Data sources
Where every record comes from, how fresh it is, and what is not covered.
| Data | Agency source | Updated | License | Known gaps |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vehicle recalls | NHTSA recall records (nhtsa.gov/recalls) | Daily (10:00 UTC) | U.S. government work, public domain | Cars: 89 makes of passenger cars, SUVs, minivans and pickups, all model years. Other NHTSA vehicle types (heavy trucks, buses, trailers) are in Other vehicles, listed by maker, served by /v1/recalls/{id} only. Equipment other than car seats and tires is not included. |
| Motorcycle and RV recalls | NHTSA recall records | Daily (10:00 UTC) | Public domain | Motorcycles and scooters; RVs only from a reviewed list of RV makers. Helmets, all-terrain vehicles, boats and utility trailers are not included. Served by /v1/recalls/{id} only, not /v1/vehicles. |
| Car seat, tire and car equipment recalls | NHTSA equipment recalls | Daily (10:00 UTC) | Public domain | Listed by brand. Helmets and other motorcycle equipment are included only where NHTSA lists them as equipment recalls. |
| Consumer product recalls | CPSC recall API (cpsc.gov/Recalls) | Daily (09:30 UTC) | Public domain | CPSC's own safety warnings, issued without a recall, are not included. CPSC gives no brand field, so brands are read from titles. |
| Food recalls | FDA enforcement reports and recall announcements (fda.gov) | Daily (09:30 UTC) | Public domain | Enforcement reports lag press releases by days to weeks. USDA FSIS meat, poultry and egg notices are imported by hand and updated periodically, not daily. |
| Meat, poultry and egg recalls and public health alerts (alerts are not recalls) | USDA FSIS (fsis.usda.gov) | Periodically, not daily: FSIS blocks automated requests, so we import files saved by hand | Public domain (U.S. government work) | Can be days or weeks behind FSIS. Where FSIS's data has no page for a notice, the link goes to FSIS's recalls page. |
| Canada: vehicle, consumer product and food notices | Government of Canada recalls and safety alerts open data (recalls-rappels.canada.ca) | Daily (09:40 UTC) | Open Government Licence – Canada | The feed has a last-updated date but no make, model, year or recall date. Drugs, medical devices and natural health products are not included. |
| UK food alerts | UK Food Standards Agency food alerts (data.food.gov.uk) | Daily (09:40 UTC) | Open Government Licence v3.0 | Alerts since 2018. |
| EU product safety alerts | EU Safety Gate (RAPEX) weekly reports (ec.europa.eu) | Daily (09:40 UTC) | Creative Commons CC0 1.0 (European Commission open data) | Alerts from 2005 for non-food products, reported by EU, Norwegian, Icelandic and Liechtenstein authorities. Pictures are not used. |
| Australia consumer product recalls | Product Safety Australia (ACCC) recalls feed (productsafety.gov.au) | Daily (09:40 UTC) | Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (source: ACCC © Commonwealth of Australia) | The official feed holds only the latest 100 recalls, so older Australian recalls are not included. Images are third-party content and are not used. |
| Pet food and cosmetics recalls | FDA's Recalls, Market Withdrawals & Safety Alerts list (fda.gov) | Daily (09:35 UTC) | Public domain | Only recalls FDA tags as Pet Food, Animal Feed or Cosmetics. The list covers about three years, and has no recall number or per-recall link in its data export, so some records link to the list page. |
| Drug and medical device recalls | FDA enforcement reports (openFDA) | Daily (09:35 UTC) | Public domain, with openFDA's disclaimer | Recalls only: no side effects, safety warnings, adverse event reports or shortages. Enforcement reports lag announcements by days to weeks. Biologics and vaccines are not covered. |
| VIN decode | NHTSA vPIC | Live lookup | Public domain | Identifies the model only. It does not say whether that vehicle has an open recall. |
Archive and change history
We keep a private, gzipped copy of every response we receive from an agency, with the time and a checksum. Since 2026-11-13 we also record when an agency changes an official field of a recall we hold (field, old value, new value, day). The free API returns the latest change at /v1/recalls/{id}/history; the full history is a planned Pro feature. USDA FSIS meat and poultry recalls are not covered yet: FSIS blocks our requests, and we do not work around blocks.
Verify with official sources
Recall data can be late, incomplete or wrong, and we cannot promise it is current. We copy the agencies' records and add a short plain-language summary built only from sentences in the agency's own notice. A refresh that fails or comes back empty never replaces good data. Check status for when each source last refreshed.
Always confirm with the manufacturer or the agency before telling anyone that something is or is not recalled. Not finding a recall here never means a product is free of problems.