About Car Recall Tracker
Car Recall Tracker republishes U.S. vehicle safety recall notices from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) public API and adds a short explanation in everyday language: what is wrong, how serious it is, and what an owner should do next.
The explanations, problem guides and used-car notes are generated automatically from the official notice text. They can contain errors and are not legal or mechanical advice. The official notice, shown on every page, is the authoritative source. If something looks wrong, please email t4n0321@gmail.com.
What the severity labels mean
Every recall is a safety defect by definition, so none of them should be ignored. The label is our own rough ranking, assigned automatically from the wording of the official notice. It is not an NHTSA rating.
| Label | What it means here |
|---|---|
| critical | The notice tells owners to stop driving or to park outside, or describes a fire risk or a failure that can cause a crash with no warning. |
| high | A core safety system (brakes, steering, air bags, seat belts, engine stalling) may not work when needed. |
| medium | A real safety risk, but one that usually gives warning or matters only in particular conditions, such as a rear camera image that fails to display. |
| low | Labelling, documentation or minor compliance problems with little direct effect on how the vehicle drives. |
Owner complaint figures come from NHTSA's public complaints database. We publish counts only. Complaints are unverified reports from owners, and models that sell in larger numbers naturally collect more of them, so a high count is not proof of a defect. The watchlist compares complaint areas with recall areas by broad category and can miss a recall filed under a different label.
We cover model years 2018 and newer. Data is refreshed daily. This site is independent and is not affiliated with NHTSA or any vehicle manufacturer.