RoadVitals

Recall check by VIN

Enter a VIN and we will decode it, then list every NHTSA safety recall campaign in our database that names that make, model and year — with the defect, the risk and the remedy in NHTSA’s own words.

Recalls apply to specific vehicles, not to every vehicle of a model year. Check your VIN with NHTSA or your manufacturer's dealer to confirm whether a recall affects your vehicle.

Check a VIN on NHTSA.gov

Your VIN stays private. It is sent to this site only to be decoded, it is never part of a page we publish, and RoadVitals never creates a page for a VIN. If a VIN does reach the address bar — handed over from the search box, or pasted in — it is stripped out before the lookup runs. We do not store the VIN itself: the decode cache is keyed on a salted hash.

17 characters. Look on the driver’s door jamb, at the base of the windscreen on the driver’s side, or on your registration or insurance documents. A VIN never contains the letters I, O or Q.

What this check can and cannot answer

The distinction matters more here than anywhere else on the site

Which recall campaigns cover this model year?

We can answer this

Yes. We hold NHTSA's published recall data and link each campaign to the make, model and year it names, with the defect description, the safety consequence and the free remedy.

What have owners of this vehicle reported to NHTSA?

We can answer this

Yes, where we hold records. Owner-reported complaints for the decoded model year are on that vehicle's page. NHTSA does not verify most reports before publishing them, and a complaint does not establish that a defect exists. Safety investigations and manufacturer communications are listed there too, as separate kinds of record.

Does this specific vehicle have an open recall right now?

We cannot answer this

No — and no third-party site can. A campaign covers a list of VINs, not every vehicle of a model year, and once a dealer performs the repair the recall is closed for that vehicle. Only NHTSA and the manufacturer hold both facts.

Has the recall work already been done on this vehicle?

We cannot answer this

No. Repair records live with the manufacturer and its dealer network. NHTSA's VIN lookup reflects them; we have no access to them at all.

NHTSA’s lookup is free, takes a VIN directly, and is the only source that can answer the last two questions. Recall repairs are performed free of charge by a franchised dealer.

Check a VIN on NHTSA.gov

Recently issued recalls

The newest campaigns in our copy of NHTSA's recall data

All recalls

Recalls apply to specific vehicles, not to every vehicle of a model year. Check your VIN with NHTSA or your manufacturer's dealer to confirm whether a recall affects your vehicle.

Recalls, investigations and bulletins are three different things

They are routinely reported as if they were the same

Safety recall
A safety recall is issued when a manufacturer or NHTSA determines that a vehicle has a safety-related defect or does not comply with a federal motor vehicle safety standard. Recall repairs are free. Whether a specific vehicle is covered depends on its VIN — a recall listed for a model year does not necessarily apply to every vehicle of that year.
Safety investigation
NHTSA opens an investigation to examine whether a safety defect may exist. An open investigation is not a determination that a defect exists, and many investigations close without a recall. Investigations can, however, lead to one.
Manufacturer communication
Manufacturers file copies of the bulletins they send to dealers with NHTSA. These often describe diagnostic or repair procedures for a known condition. They are not recalls: repairs described in a bulletin are usually only free if the vehicle is still under warranty or the manufacturer has extended coverage.