# NHTSA Vehicle Safety Monitor (Recalls + Complaints + Ratings) (`mooseandraven/nhtsa-vehicle-safety-monitor`) Actor

Monitors NHTSA recalls, owner complaints, and crash-test safety ratings by make/model/year, via the official NHTSA and vPIC APIs — no account required, no scraping.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/mooseandraven/nhtsa-vehicle-safety-monitor.md
- **Developed by:** [Moose & Raven](https://apify.com/mooseandraven) (community)
- **Categories:** Business, Automation
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $3.00 / 1,000 recall records

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

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

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are a software tools running on the Apify platform, for all kinds of web data extraction and automation use cases.
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.
Actors are written with capital "A".

## 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.
The best way to integrate Actors is as follows.

In JavaScript/TypeScript projects, use official [JavaScript/TypeScript client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js.md):

```bash
npm install apify-client
```

In Python projects, use official [Python client library](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python.md):

```bash
pip install apify-client
```

In shell scripts, use [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md):

````bash
# MacOS / Linux
curl -fsSL https://apify.com/install-cli.sh | bash
# Windows
irm https://apify.com/install-cli.ps1 | iex
```bash

In AI frameworks, you might use the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/mcp.md).

If your project is in a different language, use the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md).

For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below.

For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt).


# README

## NHTSA Vehicle Safety Monitor (Recalls + Complaints + Ratings)

Monitors NHTSA vehicle recalls, owner complaints, and official crash-test safety ratings by
make/model/year, via the official NHTSA and vPIC APIs — no account required, no scraping.
Optional incremental monitor mode tracks new recalls and complaints across scheduled runs.

### What makes this different

**Bundles three separate NHTSA data sources nobody else bundles**: recalls, owner complaints
(ODI), and 5-Star crash-test safety ratings, by vehicle, in one actor with one consistent schema.
Auto dealers, fleet managers, insurers, and used-car marketplaces typically care about all three
signals together, not just recalls in isolation.

**Zero account friction** — both NHTSA's recall/complaint/rating APIs and the vPIC vehicle
catalog work with no API key or account at all.

### How it works

- Supply `vehicles` as an array of `{ make, model, modelYear }` objects.
- **Every vehicle is independently confirmed to exist** against NHTSA's own official vehicle
  catalog (vPIC's `GetModelsForMakeYear`) before checking recalls/complaints/ratings. This
  matters because NHTSA's recall/complaint/rating APIs themselves return an *identical*
  "Results returned successfully, Count: 0" response for both a typo'd make/model AND a real
  vehicle with a genuinely clean record (confirmed live) — the existence check resolves that
  ambiguity up front.
- Toggle `includeRecalls`, `includeComplaints`, `includeRatings` independently.
- Optional **incremental monitor mode**: remembers which recalls/complaints have already been
  delivered per vehicle (by NHTSA's own stable IDs) and only reports genuinely NEW ones on later
  runs. Safety ratings are re-delivered every run regardless of monitor mode — they rarely change
  once published and there's no natural "new rating" event to detect. Charges one `monitor-run`
  event in addition to per-record events.
- **A failed fetch is never silently treated as "nothing new."** Each stage's failure (existence
  check, recalls, complaints, or ratings) pushes an explicit `fetch-failed` (or `rate-limited`)
  status record — one vehicle's or one stage's problem doesn't hide results from the rest.
- `maxComplaintsPerVehicle` (default 500) is this actor's OWN cap, not NHTSA's — the real API
  returns every complaint in one response with no pagination (confirmed live even for a
  3,600+-complaint vehicle). If a vehicle's real total exceeds the cap, an explicit
  `complaints-truncated` record surfaces the true total.
- **`monitor-run` is billed whenever the run wasn't silently/ambiguously incomplete** — a
  disclosed `complaints-truncated` result still bills normally (a known, surfaced cap, not a
  blind spot); only a genuine fetch failure or rate-limit hit skips billing.

### ⚠️ Limitations

- **Not every vehicle has all three data types.** A confirmed-real vehicle with zero recalls,
  zero complaints, or no safety rating on file is a normal, legitimate result — not every
  trim/configuration was crash-tested by NHTSA, and a clean safety/complaint record is a real,
  good outcome, not an error. No status record is emitted just to say "nothing here" once
  existence has already been confirmed.
- **Safety ratings cover crash-tested configurations only** — a make/model/year can have multiple
  rated body styles/drivetrains (each its own `safety-rating` record) or none at all.
- **Recall/complaint text is NHTSA's own free-text fields**, not independently verified or
  summarized by this actor.

### Pricing

Pay per event:
- `recall-record`, `complaint-record`, `safety-rating-record` — per record delivered
- `monitor-run` — per scheduled monitor-mode run, in addition to per-record charges

### Input

Key fields (see the Input tab for the full form): `vehicles` (required — array of
`{make, model, modelYear}`), `includeRecalls`, `includeComplaints`, `includeRatings`,
`monitorMode`, `maxComplaintsPerVehicle`.

