This site uses public information from the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Works of the U.S. federal government are generally not subject to copyright in the United States. NHTSA does not endorse this site.
1. NHTSA recalls flat file
- File
- FLAT_RCL_POST_2010.zip (campaigns with reports received since 2010)
- Publisher
- National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), Office of Defects Investigation
- Server date of the file
- October 9, 2026
- Retrieved
- October 9, 2026
- Size · SHA-256
- 14,904,543 bytes · 1667436d75641ec37b860982c1ff62cbcacaf86330c3a15ce5ca1c42f602ded5
- Latest report date in the file
- October 6, 2026
- Field definitions
- RCL.txt data dictionary
Of 245,846 rows in the file, 219,083 are vehicle recalls; 95,889 rows match the inclusion criteria and form 3,620 campaigns on 2,668 model-year pages. NHTSA lists the file as the agency data series for recalls on its Datasets and APIs page.
2. NHTSA vPIC
The vPIC API decodes VINs from the information manufacturers submit under 49 CFR 565. Your browser calls DecodeVinValues only when you request a full decode. The WMI table was built from 20 GetWMIsForManufacturer responses retrieved October 4, 2026, keeping 413 three-character codes for passenger cars, multipurpose vehicles and trucks.
3. NHTSA recalls API
The recall lookup calls api.nhtsa.gov from your browser for the make and model lists (products/vehicle) and for campaigns by model year, make and model (recalls/recallsByVehicle). Results are shown as returned and are not stored.
4. Regulations and NHTSA publications
- 49 CFR Part 565 — VIN content, check digit and model-year codes.
- 49 CFR 577.7 and 49 CFR 573.13 — owner notification and reimbursement.
- 49 U.S.C. § 30120 — remedies without charge and their limits.
- Motor Vehicle Safety Defects and Recalls (NHTSA, revised November 2024) and NHTSA.gov/recalls.
Corrections
Recall text is reproduced from NHTSA. If a record looks wrong, compare it with the campaign on NHTSA.gov and see contact and corrections.