Frequently asked questions

Answers about where the data comes from, how often it updates, why sales are not included, how to cite the site and how to use the data programmatically.

Are the complaints verified?

No. NHTSA publishes owner reports as filed, with personal details removed. Neither NHTSA nor this site checks whether an individual report is accurate. Patterns across many reports are meaningful; single reports are anecdotes.

Why not adjust for how many cars were sold?

Reliable sales figures by model year are not public in a form that can be joined to NHTSA data. We adjust for vehicle age and compare within brand, model year and segment, which removes most of the distortion. Popular models will still show more complaints; compare rates and indexes, not raw counts.

The data is American. Is it relevant elsewhere?

Most nameplates on this site are sold worldwide with the same engines and electronics, so the problem areas usually carry over. Recalls, however, are issued market by market. Use the data as a guide to what to look for, and check recalls with your own national authority.

How often is the site updated?

Once a month. Every page shows the date of the newest complaint in the data. The what's new page lists how many complaints and recalls were added since the previous edition.

What does "typical" or "far more" mean?

They are bands of the complaint index: far fewer below 0.50, fewer 0.50–0.79, typical 0.80–1.24, more 1.25–1.99, far more 2.00 and above. Details on the methodology page.

Why does an older model year have more complaints?

Because it has been on the road longer. That is why the main figure is complaints per year on the road, and why trends are measured on the first two years of each model year only.

Is any of this written by AI?

The analysis paragraphs are generated from templates: fixed sentences filled with computed figures, the same way a weather report is written. The short "analyst brief" on model and brand pages is written by a language model running on our own server, from the figures on the page; every number in it is checked against the data and the brief is discarded if any figure fails. Nothing on the site is copied from other websites.

Can I use the data?

Yes. The underlying records are U.S. government public data. Our computed figures are available at /api/index.json and described for AI systems at /llms.txt. Please cite the site and NHTSA.

I found an error.

Use the contact page and include the page URL and the ODI or campaign number.