🚗 NHTSA Vehicle Recalls & Complaints Scraper

🚀 Scrape vehicle recall and complaint data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Search by make, model, and year. Get recall campaigns, hazard descriptions, remedies, and consumer complaints including crash, fire, injury, and death reports.

🕒 Last updated: 2026-04-23

Whether you're a consumer checking a vehicle's safety history, an automotive researcher tracking recall trends, or a fleet manager monitoring safety issues, this tool makes it easy to collect structured data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

The NHTSA Scraper collects vehicle recalls and safety complaints with campaign numbers, components, summaries, remedies, crash data, injury counts, and more. Filter by make, model, and year for targeted results.

Target Audience	Car buyers, fleet managers, automotive researchers, legal professionals, repair shops
Primary Use Cases	Vehicle safety checks, recall monitoring, automotive research, fleet compliance

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📋 What Does It Do

This tool collects vehicle recall and complaint data from NHTSA, supporting search by make, model, and year. It delivers:

• 🔔 Recall data - campaign numbers, affected components, summaries, consequences, and remedies
• 🚨 Complaint data - ODI numbers, crash/fire flags, injury and death counts, incident details
• 🚗 Vehicle filtering - search by make, model, and model year for targeted results
• 📋 Multi-model search - leave model empty to automatically search all models for a given make
• 📊 Structured output - clean JSON, CSV, or Excel data ready for analysis

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🎬 How to Use the NHTSA Scraper - Full Demo

🚧 Demo video coming soon

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⚙️ Input

To start collecting vehicle safety data, simply fill in the input form:

Field	Type	Description
Mode	Select	Choose between Recalls or Complaints.
Max Items	Integer	Free users: Limited to 10 items (preview). Paid users: Optional, max 1,000,000.
Make	String	Vehicle manufacturer (e.g. "Toyota", "Ford", "Tesla", "Honda"). Leave empty to search all makes.
Model	String	Vehicle model (e.g. "Camry", "F-150", "Model 3"). Leave empty to search all models.
Model Year	Integer	Vehicle model year (e.g. 2024). Leave empty to search all years.

Example 1: Toyota Camry recalls

{
    "mode": "recalls",
    "maxItems": 10,
    "make": "Toyota",
    "model": "Camry",
    "modelYear": 2020
}

Example 2: All Ford complaints

{
    "mode": "complaints",
    "maxItems": 100,
    "make": "Ford"
}

⚠️ Free users are limited to 10 items per run. Sign up for a paid plan to collect up to 1,000,000 items.

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📊 Output

After the Actor finishes its run, you'll get a dataset with the output. You can download results as Excel, HTML, XML, JSON, or CSV.

🧾 Output Schema

Recalls:

Field	Type	Description
NHTSACampaignNumber	String	NHTSA recall campaign number
Manufacturer	String	Vehicle manufacturer name
Make	String	Vehicle make
Model	String	Vehicle model
ModelYear	String	Vehicle model year
Component	String	Affected component
Summary	String	Recall summary description
Consequence	String	Potential consequence of the defect
Remedy	String	Recall remedy description
ReportReceivedDate	String	Date the report was received
parkIt	Boolean	Whether vehicle should be parked immediately
overTheAirUpdate	Boolean	Whether recall can be fixed via OTA update

Complaints:

Field	Type	Description
odiNumber	Number	ODI complaint number
manufacturer	String	Vehicle manufacturer
crash	Boolean	Whether a crash occurred
fire	Boolean	Whether a fire occurred
numberOfInjuries	Number	Number of injuries reported
numberOfDeaths	Number	Number of deaths reported
dateOfIncident	String	Date the incident occurred
dateComplaintFiled	String	Date the complaint was filed
components	String	Affected components
summary	String	Complaint description

📦 Sample Output

Sample 1 (Recall):

{
    "NHTSACampaignNumber": "20V682000",
    "Manufacturer": "Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing",
    "Make": "TOYOTA",
    "Model": "CAMRY",
    "ModelYear": "2020",
    "Component": "FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE:DELIVERY:FUEL PUMP",
    "Summary": "Toyota is recalling certain 2018-2020 Camry vehicles. The low-pressure fuel pump inside the fuel tank may fail.",
    "Consequence": "If the fuel pump fails, the engine can stall while driving, increasing the risk of a crash.",
    "Remedy": "Toyota will notify owners, and dealers will replace the fuel pump assembly with an improved one, free of charge.",
    "ReportReceivedDate": "04/11/2020",
    "parkIt": false,
    "overTheAirUpdate": false
}

Sample 2 (Complaint):

{
    "odiNumber": 11728272,
    "manufacturer": "Toyota Motor Corporation",
    "crash": false,
    "fire": false,
    "numberOfInjuries": 0,
    "numberOfDeaths": 0,
    "dateOfIncident": "02/01/2024",
    "dateComplaintFiled": "03/31/2026",
    "components": "AIR BAGS",
    "summary": "The contact owns a 2020 Toyota Camry. The contact was notified of a recall; however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available."
}

Sample 3 (Recall):

{
    "NHTSACampaignNumber": "21V560000",
    "Manufacturer": "Ford Motor Company",
    "Make": "FORD",
    "Model": "F-150",
    "ModelYear": "2021",
    "Component": "ELECTRICAL SYSTEM:WIRING",
    "Summary": "Ford is recalling certain 2021 F-150 vehicles. A damaged bulk connector may cause an underhood fire.",
    "Consequence": "An underhood fire may occur while driving or while parked with the engine off.",
    "Remedy": "Dealers will inspect and, if necessary, repair the bulk connector, free of charge.",
    "parkIt": true,
    "overTheAirUpdate": false
}

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✨ Why Choose the NHTSA Scraper?

