NHTSA Vehicle Intelligence MCP

AI agent access to NHTSA vehicle specifications, recall data, safety ratings, and complaint databases for any US vehicle.

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1. Purpose Statement

NHTSA Vehicle Intelligence MCP is an MCP (Model Context Protocol) server that gives AI agents direct access to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's vehicle databases. AI agents performing vehicle research, safety analysis, recall monitoring, or consumer complaint investigation can query NHTSA data in seconds without manual database navigation.

Built for: AI agents researching vehicle safety, investors evaluating automotive recall trends, consumers investigating vehicles before purchase, analysts monitoring vehicle complaints, and automotive researchers collecting vehicle specifications at scale.

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2. Quick Start

Add to your MCP client:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "nhtsa-vehicle-intelligence-mcp": {
      "url": "https://nhtsa-vehicle-intelligence-mcp.apify.actor/mcp"
    }
  }
}

AI agents can now query vehicle specifications, open recalls, US government safety ratings, and consumer complaints for any US vehicle by VIN or model year/make/model.

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3. When to Call This MCP

Use NHTSA Vehicle Intelligence MCP when you need to:

• Get vehicle specifications — Decode a VIN or look up specs by model year/make/model
• Find open recalls — Check if a vehicle has unaddressed safety recalls
• Check safety ratings — Get US Government 5-Star Safety Ratings for any vehicle
• Investigate complaints — Search consumer complaints by vehicle or component
• Vehicle due diligence — Research a vehicle's safety history before purchase
• Recall monitoring — Track recall trends by make/model/year
• Safety analysis — Compare crash ratings across similar vehicles
• Component research — Filter complaints by engine, brakes, electrical, etc.

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4. What Data Can You Access?

Data Type	Source	Example
Vehicle Specs	NHTSA vPIC API	Engine size, transmission, fuel type, safety equipment
Recall Data	NHTSA Recalls API	Open recalls by VIN or model
Safety Ratings	NHTSA Ratings API	5-Star Crash Ratings (frontal, side, rollover)
Complaints	NHTSA Complaints API	Consumer complaints, crashes, fires, injuries

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5. Why Use NHTSA Vehicle Intelligence MCP?

The problem: Researching vehicle safety requires navigating multiple NHTSA websites (vPIC, Recalls, SaferCar, ODI) with different interfaces and no unified API. For AI agents doing vehicle research, recall monitoring, or safety analysis, manual navigation wastes hours that could be spent on analysis.

The solution: AI agents use NHTSA Vehicle Intelligence MCP to query all NHTSA vehicle databases from a single MCP interface — getting specs, recalls, ratings, and complaints in seconds, with automatic retry on API failures and proper PPE charging.

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6. Tools

getVehicleSpecs

Get detailed vehicle specifications by VIN or model year/make/model. Returns engine specs, transmission, dimensions, fuel economy, and safety equipment.

getVehicleSpecs(vin="1G1JC524717673235")
getVehicleSpecs(modelYear=2022, make="Toyota", model="Camry", trim="SE")

getRecallData

Get open recalls for a vehicle by VIN, or all recalls by model year/make/model. Returns recall number, component, consequence, and remedy details.

getRecallData(vin="1G1JC524717673235")
getRecallData(modelYear=2021, make="Ford", model="F-150")

getSafetyRatings

Get US Government Safety Ratings for a vehicle by Vehicle ID (VID) or model year/make/model. Returns Overall Rating, Frontal Crash, Side Crash, Rollover ratings.

getSafetyRatings(vehicleId="12455")
getSafetyRatings(modelYear=2023, make="Tesla", model="Model Y")

getComplaints

Get consumer complaints for a vehicle by VIN or model year/make/model. Returns complaint count, crash counts, fire counts, and complaint details. Filter by component.

getComplaints(vin="1G1JC524717673235")
getComplaints(modelYear=2020, make="Honda", model="CR-V", component="ENGINE")

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7. Pricing

NHTSA Vehicle Intelligence MCP uses Apify's Pay Per Event (PPE) pricing:

Tool	Price
getVehicleSpecs	$0.02
getRecallData	$0.02
getSafetyRatings	$0.03
getComplaints	$0.03

All prices in USD per tool call. No API keys required — NHTSA APIs are public.

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8. Setup

1. Clone or download this actor
2. Run: npm install
3. Start: npm start
4. Add to your MCP client using the URL above

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9. API Endpoints Used

• vPIC API: https://vpic.nhtsa.nhtsa.dot.gov/api/vehicles — Vehicle specifications
• Recalls API: https://api.nhtsa.gov/recalls/recallsByVehicle — Open recall data
• Ratings API: NHTSA 5-Star Safety Ratings
• Complaints API: https://api.nhtsa.gov/complaints/complaintsByVehicle — Consumer complaints

All NHTSA APIs are public and require no authentication.

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10. Error Handling

• ERROR_RETRY: Failed API calls are automatically retried up to 3 times with exponential backoff
• Rate limiting: 500ms gap between requests to respect NHTSA API limits
• Timeout handling: 30 second timeout for all HTTP requests
• Graceful degradation: Returns partial results when possible (e.g., spec decode with missing fields)

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11. Architecture

• Standby MCP: Listens on /mcp endpoint for MCP protocol calls
• Direct mode: Also accepts tool + params input via Apify actor input
• handleRunFunction: Exports handleRequest for direct function calls
• PPE charging: Automatically charges per tool call after successful execution
• Health check: /health endpoint for container readiness probes