Not safety advice
This site republishes a public record. It does not assess how dangerous a defect is, does not rank recalls by risk, and cannot tell you whether it is safe to drive a particular vehicle.
Where NHTSA and a manufacturer have issued a Do Not Drive or Park Outside advisory, that is reproduced as they issued it. The absence of an advisory is not a statement that a recall is minor.
A recall listed here may not apply to your vehicle
Recalls cover production ranges, and a range rarely covers every vehicle of that make, model and year. Two identical-looking cars built weeks apart can differ. Finding a recall on this site means it may apply to your vehicle, not that it does.
Nor can this site tell you whether a repair has already been done. That record sits with the manufacturer, and a used vehicle may well have been repaired before you bought it.
For a definitive answer on one vehicle, check the VIN at nhtsa.gov. That query reaches the manufacturer’s own completion record. No public dataset can answer it, including this one.
What the numbers mean
“Vehicles affected” is the manufacturer’s own estimate of the production population that could carry the defect. It is not a count of vehicles that failed, and not a count of confirmed faults.
Totals that sum vehicles across recalls count a twice-recalled vehicle twice. The methodology states how each published figure is derived.
Independence
This site is not affiliated with NHTSA, the US Department of Transportation, or any vehicle manufacturer, and is not endorsed by any of them. Manufacturer names appear only to identify whose vehicles a recall covers.
It is funded by advertising, which has no influence on what appears: the record is a copy of NHTSA’s and cannot be paid to change.
On free repairs
A recall repair is free under 49 U.S.C. § 30120, but not indefinitely: the obligation applies where the vehicle was first sold less than 15 years before the recall was announced, or 5 years for tires. Sources stating that recall repairs never expire are wrong.
Beyond those limits many manufacturers still carry out the work free of charge, but they are not required to. More on owner rights.