Independent · Not affiliated with NHTSA or any automaker
See every recall campaign NHTSA lists for a model year, with the official text and how many cars have been repaired, then check your own VIN on NHTSA's free lookup.
Pick a year, make and model to open its report at the recalls section.
Why we send you to NHTSA: only NHTSA and your automaker know whether your specific car was repaired. Their free lookup opens in a new tab and takes about 10 seconds. We don't keep the VIN.
Newest NHTSA filing date first. Source: NHTSA recalls file and US DOT completion data, retrieved Oct 6, 2026.
Vehicle recalls are routine. In a typical year automakers file roughly 800 to 1,000 vehicle recall campaigns with NHTSA, and together they cover around 30 million vehicles. The table counts every vehicle campaign in our copy of NHTSA's recall file by the year it was filed, with the median share of vehicles reported repaired.
| Year filed | Campaigns | Vehicles potentially affected | Median repaired | Do not drive | Park outside |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 (so far) | 611 | 32.7 million | 35% | 12 | 19 |
| 2025 | 891 | 29.3 million | 70% | 16 | 18 |
| 2024 | 950 | 29.4 million | 82% | 23 | 9 |
| 2023 | 894 | 34.8 million | 88% | 17 | 20 |
| 2022 | 933 | 31.2 million | 86% | 18 | 14 |
| 2021 | 988 | 29.3 million | 88% | 17 | 11 |
| 2020 | 782 | 31.3 million | 88% | 11 | 7 |
| 2019 | 880 | 38.6 million | 83% | 12 | 1 |
| 2018 | 912 | 30.1 million | 80% | 20 | 1 |
| 2017 | 810 | 30.7 million | 77% | 14 | 0 |
| 2016 | 919 | 50.2 million | 80% | 16 | 0 |
Source: NHTSA recalls flat file and the manufacturers' completion figures published by the US DOT, retrieved Oct 6, 2026. Median repaired uses campaigns with a reported rate. NHTSA's own year-end tally, which uses its own counting rules, put 2025 at 997 vehicle safety recalls affecting more than 29 million vehicles.
Recent campaigns look poorly repaired because owners are still getting letters and parts are still shipping. The older rows are the honest measure: for campaigns filed five or more years ago, the median is about 83% repaired, and many campaigns finish far lower. That leaves roughly 17% of recalled vehicles still on the road with the defect, often because the car changed hands and the letter went to a previous owner. The National Safety Council's Check to Protect campaign puts the total at 57 million vehicles with an open recall, or 1 in 5.
Recall campaigns filed with NHTSA so far in 2026 for vehicles in our catalog, grouped by the first component NHTSA lists. Electrical campaigns include many software fixes, and rear-camera campaigns are usually failures to meet the federal rear-visibility standard. Source: NHTSA, retrieved Oct 6, 2026.
A VIN check is the only way to know whether a recall still needs doing on your specific car. Model-year lists like ours tell you which campaigns apply to the model; the VIN check tells you which of them are still open on yours.
NHTSA's own help text lists the gaps. A VIN search won't show recalls that are already repaired, recalls so new that the maker hasn't loaded the VINs yet, recalls more than 15 years old (unless the manufacturer offers longer coverage), recalls by some small or ultra-luxury manufacturers, non-safety service campaigns, or recalls on vehicles built for another country. If your car is new to a recall list, check again in a few weeks.
To see every campaign that has ever applied to a model year, including repaired and older ones, open its PlainVIN report. Start with the VIN decoder or the year, make and model picker above.
Yes for most cars, but not all. Several popular answers say recall repairs are free "regardless of the car's age." The statute is more precise: the manufacturer must remedy a safety defect without charge, and that duty stops for older vehicles.
“The requirement that a remedy be provided without charge does not apply if the motor vehicle or replacement equipment was bought by the first purchaser more than 15 calendar years … before notice is given.”49 U.S.C. 30120(g)(1)
In practice: a car first sold in 2010 that is recalled in 2026 is past the 15-year line, so the maker may charge for the fix. For tires, the line is 5 years. Some automakers repair older vehicles anyway, so it's worth asking. Ownership doesn't matter: second and later owners get the same free remedy, and you don't need to have bought the car from that dealer or still have a warranty.
| Situation | Free remedy? |
|---|---|
| Car under 15 years from first sale to the recall notice | Yes, at any franchised dealer for the brand |
| Second or later owner, no warranty | Yes, ownership and warranty don't matter |
| Car first sold more than 15 years before the notice | Not required by law; some makers still cover it |
| Tire first sold more than 5 years before the notice | Not required by law |
| You paid for the same repair before the recall | The maker's remedy plan must include reimbursement for repairs made a reasonable time before notification |
Source: 49 U.S.C. 30120 (a), (d) and (g). This is general information, not legal advice.
