# Bulk VIN Decoder + NHTSA Recalls, Complaints & Safety Ratings (`nefes-tools/vehicle-vin-recalls`) Actor

Decode thousands of US VINs in one run and get specs, NHTSA safety recalls, complaint counts (crash, fire, injury) and NCAP star ratings in one flat row per vehicle. Official NHTSA APIs, invalid VINs flagged and never charged.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/nefes-tools/vehicle-vin-recalls.md
- **Developed by:** [Erich Michal Sikora](https://apify.com/nefes-tools) (community)
- **Categories:** Business, Automation
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $2.00 / 1,000 vehicles

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/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## 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

## Bulk VIN Decoder + NHTSA Recalls, Complaints & Safety Ratings

**Paste a list of VINs and get one clean row per vehicle: make, model, year, trim, engine, the NHTSA safety recalls
for that model year, owner complaint statistics and the official 5-star crash ratings.** Built on the official NHTSA
APIs (vPIC decoder, Recalls, Complaints, NCAP). Mistyped VINs are caught by the check digit and never charged.

| What you get per vehicle | Example |
|---|---|
| Make, model, model year, trim, body | TESLA · Model 3 · 2019 · Sedan |
| Engine, fuel, drive, transmission | 3.5 L V6 365 hp · Gasoline · 4WD · Automatic |
| Plant, manufacturer, weight class | Fremont, California, USA · TESLA, INC. |
| **Safety recalls**: count, campaign numbers, newest date | 22 recalls · 26V507000 … · 2026-08-05 |
| Recalls with "park it" (do not drive) or over-the-air fix | 0 park-it · 14 OTA |
| Full recall details (component, defect, risk, remedy, link) | "Headlights may…" → free OTA update |
| **Complaint statistics** | 612 complaints · 59 with crash · 5 fire · 23 injury/death |
| Most complained-about components | Forward collision avoidance (169), Electrical (91) … |
| **NCAP star ratings** | Overall 5★ · Front 5★ · Side 5★ · Rollover 5★ (6.6 % risk) |
| Links | NHTSA VIN recall check · NHTSA model page |

### Who uses it

- **Used-car dealers and marketplaces.** Check a whole auction or trade-in list for recalls and weak crash ratings before
  you buy, and show buyers the facts in listings.
- **Fleet managers and leasing companies.** Run the whole fleet every month (Apify **Schedule**) and see which models
  have new recalls or "park it" warnings.
- **Insurers and claims teams.** Enrich policies and claims with exact specs, complaint rates (crash, fire, injury) and
  NCAP stars.
- **Importers and exporters of US vehicles.** Decode VINs, confirm year and equipment and flag open safety campaigns
  before shipping.
- **AI agents and automations.** Flat JSON with stable columns for Google Sheets, CRMs, Make, Zapier or n8n.

### How to use it

1. Paste your **VINs** (one per line, or a comma-separated list). Thousands at once are fine.
2. No VINs? Use **Vehicles by make / model / year** instead, e.g. `2019 Honda Civic` or `Ford, F-150, 2013`.
3. Choose what to add: recalls, complaint statistics, safety ratings (all on by default). Turn on
   **Also output one row per recall** if you want a recall-level table as well. Those extra rows are free.
4. Run it. Download the result as Excel, CSV or JSON, or connect it to your tools with Apify integrations.

#### Example input

```json
{
    "vins": ["1HGCM82633A004352", "5YJ3E1EA2KF317000", "1FTFW1ET9DFC10312"],
    "vehicles": ["2021 Mercedes-Benz GLC"],
    "recallRows": false
}
```

#### Example output (one vehicle, shortened)

```json
{
    "vin": "5YJ3E1EA2KF317000",
    "status": "ok",
    "make": "TESLA", "model": "Model 3", "modelYear": 2019,
    "bodyClass": "Sedan/Saloon", "fuelTypePrimary": "Electric", "electrificationLevel": "BEV (Battery Electric Vehicle)",
    "plantCity": "FREMONT", "plantCountry": "UNITED STATES (USA)",
    "recallCount": 22, "recallsWithParkIt": 0, "recallsOverTheAir": 14, "latestRecallDate": "2026-08-05",
    "recallCampaigns": ["26V507000", "24V935000", "24V376000"],
    "complaintCount": 612, "complaintsWithCrash": 59, "complaintsWithFire": 5, "complaintsWithInjuryOrDeath": 23,
    "complaintTopComponents": [{ "component": "FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE", "count": 169 }],
    "safetyRatingOverall": 5, "safetyRatingFrontCrash": 5, "safetyRatingSideCrash": 5, "safetyRatingRollover": 5,
    "rolloverRiskPercent": 6.6, "safetyRatingVariant": "2019 Tesla Model 3 4 DR RWD",
    "vinRecallCheckUrl": "https://www.nhtsa.gov/recalls?vin=5YJ3E1EA2KF317000"
}
```

### Pricing: pay only for vehicles that worked

You pay **per successfully processed vehicle**. These rows are **free**:

- `invalid_vin`: wrong length, characters, model-year code or check digit (usually a typo),
- `not_decoded`: NHTSA does not know the VIN (e.g. a vehicle not sold in the US),
- `not_found`: a make/model/year with no NHTSA records (usually a spelling issue),
- `partial` / `error`: an NHTSA service was down. Just run those again later.

