VIN Decoder & Recalls

VIN Decoder & Recalls API: decode VINs in bulk, with open NHTSA recalls on each row

Paste up to 1,000 VINs and each one comes back as a row describing the vehicle the way the US federal record has it: make, model, year, trim, engine, body, assembly plant and safety equipment. Every open US safety recall filed against that make, model and year sits on the same row, with the fault, what it can lead to and the fix the manufacturer owes. It is not a history report, though: nothing about crashes, titles, mileage or owners, and no way to see whether a recall was already repaired on that particular car.

🔍 What VIN Decoder & Recalls API does

Each VIN is decoded against NHTSA's own vehicle record, the specification the manufacturer filed for that car.

Recalls are matched on make, model and year, because that is the level NHTSA publishes them at. So a campaign that only covers some build dates, one plant or one engine still shows up on every car of that model year. The summary names the range.

Model names do not always line up. The decoder calls a truck "Silverado" while the recall list files it as "SILVERADO 1500", "2500" and "3500". When the plain name finds nothing, the run tries the names NHTSA itself lists for that make and year, preferring the one that carries the VIN's own series, so a 1500 never picks up a 3500's recalls. recallModelMatched tells you which name matched.

And sometimes NHTSA's recall lookup returns nothing for a model its own index lists as recalled. In a check of 45 common US vehicles that happened on 5. Those rows say recallLookup: "unavailable" instead of claiming zero, so an unknown never passes for a clean record.

📥 What you give it

{
  "vins": ["1HGCM82633A004352", "3GCUKREC5JG123456", "5YJ3E1EA7JF006588"],
  "includeRecalls": true,
  "maxItems": 25
}

📤 What you get back

A real row from a real run, with the recall list cut to the first of its seven campaigns and the remedy text shortened:

{
  "ok": true,
  "charged": true,
  "recordType": "vehicle",
  "vin": "3GCUKREC5JG123456",
  "make": "CHEVROLET",
  "model": "Silverado",
  "modelYear": 2018,
  "trim": "LT",
  "bodyClass": "Pickup",
  "vehicleType": "TRUCK",
  "driveType": "4WD/4-Wheel Drive/4x4",
  "fuelTypePrimary": "Gasoline",
  "recallLookup": "ok",
  "recallCount": 7,
  "recalls": [
    {
      "campaignNumber": "19V645000",
      "reportReceivedDate": "2019-09-06",
      "component": "SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC:POWER ASSIST:VACUUM",
      "summary": "General Motors LLC (GM) is recalling certain 2015-2017 Cadillac Escalade, 2014-2018 Chevrolet Silverado, GMC Sierra, 2015-2018 Chevrolet Suburban, Tahoe, GMC Yukon vehicles.  The amount of vacuum created by the vacuum pump may decrease over time.",
      "consequence": "As the vacuum level drops, the brake assist decreases, increasing braking effort, extending the distance required to stop the vehicle, thereby increasing the risk of a crash.",
      "remedy": "GM will notify owners, and dealers will reprogram the Electronic Brake Control Module, free of charge.  The recall began October 8, 2019. ...",
      "notes": "Owners may also contact the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Vehicle Safety Hotline at 1-888-327-4236 (TTY 1-800-424-9153), or go to www.safercar.gov.",
      "manufacturer": "General Motors LLC",
      "parkIt": false,
      "parkOutSide": false,
      "overTheAirUpdate": false
    }
  ],
  "series": "1500",
  "doors": 4,
  "engineCylinders": 8,
  "displacementL": 5.3,
  "engineHorsepower": null,
  "electrificationLevel": null,
  "transmissionStyle": null,
  "transmissionSpeeds": null,
  "manufacturer": "GENERAL MOTORS LLC",
  "plantCountry": "MEXICO",
  "plantCity": "SILAO",
  "plantState": null,
  "gvwr": "Class 2F: 7,001 - 8,000 lb (3,175 - 3,629 kg)",
  "abs": null,
  "esc": null,
  "tpms": "Direct",
  "airBagLocFront": "1st Row (Driver and Passenger)",
  "airBagLocSide": "1st Row (Driver and Passenger)",
  "airBagLocCurtain": "All Rows",
  "seatBeltsAll": "Manual",
  "recallModelMatched": "SILVERADO 1500",
  "nhtsaErrorCodes": "1",
  "nhtsaErrorText": "1 - Check Digit (9th position) does not calculate properly",
  "vehicleDescriptor": "3GCUKREC*JG",
  "scrapedAt": "2026-09-30T02:37:59.642Z"
}

