A data reference for vehicle complaints, recalls, and crash-test ratings — built entirely on public U.S. federal safety data.
Car Issues Tracker aggregates and summarizes three public datasets published by the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA): consumer complaints filed with the Office of Defects Investigation, vehicle recall campaigns, and NCAP crash-test ratings. Every number on this site traces back to those sources.
Data is retrieved from NHTSA's public APIs and refreshed weekly. For each vehicle we compute complaint totals, the vehicle systems cited, filing timelines, severity indicators (crashes, fires, injuries, deaths as reported by consumers), recall histories, and crash-test ratings. Complaint excerpts are quoted verbatim from the public record.
Important caveats: complaints are self-reported by consumers and are not verified by NHTSA or by this site. Complaint volume is influenced by fleet size, media attention, and recall notices — it is not by itself a defect rate. A single complaint may cite multiple vehicle systems.
We are not affiliated with NHTSA or any vehicle manufacturer. Nothing here is repair, purchase, or legal advice. For decisions about a specific vehicle, use the official NHTSA VIN lookup and consult a qualified technician.