Set **Max vehicles** or a maximum cost per run and the Actor stops exactly there.

### Good to know

- **Recalls are per make, model and model year**, the way NHTSA publishes them. They show which campaigns cover the
  vehicle's model year, not whether this exact car has already been repaired. NHTSA does not offer per-VIN repair status
  through a public API. Use `vinRecallCheckUrl` (official NHTSA page) to confirm an individual vehicle.
- `recallCount` counts the vehicle maker's recalls. Recalls of aftermarket equipment, tires or child seats that
  mention the model are in `otherRecallCount` and in the `recalls` list with their `recallType`.
- Pickups and model families are matched to NHTSA's naming automatically: "F-150" also covers "F-150 SUPER CREW",
  BMW "328i" also covers "3 SERIES", Mercedes "C-Class" also covers "C300". The names used are in
  `recallModelsMatched`.
- Star ratings come from the NCAP variant closest to the decoded vehicle (doors, drive, cab). The variant is in
  `safetyRatingVariant`. Vehicles tested before 2011 have no overall score. For those you get front/side/rollover stars.
- **Complaints: only numbers.** No complaint texts, VIN fragments, locations or anything about the people who filed them.
- A VIN is not personal data, and the output contains no names or contacts.
- US-market vehicles only (NHTSA data). European VINs without a US check digit are flagged as invalid and not charged.

### Data source and fair use

All data comes from official, free, public US Government APIs of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration:
[vPIC](https://vpic.nhtsa.dot.gov/api/) (VIN decoding, batch endpoint, 50 VINs per request) and
[api.nhtsa.gov](https://www.nhtsa.gov/nhtsa-datasets-and-apis) (recalls, complaints, NCAP ratings). No login and no
scraping. The Actor is gentle with the source: requests are paced, `Retry-After` is honoured, VINs are decoded in
batches and each make/model/year is looked up only once per run. This Actor is not affiliated with or endorsed by NHTSA.

### FAQ

**How fast is it?** About 60 VINs across 12 different models take roughly 30 seconds. Repeated models are almost free,
because each model year is looked up once.

**Can I run it every day or month?** Yes. Add a Schedule in Apify and connect the dataset to Google Sheets, Slack,
e-mail or a webhook.

**A field is empty. Why?** NHTSA only returns what the manufacturer submitted. An empty value means "no data", not
"no such feature". Notes from the decoder are in `decodeNotes`.

# Actor input Schema

## `vins` (type: `array`):

17-character Vehicle Identification Numbers, one per line (you can also paste a comma- or space-separated list into one line). Each VIN is checked with its check digit first; invalid VINs are flagged in the output and never charged. Duplicates are skipped.

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

No VIN? Enter vehicles like "2019 Honda Civic" or "Ford, F-150, 2013". You get recalls, complaint counts and star ratings for that model year (no VIN-specific specs).

## `includeRecalls` (type: `boolean`):

Add NHTSA safety recall campaigns for the vehicle's make, model and model year (count, campaign numbers, components, remedy, 'park it' warnings).

## `includeComplaints` (type: `boolean`):

Add counts of owner complaints filed with NHTSA: total, with crash, fire, injury or death, and the most complained-about components. Only numbers are returned, never complaint texts or personal data.

## `includeSafetyRatings` (type: `boolean`):

Add NHTSA 5-Star Safety Ratings: overall, frontal, side and rollover, for the closest matching body style and drive.

## `recallRows` (type: `boolean`):

Besides the one row per vehicle, add a separate row for every recall campaign (rowType = "recall"). Handy for filtering in a spreadsheet. These extra rows are free.

## `includeInvalid` (type: `boolean`):

Keep a row (status = invalid\_vin, free of charge) for VINs that fail the check-digit test, so you can fix typos. Turn off to skip them silently.

## `maxResults` (type: `integer`):

Stop after this many successfully processed vehicles (each is one charged result). Invalid or unknown VINs do not count.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "vins": [
    "1HGCM82633A004352",
    "5YJ3E1EA2KF317000",
    "1FTFW1ET9DFC10312"
  ],
  "includeRecalls": true,
  "includeComplaints": true,
  "includeSafetyRatings": true,
  "recallRows": false,
  "includeInvalid": true,
  "maxResults": 1000
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `vehicles` (type: `string`):

One row per VIN or make/model/year: make, model, year, trim, engine, recall count and campaigns, complaint counts, star ratings and status.

## `summary` (type: `string`):

Charged vehicles, invalid or unknown VINs, errors and why the run stopped.

# 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 = {
    "vins": [
        "1HGCM82633A004352",
        "5YJ3E1EA2KF317000",
        "1FTFW1ET9DFC10312"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("nefes-tools/vehicle-vin-recalls").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 = { "vins": [
        "1HGCM82633A004352",
        "5YJ3E1EA2KF317000",
        "1FTFW1ET9DFC10312",
    ] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("nefes-tools/vehicle-vin-recalls").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 '{
  "vins": [
    "1HGCM82633A004352",
    "5YJ3E1EA2KF317000",
    "1FTFW1ET9DFC10312"
  ]
}' |
apify call nefes-tools/vehicle-vin-recalls --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,nefes-tools/vehicle-vin-recalls"
        }
    }
}
```

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/ewkikDPtuXKtaGd4Z/builds/UMNdOag4eHzdnSdDO/openapi.json