### Output

Each dataset item has a `recordType` of `"recall"`, `"complaint"`, `"safety-rating"`,
`"vehicle-not-found"`, `"fetch-failed"`, `"rate-limited"`, or `"complaints-truncated"`. See the
Output tab for the full field reference.

### Local development

````

npm install
npm test                # recorded-fixture unit tests, no network needed
npx apify-cli run       # local end-to-end run — works immediately, no key/account needed

````

### Support

Built and maintained by Moose & Raven. Questions or issues: support@mooseandraven.com.

# Actor input Schema

## `vehicles` (type: `array`):

Vehicles to check, each as {"make": "Honda", "model": "Accord", "modelYear": 2020}. Every make/model/year is independently confirmed to exist against NHTSA's own official vehicle catalog (vPIC) before checking recalls/complaints/ratings — a typo'd model is reported as an explicit 'vehicle-not-found' record, never silently indistinguishable from a real vehicle with a clean record.
## `includeRecalls` (type: `boolean`):

Fetch official NHTSA recall campaigns for each vehicle.
## `includeComplaints` (type: `boolean`):

Fetch owner-submitted complaints (ODI) for each vehicle. Can be a large volume for popular models — see maxComplaintsPerVehicle.
## `includeRatings` (type: `boolean`):

Fetch official NHTSA 5-Star crash-test safety ratings for each vehicle, if NHTSA has tested it. Not every vehicle/trim was crash-tested — a vehicle confirmed to exist but with no rating on file is a normal, legitimate result, not an error.
## `monitorMode` (type: `boolean`):

When on, the actor remembers which recalls/complaints it has already delivered per vehicle (Apify key-value store) and only reports genuinely NEW ones on later runs. Safety ratings are re-delivered each run (they rarely change once published, and there's no natural 'new rating' event to detect). Charges one monitor-run PPE event in addition to per-record events.
## `maxComplaintsPerVehicle` (type: `integer`):

Popular models can have thousands of owner complaints on file. Applied INDEPENDENTLY per vehicle. If a vehicle has more than this, the actor emits a loud 'complaints-truncated' record with the real total — it never reports a capped pull as complete.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "vehicles": [
    {
      "make": "Honda",
      "model": "Accord",
      "modelYear": 2020
    }
  ],
  "includeRecalls": true,
  "includeComplaints": true,
  "includeRatings": true,
  "monitorMode": false,
  "maxComplaintsPerVehicle": 500
}
````

# 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 = {};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("mooseandraven/nhtsa-vehicle-safety-monitor").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 = {}

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

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

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

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{}' |
apify call mooseandraven/nhtsa-vehicle-safety-monitor --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "mcp-remote",
                "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=mooseandraven/nhtsa-vehicle-safety-monitor",
                "--header",
                "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR_API_TOKEN>"
            ]
        }
    }
}

