# Vehicle Safety Rating Lookup: NHTSA 5-Star Ratings (`m_ctim/vehicle-safety-rating-lookup`) Actor

Look up official NHTSA 5-star safety ratings for a vehicle make, model, and model year: overall, front crash, side crash, rollover, plus safety features and linked complaint/recall/investigation counts. For dealers, fleet managers, and shoppers.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/m\_ctim/vehicle-safety-rating-lookup.md
- **Developed by:** [Timothy Kelvin](https://apify.com/m_ctim) (community)
- **Categories:** Lead generation, Business
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

Pay per usage

This Actor is paid per platform usage. The Actor is free to use, and you only pay for the Apify platform usage, which gets cheaper the higher subscription plan you have.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-usage

## What's an Apify Actor?

An Actor is a serverless cloud program that runs on the Apify platform. It has two run modes.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.

Apify vocabulary and the platform model are defined once, in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md.

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.

Do not guess an integration path. Every one of them is in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md: the Apify MCP server, Agent Skills with the Apify CLI, the JavaScript and Python clients, the REST API, and the account-free path for an agent with no human to sign in. It also carries the rule on stating cost before the first paid run.

For examples already wired to this Actor's own input schema, see the [API](#api) section below.

Each client library has reference documentation the quickstart does not restate: [JavaScript/TypeScript](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md) (`npm install apify-client`) and [Python](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md) (`pip install apify-client`).

# README

## Vehicle Safety Rating Lookup: NHTSA 5-Star Ratings

Give it a model year, make, and model. Get back official NHTSA safety
ratings for every trim NHTSA has tested: overall, front crash, side crash,
rollover, standard-equipment safety features, and linked
complaint/recall/investigation counts.

### Output (sample)

```json
{
  "vehicleId": 16835,
  "vehicleDescription": "2022 Honda ACCORD 4 DR FWD",
  "modelYear": 2022,
  "make": "Honda",
  "model": "Accord",
  "overallRating": "5",
  "overallFrontCrashRating": "5",
  "overallSideCrashRating": "5",
  "rolloverRating": "5",
  "rolloverPossibility": 0.093,
  "sidePoleCrashRating": "5",
  "electronicStabilityControl": "Standard",
  "forwardCollisionWarning": "Standard",
  "laneDepartureWarning": "Standard",
  "complaintsCount": 244,
  "recallsCount": 4,
  "investigationCount": 1
}
```

A year/make/model with no NHTSA rating on file returns no items, still
billed once for the lookup.

### Who this is for

Completes the full safety picture alongside this portfolio's other two
NHTSA actors, [Vehicle Recall Tracker](https://github.com/timmKal01/vehicle-recall-tracker)
and [Vehicle Complaint Tracker](https://github.com/timmKal01/vehicle-complaint-tracker):

- **Dealers and shoppers** comparing a vehicle's official crash-test rating before a purchase or trade-in.
- **Fleet managers** screening vehicles for a fleet on safety rating, not just price and mileage.
- **Insurance and finance teams** wanting a documented safety profile per vehicle.

### Input

| Field | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| `year` | integer | Vehicle model year, e.g. `2022`. |
| `make` | string | Vehicle manufacturer, e.g. `"Honda"`, `"Ford"`, `"Toyota"`. |
| `model` | string | Vehicle model, e.g. `"Accord"`, `"Explorer"`, `"Camry"`. |

```json
{
  "year": 2022,
  "make": "Honda",
  "model": "Accord"
}
```

### How it works

NHTSA's SafetyRatings API is a two-step lookup, not a single call: first a
year/make/model query returns one `VehicleId` per trim NHTSA tested (a
single model year can have several trims with different ratings), then
each `VehicleId` is queried individually for its actual star ratings. This
actor handles both steps and returns one record per trim, with automatic
retries on transient failures. No key, no proxy, no scraping, public-domain
US government data.

### Related products

- [Vehicle Recall Tracker](https://github.com/timmKal01/vehicle-recall-tracker): official confirmed safety recalls for a make/model/year range
- [Vehicle Complaint Tracker](https://github.com/timmKal01/vehicle-complaint-tracker): raw owner-submitted complaints, the early-warning signal before an official recall

# Actor input Schema

## `year` (type: `integer`):

Vehicle model year, e.g. 2022.

## `make` (type: `string`):

Vehicle manufacturer, e.g. "Honda", "Ford", "Toyota". Not case-sensitive.

## `model` (type: `string`):

Vehicle model, e.g. "Accord", "Explorer", "Camry". Not case-sensitive.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "year": 2022,
  "make": "Honda",
  "model": "Accord"
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

No description

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "year": 2022,
    "make": "Honda",
    "model": "Accord"
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("m_ctim/vehicle-safety-rating-lookup").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = {
    "year": 2022,
    "make": "Honda",
    "model": "Accord",
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("m_ctim/vehicle-safety-rating-lookup").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "year": 2022,
  "make": "Honda",
  "model": "Accord"
}' |
apify call m_ctim/vehicle-safety-rating-lookup --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,m_ctim/vehicle-safety-rating-lookup"
        }
    }
}
```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/2dluYfg6tIiUcpiak/builds/fQetBpQr4lSIu2A6G/openapi.json