Any field the manufacturer never filed comes back as null. Older and low-volume vehicles have more of those than a recent mass-market car, and running them again does not change that.

🧾 Reading the output

The sample row carries recordType: "vehicle" as well, so filter on charged, not on recordType, to keep only the vehicles you paid for.

On a long list of bad VINs, the first 50 failures get a row each and the rest are collected in one NO_RESULTS row whose skipped list names every VIN and its reason. If 150 VINs in a row produce no vehicle at all, the run stops and says so, since the list is clearly not VINs.

▶️ How to run it

1. Open VIN Decoder & Recalls API and click Try for free. 2. Paste your VINs into VINs, one per line. 3. Set Maximum VINs to process to at least the number of VINs you pasted. 4. Leave Attach open safety recalls ticked, unless the specification is all you want. 5. Click Start, then export the dataset as CSV, JSON or Excel, filtered on charged.

💰 How much does it cost?

$0.90 per 1,000 vehicles, flat on every Apify plan. That is $0.0009 per decoded vehicle, with recalls or without.

Not charged: the sample row, values that are not VINs, VINs NHTSA has no vehicle for, duplicates in your list, and a vehicle whose recall lookup failed, which arrives free. A list of 400 VINs that all decode comes to $0.36.

💡 What people use it for

• A lot full of trade-ins, where an open airbag or fuel-pump campaign should turn up before the car is listed, not after a buyer finds it.
• A fleet checked every week, where only the new campaigns matter: compare recallCount and the campaign numbers against the last run.
• A listings feed where sellers type the model any way they like, and the specification should come from the VIN instead.
• A book of VINs for claims or rating work that needs make, model, year, body and safety equipment without anyone retyping them.

🚧 What it does not do

• No history. No accidents, titles, salvage brands, odometer readings, thefts or service records. None of that is in the federal record.
• No owners. Nothing about who owns or registered the car, and no field that would ask for it.
• No per-car recall status. A campaign that applies is not the same as a repair still owed. Whether the work was done is known only to the manufacturer and its dealers.
• US vehicles only. A car never certified for US sale decodes partly or not at all, and has no recall record here.
• Nothing before 1981. Older VINs are not 17 characters and are refused.
• Only federally filed recalls. Recalls issued outside the US, and service campaigns never filed with NHTSA, are not included.
• At most 60 campaigns per row, and 1,000 VINs per run. Split longer lists across runs.
• Not instant on mixed lists. Recalls are fetched once per make, model and year, so a list of the same few models is quick and hundreds of different models take minutes.

🧭 Which vehicle data scraper do you need?

❓ Questions people ask

Is this a vehicle history report? No, and it cannot be made into one. If the car's past is what you need, buy a history report.

Does a recallCount of 0 mean the car is clean? Only when recallLookup says none. When it says unavailable, the honest answer is that nobody knows yet.

Why does a row say the check digit does not calculate? That is the decoder's code 1, and it is common on VINs that decode perfectly well. It often means one character was copied wrong, so read the VIN again, but the row is still a real decode.

What if a VIN is wrong or made up? You get one free row saying why, and the run carries on with the others.

Can I run it on a schedule? Yes. Nothing is kept between runs, so the same list every week is safe, and comparing campaign numbers shows what is new.

Do I need an API key or an account? No. Paste the VINs and start.

🆘 If something breaks

Open the Issues tab on the actor page. Include the run ID and the VINs that went wrong, with the errorCode from their rows.