Vehicle Recall

Recalls by type

86.9% of US safety recalls are vehicle recalls — 26,351 of 30,320 campaigns. The rest cover equipment, tires and child seats, which are recalled by the company that made the part rather than by a vehicle manufacturer.

Vehicle
26,351
Equipment
2,864
Tire
788
Child restraint
253

Campaigns by type

  1. Vehicle86.9%26,351 recalls
  2. Equipment9.4%2,864 recalls
  3. Tire2.6%788 recalls
  4. Child restraint0.8%253 recalls
  5. Other0.2%64 recalls

Units covered by each type

TypeCampaignsShareUnits affectedAverage size
Vehicle26,35186.9%1,003,335,91638,076
Equipment2,8649.4%225,148,82278,613
Tire7882.6%63,510,85380,598
Child restraint2530.8%63,733,336251,910
Other640.2%33,103,063517,235

Equipment and tire campaigns are far larger on average than vehicle campaigns, because one part is fitted across many manufacturers’ vehicles. See the largest recalls.

About this figure

Types come from NHTSA’s own RCLTYPECD field. Two codes appear in the data that the published file layout does not document; those campaigns are shown as “Other” rather than guessed at.

“Units affected” counts vehicles for a vehicle recall and parts for an equipment recall, so the column is not a single population and the totals should not be added together.

Compiled from NHTSA’s published recall files, which are US government open data and rebuilt daily. Figures on this page reflect the record as of 18 September 2026. Read the methodology, or check a specific vehicle at nhtsa.gov.