Benefit	Description
⚡ Batch collection	Collect up to 1M records at once
🔄 Both modes	Recalls and complaints in a single tool
🚗 Multi-model search	Automatically search all models for a make
📁 Structured output	Export to JSON, CSV, or Excel for immediate analysis
🔄 Automated scheduling	Set up daily or weekly monitoring for new recalls
⚡ Fast results	Single queries return in under 1 second
🎯 No coding required	Point-and-click interface that anyone can use

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📈 How Does It Compare?

Feature	Our Tool	Manual NHTSA Search
Batch collection	✅ Up to 1M records	❌ Browse one at a time
Both recalls and complaints	✅ Single tool	⚠️ Separate searches
Multi-model search	✅ All models for a make	❌ One model at a time
Structured output	✅ JSON, CSV, Excel	❌ HTML pages only
Automated scheduling	✅ Daily/weekly monitoring	❌ Manual visits

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🚀 How to Use

1. Sign Up - Create a free account w/ $5 credit (takes 2 minutes)
2. Find the Scraper - Search for "NHTSA Vehicle Recalls Scraper" in the Apify Store
3. Set Input - Set the mode (recalls or complaints), vehicle make, model, and year
4. Run It - Click "Start" and let it collect your data
5. Download Data - Get your results in the "Dataset" tab as CSV, Excel, or JSON

Total Time: Single queries return in under 1 second. Broader searches take a few seconds. No Technical Skills Required: Everything is point-and-click

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💼 Business Use Cases

Car Buyers and Fleet Managers:

• Check recall history before purchasing a used vehicle
• Monitor recalls across all vehicles in your fleet
• Stay informed about active recalls for vehicles you own

Automotive Researchers and Legal Professionals:

• Analyze recall trends by manufacturer, component, or year
• Gather safety complaint data for automotive litigation
• Track safety issues and recall patterns across manufacturers

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✨ Why choose this Actor

	Capability
🎯	Built for the job. Scoped specifically to this data source so you skip the parser engineering entirely.
🔖	Structured output. Clean, typed fields ready for analysis, dashboards, or downstream pipelines.
⚡	Fast. Optimized request patterns return results in seconds, not minutes.
🔁	Always fresh. Every run pulls live data, so the dataset reflects the source as of run time.
🌐	No infra to manage. Apify handles proxies, retries, scaling, scheduling, and storage.
🛡️	Reliable. Battle-tested across many runs and edge cases, with graceful error handling.
🚫	No code required. Configure in the UI, run from CLI, schedule via cron, or call from any language with the Apify SDK.

📊 Production-grade structured data without the engineering overhead of building and maintaining your own scraper.

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📈 How it compares to alternatives

Approach	Cost	Coverage	Refresh	Filters	Setup
⭐ NHTSA Vehicle Recalls & Complaints Scraper (this Actor)	$5 free credit, then pay-per-use	Full source coverage	Live per run	Source-native filters supported	⚡ 2 min
Build your own scraper	Engineering hours	Full once built	Whenever you maintain it	Custom code	🐢 Days to weeks
Paid managed APIs	$$$ monthly	Vendor-defined	Live	Vendor-defined	⏳ Hours
Third-party data dumps	Varies	Subset, often stale	Periodic	None	🕒 Variable

Pick this Actor when you want broad coverage, server-side filtering, and no pipeline maintenance.

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🚀 How to use

1. 📝 Sign up. Create a free account with $5 credit (takes 2 minutes).
2. 🌐 Open the Actor. Go to the NHTSA Vehicle Recalls & Complaints Scraper page on the Apify Store.
3. 🎯 Set input. Configure the input fields in the form (or paste a JSON), then set maxItems.
4. 🚀 Run it. Click Start and let the Actor collect your data.
5. 📥 Download. Grab your results in the Dataset tab as CSV, Excel, JSON, or XML.

⏱️ Total time from signup to downloaded dataset: 3-5 minutes. No coding required.

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💼 Business use cases

📊 Data & Analytics Build trend reports and dashboards from live source data Feed BI tools, warehouses, and ML pipelines with structured records Run periodic snapshots to track changes over time Compare segments, regions, or categories with consistent fields	🏢 Operations & Strategy Monitor competitor moves, pricing, and inventory shifts Build internal directories and lookup tools backed by current data Power workflows that depend on fresh source records Cut manual data-gathering time from hours to minutes
🎯 Marketing & Growth Identify market opportunities and trending topics Research target audiences and customer personas at scale Power lead-generation pipelines with verified records Track sentiment, reviews, or social signals over time	🛠️ Engineering & Product Prototype features that need real-world data without owning a crawler Replace fragile in-house scrapers with a managed Actor Wire datasets into your apps via the Apify API or webhooks Skip the proxy, retry, and parsing maintenance entirely

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🌟 Beyond business use cases

Data like this powers more than commercial workflows. The same structured records support research, education, civic projects, and personal initiatives.

