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policyVehicle Safety Explorer

Data Methodology

Data Sources

All data is sourced from NHTSA's public APIs and data files:

  • Complaints API: api.nhtsa.gov/complaints/complaintsByVehicle — individual owner-reported complaints by make, model, and year.
  • FLAT_CMPL flat file: NHTSA's bulk complaint download, used as the primary complaints source for higher coverage and faster import.
  • Recalls API: api.nhtsa.gov/recalls/recallsByVehicle — official recall campaigns by make, model, and year.
  • Safety Ratings API: api.nhtsa.gov/SafetyRatings — NCAP crash test ratings by make, model, and year.
  • vPIC API: vpic.nhtsa.dot.gov/api — vehicle make and model identification.

Coverage

We currently track 45 makes and 346 models covering model years 2000 through 2024. Of those, 0 meet our data floor criteria and have published safety profile pages. The database contains 152,193 owner complaints, 531 recall campaigns, and 438 safety ratings sourced from NHTSA.

Indexability Criteria

A vehicle-year page is published only if it meets at least one of these data floor criteria:

  • At least 1 recall on record, OR
  • At least 5 complaints on record, OR
  • A safety rating is available AND at least 1 complaint or recall exists

Vehicle-years that don't meet these criteria are excluded to avoid publishing empty pages.

Complaint Data Disclaimer

Complaints are unverified consumer reportssubmitted directly to NHTSA. They may contain inaccuracies, duplicates, or subjective descriptions. A high complaint count does not necessarily indicate a safety defect — it may reflect a vehicle's popularity. Always consult a qualified mechanic for vehicle-specific safety concerns.

Extended Safety Data

For vehicles with NHTSA safety ratings, we display additional data from the detailed NCAP endpoint including:

  • Driver-side and passenger-side specific frontal crash ratings
  • Driver-side and passenger-side specific side crash ratings
  • Side barrier and side pole separate ratings
  • Rollover probability as a percentage
  • Official NHTSA crash test photographs (frontal and side impact images hosted by NHTSA)
  • Safety feature availability: Electronic Stability Control (ESC), Forward Collision Warning (FCW), and Lane Departure Warning (LDW)

Not all fields are available for every vehicle — display depends on what NHTSA has published for that specific model year and variant.

Component-Specific Pages

Each vehicle-year page links to component-specific complaint breakdowns (e.g., engine problems, brake problems, steering problems). These pages show only complaints classified under that component category by NHTSA. We group NHTSA's raw component labels into 14 standardized categories for clarity.

Update Frequency

Data is refreshed regularly via automated sync jobs. The "Last Updated" date on each page reflects when that vehicle's data was last synchronized with NHTSA.