NHTSA Vehicle Safety Data Scraper

Extract vehicle safety data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) — the definitive source for vehicle recalls, consumer complaints, and safety investigations in the United States. This Actor wraps the official NHTSA API to deliver structured data covering every vehicle make, model, and year on US roads.

NHTSA data is essential for automotive industry intelligence, vehicle purchase decisions, fleet management, insurance risk assessment, and consumer safety research. Whether you need recall history for a specific model or complaint trends across an entire manufacturer, this Actor delivers clean, structured results.

Key Features

Feature	Description
Three datasets	Recalls, Consumer Complaints, and Safety Investigations
Make/model/year filtering	Search by manufacturer, model, and model year
All vehicle makes	Toyota, Ford, Tesla, Honda, BMW, and every other manufacturer
Rich detail	Recall summaries, complaint narratives, investigation status, injury/fatality counts
No authentication	Uses the free public NHTSA API — no API key needed
Automatic pagination	Handles paginated investigation results automatically

What Data Can You Extract?

Recalls

Field	Description
nhtsaCampaignNumber	Unique recall campaign number
manufacturer	Vehicle manufacturer
make, model, modelYear	Vehicle identification
subject	Recall subject (brief description)
component	Affected component
summary	Full recall description
consequence	What can happen if not fixed
remedy	Manufacturer's fix

Complaints

Field	Description
odiNumber	ODI complaint number
manufacturer, make, model, modelYear	Vehicle identification
component	Affected component
summary	Consumer's complaint narrative
crash	Whether a crash was reported
fire	Whether a fire was reported
numberOfInjuries	Injury count
numberOfDeaths	Fatality count

Investigations

Field	Description
investigationNumber	NHTSA investigation ID
make, model, modelYear	Vehicle identification
subject	Investigation subject
summary	Investigation description
dateOpened	Date investigation was opened
status	Open, Closed, or Active

How to Scrape NHTSA Vehicle Safety Data

1. Go to this Actor's page on the Apify Store
2. Click "Start" to open the input form
3. Set your filters:
   • Select a Data Type: Recalls, Complaints, or Investigations
   • Enter a Vehicle Make (required) — e.g., Toyota, Ford, Tesla
   • Enter a Vehicle Model (optional) — e.g., Camry, F-150, Model 3
   • Enter a Model Year (optional) — e.g., 2024
   • Set Max Results (default: 100; set to 0 for all)
4. Click "Start" to run the Actor
5. Download your data in JSON, CSV, or Excel format from the Dataset tab

Input Example

{
    "dataType": "recalls",
    "make": "Tesla",
    "model": "Model 3",
    "modelYear": "2024",
    "maxResults": 50
}

Output Example

{
    "nhtsaCampaignNumber": "24V456000",
    "manufacturer": "Tesla, Inc.",
    "make": "TESLA",
    "model": "MODEL 3",
    "modelYear": "2024",
    "subject": "Rearview Camera Image May Not Display",
    "component": "VISIBILITY/CAMERA",
    "summary": "Tesla, Inc. is recalling certain 2024 Model 3 vehicles...",
    "consequence": "A rearview camera image that does not display may reduce the driver's view...",
    "remedy": "Tesla will perform an over-the-air (OTA) software update, free of charge."
}

Pricing

This Actor uses pay-per-result pricing:

Event	Price
Actor start	$0.00005
Per result	$0.002

The NHTSA API is free and public. You only pay for Apify compute resources plus the per-result fee above. A typical run of 100 records costs approximately $0.20 in Actor fees plus minimal compute costs.

Use Cases

• Automotive Research: Track recall trends by manufacturer, model, or component for industry analysis
• Vehicle Purchase Decisions: Check recall and complaint history before buying a specific make/model/year
• Fleet Management: Monitor recalls across your vehicle fleet and prioritize service appointments
• Insurance Risk Assessment: Evaluate vehicle safety records for underwriting and claims analysis
• Legal Research: Find complaint and investigation data for automotive litigation
• Consumer Safety Advocacy: Analyze injury and fatality trends across vehicle types

Integrations

Connect this Actor to your existing workflows:

• Export to Google Sheets for collaborative analysis
• Send results to Slack or email for automated alerts
• Feed into Zapier, Make, or n8n for custom automation
• Use the Apify API to integrate directly with your application

FAQ

Q: How current is the data? A: NHTSA updates their database continuously as new recalls are issued, complaints are filed, and investigations are opened or closed.

Q: Can I search all models for a manufacturer? A: Yes. Enter just the make (e.g., "Toyota") and leave the model field empty to get results for all models.

Q: What's the difference between recalls and investigations? A: Recalls are confirmed safety defects where the manufacturer must provide a free fix. Investigations are preliminary reviews by NHTSA that may or may not lead to a recall.

Q: Are all vehicle types covered? A: NHTSA covers passenger vehicles, trucks, motorcycles, buses, and other motor vehicles. Tire and child seat recalls are also available through the recalls endpoint.

Legal Disclaimer

This Actor accesses publicly available data from the NHTSA API, a free public service provided by the U.S. Department of Transportation. The data is in the public domain and freely available for any use.

This Actor does not bypass any authentication, does not violate any terms of service, and respects rate limits on the NHTSA API. The Actor is provided as-is without warranty. Users are responsible for ensuring their use of the data complies with applicable laws and regulations.

For questions or support, please open an issue on this Actor's page.