🎓 Research and academia Empirical datasets for papers, thesis work, and coursework Longitudinal studies tracking changes across snapshots Reproducible research with cited, versioned data pulls Classroom exercises on data analysis and ethical scraping	🎨 Personal and creative Side projects, portfolio demos, and indie app launches Data visualizations, dashboards, and infographics Content research for bloggers, YouTubers, and podcasters Hobbyist collections and personal trackers
🤝 Non-profit and civic Transparency reporting and accountability projects Advocacy campaigns backed by public-interest data Community-run databases for local issues Investigative journalism on public records	🧪 Experimentation Prototype AI and machine-learning pipelines with real data Validate product-market hypotheses before engineering spend Train small domain-specific models on niche corpora Test dashboard concepts with live input

🤖 Ask an AI assistant about this scraper

Open a ready-to-send prompt about this ParseForge actor in the AI of your choice:

• 💬 ChatGPT
• 🧠 Claude
• 🔍 Perplexity
• 🅒 Copilot

💰 How much does it cost?

Apify gives you $5 in free monthly credits on the Apify Free plan, enough to test NHTSA Vehicle Recalls & Complaints Scraper and pull a real sample dataset. For ongoing usage:

• Starter plan ($49/month) — Recommended for individuals running NHTSA Vehicle Recalls & Complaints Scraper regularly. Includes higher concurrency and larger datasets.
• Scale plan ($499/month) — Recommended for teams running NHTSA Vehicle Recalls & Complaints Scraper at production scale.

Pay-Per-Event pricing means you only pay for what you actually use. Failed runs are never charged. See the Pricing tab on this Actor's page for exact event prices.

💡 Tips for using NHTSA Vehicle Recalls & Complaints Scraper

• Start with a small maxItems (3-10) to validate output format before running larger jobs.
• Use Apify Schedules to run NHTSA Vehicle Recalls & Complaints Scraper on a recurring basis and keep your dataset fresh.
• Export via Integrations: Apify connects to Google Sheets, Airbyte, Make, Zapier, and direct webhooks — pipe your data anywhere.
• Monitor with webhooks: trigger downstream workflows the moment a run finishes.
• Re-run failed items: if any individual records error out, re-run with their inputs only. Failed events are not charged.

⚖️ Is it legal to use NHTSA Vehicle Recalls & Complaints Scraper?

Yes. NHTSA Vehicle Recalls & Complaints Scraper only collects publicly available data. Web scraping public data has been confirmed as legal by US courts (see hiQ Labs v. LinkedIn) and is widely used for research, market analysis, and business intelligence.

However, you are responsible for:

• Respecting the source website's Terms of Service.
• Complying with GDPR, CCPA, and other applicable data-protection laws when personal data is involved.
• Not republishing copyrighted content without permission.

If you have specific compliance concerns, consult your legal team. See the Apify legal docs for more.

❓ Frequently Asked Questions

🔌 Automating Your Workflows

For advanced users who want to automate this process, you can control the scraper programmatically with the Apify API.

• Node.js: Install the apify-client NPM package
• Python: Use the apify-client PyPI package
• See the Apify API reference for full details

🔌 Integrate NHTSA Scraper with any app

Last but not least, NHTSA Scraper can be connected with almost any cloud service or web app thanks to integrations on the Apify platform.

These include:

• Make - Automate vehicle safety monitoring workflows
• Zapier - Get alerts when new recalls match your criteria
• Slack - Get notified in your team channel
• Airbyte - Build data pipelines
• GitHub - Version control integration
• Google Drive - Export safety data to spreadsheets

Alternatively, you can use webhooks to carry out an action whenever an event occurs, e.g. get a notification whenever NHTSA Scraper successfully finishes a run.

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🔌 Integrate with any app

NHTSA Vehicle Recalls & Complaints Scraper connects to any cloud service via Apify integrations:

• Make - Automate multi-step workflows
• Zapier - Connect with 5,000+ apps
• Slack - Get run notifications in your channels
• Airbyte - Pipe results into your warehouse
• GitHub - Trigger runs from commits and releases
• Google Drive - Export datasets straight to Sheets

You can also use webhooks to trigger downstream actions when a run finishes. Push fresh data into your product backend, or alert your team in Slack.

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Pro Tip: 💡 Browse our complete collection of data collection actors to find the perfect tool for your business needs.

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🆘 Need Help?

• Check the FAQ section above for common questions
• Visit the Apify documentation for platform guides
• Contact us at Tally contact form

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⚠️ Disclaimer: This Actor is an independent tool and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by NHTSA, the U.S. Department of Transportation, or any government agency. All trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners.