# Vehicle Recalls and Complaints (NHTSA) (`agentictools/vehicle-recalls-complaints`) Actor

Look up US vehicle safety recalls and owner complaints from NHTSA by make, model, and year, or by VIN. Official NHTSA data.

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

## Pricing

$1.00 / 1,000 record returneds

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/platform/actors/running/actors-in-store#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are web data automations that power AI and operations. They run on the Apify platform to scrape websites, process data, connect APIs, and automate workflows.
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.
Actors are written with capital "A".

## 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.
The best way to integrate Actors is as follows.

- **AI agents and MCP clients** — the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md) at `https://mcp.apify.com` (remote, streamable HTTP, OAuth on first use).
- **Agentic workflows and local Actor development** — [Agent Skills](https://apify.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json) with the [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): `npm install -g apify-cli`, then `apify login`.
- **JavaScript/TypeScript projects** — the official [JS/TS client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md): `npm install apify-client`.
- **Python projects** — the official [Python client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md): `pip install apify-client`.
- **Any other language** — the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md).

For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below.

For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt).

# README

## Vehicle Recalls and Complaints (NHTSA)

Look up US vehicle safety recalls and owner complaints from NHTSA by make, model, and year, or by VIN. Official NHTSA data.

### What it does

- Fetches safety recalls (campaign number, component, summary, consequence, remedy, report date) for each vehicle.
- Fetches owner complaints (ODI number, component, summary, crash, fire, injuries, deaths, incident date) for each vehicle.
- Accepts vehicles as make, model, and year, or as VINs. VINs are decoded to make, model, and year with the NHTSA vPIC decoder before lookup.
- Normalizes all dates to YYYY-MM-DD and exports flat records to a dataset, plus a run summary in the OUTPUT key-value store record.

### Input

| Field | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| `vehicles` | array | Vehicles to look up. Each entry is `{"make": "Tesla", "model": "Model 3", "year": 2022}`. |
| `vins` | array | VINs to look up. Each VIN is decoded to make, model, and year, then queried like a vehicle. |
| `include` | array | Record types to fetch: `recalls`, `complaints`, or both. Defaults to both. |
| `maxItems` | integer | Cap on the total number of records across all vehicles. Default 500, max 10000. |

At least one vehicle or one VIN is required.

Example:

```json
{
  "vehicles": [{ "make": "Tesla", "model": "Model 3", "year": 2022 }],
  "include": ["recalls", "complaints"]
}
```

### Output

One dataset item per recall or complaint. The `source` field says which one it is, and the shared `component`, `summary`, and `date` fields work for both. A recall record:

```json
{
  "source": "recall",
  "make": "Tesla",
  "model": "Model 3",
  "year": 2022,
  "vin": null,
  "campaignNumber": "24V376000",
  "component": "SEAT BELTS:FRONT:WARNING LIGHT/DEVICES",
  "summary": "Tesla, Inc. (Tesla) is recalling certain 2012-2024 Model S, 2015-2024 Model X, 2017-2023 Model 3, and 2020-2023 Model Y vehicles.  In the event of an unbelted driver, the seat belt warning light and audible chime may not activate as intended.  As such, these vehicles fail to comply with the requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard number 208, \"Occupant Crash Protection.\"",
  "consequence": "A seat belt warning system that fails to alert occupants of an unbelted seat belt can increase the risk of injury during a crash.",
  "remedy": "Tesla will release an over-the-air (OTA) software update.  Owner notification letters were mailed July 26, 2024.  Owners may contact Tesla customer service at 1-877-798-3752.  Tesla's number for this recall is SB-24-00-008.",
  "reportDate": "2024-05-28",
  "overTheAirUpdate": true,
  "date": "2024-05-28"
}
```

Complaint records use `source: "complaint"` and carry `odiNumber`, `crash`, `fire`, `injuries`, `deaths`, `incidentDate`, and `filedDate` instead of the recall-specific fields. The `vin` field is set only for records that came from a VIN lookup.

### Pricing

Pay per result, plus standard Apify platform usage.

### Data source

Official NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) public APIs: the recalls API, the complaints API, and the vPIC VIN decoder at api.nhtsa.gov and vpic.nhtsa.dot.gov. No API key is needed. The endpoints return the full result set per vehicle in a single response, and the Actor retries rate-limit and server errors with backoff. NHTSA covers US-market vehicles only.

# Actor input Schema

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

Vehicles to look up. Each entry is an object with "make", "model", and "year", for example {"make": "Tesla", "model": "Model 3", "year": 2022}. At least one vehicle or one VIN is required.

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

Vehicle Identification Numbers to look up. Each VIN is decoded to make, model, and year with the NHTSA vPIC decoder, then recalls and complaints are fetched for that vehicle.

## `include` (type: `array`):

Which record types to fetch for each vehicle. Defaults to both safety recalls and owner complaints.

## `maxItems` (type: `integer`):

Cap on the total number of records pushed to the dataset across all vehicles.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "vehicles": [
    {
      "make": "Tesla",
      "model": "Model 3",
      "year": 2022
    }
  ],
  "vins": [
    "5YJ3E1EA8NF186961"
  ],
  "include": [
    "recalls",
    "complaints"
  ],
  "maxItems": 500
}
```

# 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 = {
    "vehicles": [
        {
            "make": "Tesla",
            "model": "Model 3",
            "year": 2022
        }
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("agentictools/vehicle-recalls-complaints").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 = { "vehicles": [{
            "make": "Tesla",
            "model": "Model 3",
            "year": 2022,
        }] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("agentictools/vehicle-recalls-complaints").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print("💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/" + run["defaultDatasetId"])
for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "vehicles": [
    {
      "make": "Tesla",
      "model": "Model 3",
      "year": 2022
    }
  ]
}' |
apify call agentictools/vehicle-recalls-complaints --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "mcp-remote",
                "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=agentictools/vehicle-recalls-complaints",
                "--header",
                "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR_API_TOKEN>"
            ]
        }
    }
}

```

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/sywPV3mKi0208jpks/builds/j1Nizc22DWTbzs9TG/openapi.json