```

## OpenAPI specification

```json
{
    "openapi": "3.0.1",
    "info": {
        "title": "NHTSA Vehicle Safety Monitor (Recalls + Complaints + Ratings)",
        "description": "Monitors NHTSA recalls, owner complaints, and crash-test safety ratings by make/model/year, via the official NHTSA and vPIC APIs — no account required, no scraping.",
        "version": "0.1",
        "x-build-id": "pP9NC7GKuMZwG7YIb"
    },
    "servers": [
        {
            "url": "https://api.apify.com/v2"
        }
    ],
    "paths": {
        "/acts/mooseandraven~nhtsa-vehicle-safety-monitor/run-sync-get-dataset-items": {
            "post": {
                "operationId": "run-sync-get-dataset-items-mooseandraven-nhtsa-vehicle-safety-monitor",
                "x-openai-isConsequential": false,
                "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for its completion, and returns Actor's dataset items in response.",
                "tags": [
                    "Run Actor"
                ],
                "requestBody": {
                    "required": true,
                    "content": {
                        "application/json": {
                            "schema": {
                                "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                "parameters": [
                    {
                        "name": "token",
                        "in": "query",
                        "required": true,
                        "schema": {
                            "type": "string"
                        },
                        "description": "Enter your Apify token here"
                    }
                ],
                "responses": {
                    "200": {
                        "description": "OK"
                    }
                }
            }
        },
        "/acts/mooseandraven~nhtsa-vehicle-safety-monitor/runs": {
            "post": {
                "operationId": "runs-sync-mooseandraven-nhtsa-vehicle-safety-monitor",
                "x-openai-isConsequential": false,
                "summary": "Executes an Actor and returns information about the initiated run in response.",
                "tags": [
                    "Run Actor"
                ],
                "requestBody": {
                    "required": true,
                    "content": {
                        "application/json": {
                            "schema": {
                                "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                "parameters": [
                    {
                        "name": "token",
                        "in": "query",
                        "required": true,
                        "schema": {
                            "type": "string"
                        },
                        "description": "Enter your Apify token here"
                    }
                ],
                "responses": {
                    "200": {
                        "description": "OK",
                        "content": {
                            "application/json": {
                                "schema": {
                                    "$ref": "#/components/schemas/runsResponseSchema"
                                }
                            }
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
        },
        "/acts/mooseandraven~nhtsa-vehicle-safety-monitor/run-sync": {
            "post": {
                "operationId": "run-sync-mooseandraven-nhtsa-vehicle-safety-monitor",
                "x-openai-isConsequential": false,
                "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for completion, and returns the OUTPUT from Key-value store in response.",
                "tags": [
                    "Run Actor"
                ],
                "requestBody": {
                    "required": true,
                    "content": {
                        "application/json": {
                            "schema": {
                                "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                "parameters": [
                    {
                        "name": "token",
                        "in": "query",
                        "required": true,
                        "schema": {
                            "type": "string"
                        },
                        "description": "Enter your Apify token here"
                    }
                ],
                "responses": {
                    "200": {
                        "description": "OK"
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    },
    "components": {
        "schemas": {
            "inputSchema": {
                "type": "object",
                "required": [
                    "vehicles"
                ],
                "properties": {
                    "vehicles": {
                        "title": "Vehicles to watch (make/model/year)",
                        "type": "array",
                        "description": "Vehicles to check, each as {\"make\": \"Honda\", \"model\": \"Accord\", \"modelYear\": 2020}. Every make/model/year is independently confirmed to exist against NHTSA's own official vehicle catalog (vPIC) before checking recalls/complaints/ratings — a typo'd model is reported as an explicit 'vehicle-not-found' record, never silently indistinguishable from a real vehicle with a clean record.",
                        "default": [
                            {
                                "make": "Honda",
                                "model": "Accord",
                                "modelYear": 2020
                            }
                        ]
                    },
                    "includeRecalls": {
                        "title": "Include recalls",
                        "type": "boolean",
                        "description": "Fetch official NHTSA recall campaigns for each vehicle.",
                        "default": true
                    },
                    "includeComplaints": {
                        "title": "Include owner complaints",
                        "type": "boolean",
                        "description": "Fetch owner-submitted complaints (ODI) for each vehicle. Can be a large volume for popular models — see maxComplaintsPerVehicle.",
                        "default": true
                    },
                    "includeRatings": {
                        "title": "Include crash-test safety ratings",
                        "type": "boolean",
                        "description": "Fetch official NHTSA 5-Star crash-test safety ratings for each vehicle, if NHTSA has tested it. Not every vehicle/trim was crash-tested — a vehicle confirmed to exist but with no rating on file is a normal, legitimate result, not an error.",
                        "default": true
                    },
                    "monitorMode": {
                        "title": "Incremental monitor mode",
                        "type": "boolean",
                        "description": "When on, the actor remembers which recalls/complaints it has already delivered per vehicle (Apify key-value store) and only reports genuinely NEW ones on later runs. Safety ratings are re-delivered each run (they rarely change once published, and there's no natural 'new rating' event to detect). Charges one monitor-run PPE event in addition to per-record events.",
                        "default": false
                    },
                    "maxComplaintsPerVehicle": {
                        "title": "Max complaints per vehicle per run",
                        "minimum": 1,
                        "type": "integer",
                        "description": "Popular models can have thousands of owner complaints on file. Applied INDEPENDENTLY per vehicle. If a vehicle has more than this, the actor emits a loud 'complaints-truncated' record with the real total — it never reports a capped pull as complete.",
                        "default": 500
                    }
                }
            },
            "runsResponseSchema": {
                "type": "object",
                "properties": {
                    "data": {
                        "type": "object",
                        "properties": {
                            "id": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "actId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "userId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "startedAt": {
                                "type": "string",
                                "format": "date-time",
                                "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z"
                            },
                            "finishedAt": {
                                "type": "string",
                                "format": "date-time",
                                "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z"
                            },
                            "status": {
                                "type": "string",
                                "example": "READY"
                            },
                            "meta": {
                                "type": "object",
                                "properties": {
                                    "origin": {
                                        "type": "string",
                                        "example": "API"
                                    },
                                    "userAgent": {
                                        "type": "string"
                                    }
                                }
                            },
                            "stats": {
                                "type": "object",
                                "properties": {
                                    "inputBodyLen": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 2000
                                    },
                                    "rebootCount": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "restartCount": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "resurrectCount": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "computeUnits": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    }
                                }
                            },
                            "options": {
                                "type": "object",
                                "properties": {
                                    "build": {
                                        "type": "string",
                                        "example": "latest"
                                    },
                                    "timeoutSecs": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 300
                                    },
                                    "memoryMbytes": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 1024
                                    },
                                    "diskMbytes": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 2048
                                    }
                                }
                            },
                            "buildId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "defaultKeyValueStoreId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "defaultDatasetId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "defaultRequestQueueId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "buildNumber": {
                                "type": "string",
                                "example": "1.0.0"
                            },
                            "containerUrl": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "usage": {
                                "type": "object",
                                "properties": {
                                    "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATASET_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATASET_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 1
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "PROXY_SERPS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    }
                                }
                            },
                            "usageTotalUsd": {
                                "type": "number",
                                "example": 0.00005
                            },
                            "usageUsd": {
                                "type": "object",
                                "properties": {
                                    "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATASET_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATASET_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "number",
                                        "example": 0.00005
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "PROXY_SERPS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    }
                                }
                            }
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    }
}
```