cases

• monitor one or more explicit make-model-year combinations
• route campaigns by component or watch-term match
• normalize official recall evidence into Apify datasets
• retain honest no-result evidence for recurring checks
• prepare campaign and remedy exports for operations teams

Input Fields

Field	Type	Default	Notes
vehicleQueries	array	[]	Make, model, and model year queries sent to api.nhtsa.gov.
records	array	two built-in records	Supplied or previously captured recall evidence.
watchTerms	array	airbag/brake/fuel-pump terms	Matched against component, summary, consequence, and remedy.
includeReport	boolean	true	Writes JSON and Markdown report artifacts.
maxItems	integer	2	Caps total returned campaign rows; maximum 50.
fetchTimeoutMs	integer	12000	Per-request timeout, capped at 30 seconds.

Example Input

{
  "vehicleQueries": [
    {"make": "Honda", "model": "Accord", "modelYear": 2020}
  ],
  "watchTerms": ["fuel pump", "air bag"],
  "maxItems": 1,
  "includeReport": true
}

Output Evidence

Each row includes status, findings, recommendations, query identity, and metadata.sourceSpecific.recallRows. Recall evidence includes the campaign number, component, remedy, affected units, official query URL, query-match status, and matched watch terms. eventDetected is true only for a returned campaign that matches configured monitoring signals or is explicitly marked new or changed.

Cost Control

• Start with one vehicle query and maxItems: 1.
• Use focused watch terms for routing.
• Disable report artifacts when only campaign rows are needed.
• Schedule small explicit watchlists instead of broad model sweeps.

Public Task Examples

• check official recalls for one vehicle
• monitor one vehicle for component matches
• build a fuel-pump campaign digest
• prioritize campaigns by component and remedy
• export normalized NHTSA campaign rows

FAQ

Does an empty result mean a vehicle is permanently recall-free?

No. It means the official query returned no rows at the checked time. Retain the timestamp and rerun future monitoring checks.

Can this confirm a VIN is affected?

No. Use the official NHTSA VIN lookup and manufacturer instructions for vehicle-specific decisions.

Limitations

Results depend on the official API response and exact make, model, and year input. Recall applicability, repair availability, and owner notification can change. Always verify operational decisions with NHTSA or the manufacturer.

Source And Safety Notes

Vehicle queries use the official NHTSA endpoint at https://api.nhtsa.gov/recalls/recallsByVehicle. Do not submit private owner information or credentials.

Changelog

• 2026-07-10: Added official vehicle-query integration, campaign normalization, identity matching, honest empty-result evidence, watch-term routing, and expanded regression coverage.