A safety recall starts when a manufacturer, or NHTSA after an investigation, decides that a vehicle or part has a safety-related defect or doesn't meet a Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard. Owner complaints filed with NHTSA are often the first signal: when similar reports pile up, the agency screens them and can open an investigation. Most recalls, though, are launched voluntarily by the manufacturer before NHTSA steps in.
The manufacturer files a defect report with NHTSA, which assigns the campaign number and publishes the summary, the consequence and the remedy. Owners on record must be notified by first-class mail no later than 60 days after that report is filed. The remedy is the manufacturer's choice: a repair, which covers almost every campaign today, often including a software update; a replacement vehicle; or a refund less depreciation.
After that, the maker reports progress to NHTSA every quarter, and NHTSA publishes completion rates. You can read what owners reported for any model year, the raw material of many investigations, on its PlainVIN report, and the methodology page explains how we match recalls to model years.
Federal law treats new and used cars differently. A dealer can't sell or lease a new vehicle with an open recall until it is fixed, and since 2016 rental companies can't rent out a car with an open recall once they've been notified. No federal rule stops a private seller or a used-car lot from selling a car with an open recall, so it's on you to check.
Source: 49 U.S.C. 30120(i); some states add their own disclosure rules.
Campaign counts cover every model year in our catalog, so long-running, high-volume models naturally have more. Compare model years on each page before judging a model.
Yes. NHTSA's VIN lookup at nhtsa.gov/recalls, your automaker's recall page and the CARFAX-run Check to Protect site all check for open safety recalls at no cost and without an account. PlainVIN's model-year recall lists are free too.
No, as long as the vehicle qualifies. Federal law requires the manufacturer to remedy a safety defect without charge, and the automaker pays its dealer for the work. The exception: a vehicle first bought more than 15 calendar years before the recall notice (5 years for tires) is not covered by the free-remedy rule (49 U.S.C. 30120(g)). You can turn down any extra services the dealer suggests during the visit.
The recall itself doesn't expire: it stays open until the remedy is done, even if the car has been sold several times. What can lapse is the right to a free fix on very old cars (more than 15 years from first sale to the recall notice), and a tire must be presented within 180 days of the notice or of the replacement becoming available.
Rarely. The manufacturer chooses the remedy: repair the vehicle, replace it with an identical or reasonably equivalent one, or refund the price less depreciation. Almost all campaigns are repairs or software updates. If a repair isn't done adequately within 60 days of presenting the car, the law treats that as evidence the maker must replace the vehicle or refund it.
CARFAX runs a free recall check by VIN or plate, and its reports flag open recalls it knows about. For the authoritative answer on a specific car, use NHTSA's VIN lookup or the automaker, which hold the repair records.
Enter your 17-character VIN on NHTSA's recall lookup or your automaker's recall page. "0 unrepaired recalls" means none are open for that VIN at that manufacturer. PlainVIN lists campaigns by model year, so it can't see which individual cars were repaired.
So far in 2026, 611 vehicle recall campaigns covering about 32.7 million vehicles have been filed with NHTSA, by our count of NHTSA's recall file. The newest are listed at the top of this page; filter by make or component, or open a model's recall page.
NHTSA gives every recall a campaign number such as 23V858000. The first two digits are the year it was filed, and V means a vehicle recall (E is equipment, T tires, C child seats). The automaker also has its own number for the same recall. Quote either one to your dealer.
It's the most urgent warning a recall can carry: the manufacturer and NHTSA say owners should not drive the vehicle until the repair is done, usually because of a serious risk such as an air-bag inflator rupture. Ask the dealer to tow it in. "Park outside" means there's a fire risk even when the car is off. Our Do Not Drive recall list covers every campaign with this warning.
It is the share of affected vehicles the manufacturer reports as repaired in its quarterly reports to NHTSA, which the law requires NHTSA to publish. A low rate on an old campaign means many cars may still be unrepaired, which matters if you are buying one.
Data compiled automatically from the official files listed here.