US Vehicle Safety Data republishes the two official U.S. datasets that matter most when you are researching a car's safety record: the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's complaints, recalls and 5-Star Safety Ratings databases, and the U.S. EPA's FuelEconomy.gov fuel-economy dataset. This launch edition covers 148 best-selling model-years from 15 manufacturers — 93,153 owner complaints, 1,106 recall campaigns and complete crash-test scorecards, with EPA fuel-economy figures for every configuration of every vehicle. Every number is reproduced from the government record as accessed in October 2026; nothing is estimated, blended or invented. Start from a manufacturer hub, a topic hub, or the rankings in our guides, and drill down to the full record for any model-year: every recall campaign with its official summary and remedy, complaint counts by component, and the complete ratings table.
Most Complaints Filed With NHTSA
| Model-Year | Complaints | Recalls | Overall ★ |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 Ford Escape | 2,755 | 18 | 4 |
| 2017 Ford Escape | 2,698 | 4 | 5 |
| 2013 Nissan Altima | 2,313 | 12 | 5 |
| 2013 Ford Explorer | 2,237 | 12 | 5 |
| 2013 Ford Fusion | 1,957 | 19 | 5 |
| 2013 Hyundai Sonata | 1,915 | 9 | 5 |
| 2015 Ford Explorer | 1,811 | 9 | 5 |
| 2017 Honda CR-V | 1,776 | 7 | 5 |
| 2017 Ford Explorer | 1,712 | 14 | 5 |
| 2019 Ram 1500 | 1,494 | 30 | 5 |
Most Recall Campaigns
| Model-Year | Campaigns | Complaints | Overall ★ |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 Ram 1500 | 30 | 1,494 | 5 |
| 2021 Ford Explorer | 26 | 447 | 5 |
| 2020 Tesla Model Y | 24 | 283 | 5 |
| 2021 Tesla Model 3 | 22 | 672 | 5 |
| 2019 Tesla Model 3 | 22 | 619 | 5 |
| 2020 Tesla Model 3 | 21 | 452 | 5 |
| 2023 Jeep Grand Cherokee | 21 | 402 | Not Rated |
| 2013 Ford Fusion | 19 | 1,957 | 5 |
| 2018 Tesla Model 3 | 19 | 1,032 | 5 |
| 2021 Ford Escape | 19 | 351 | 5 |
Across the tracked range, owners report problems most often with Engine (22,506 complaints), while the most common recall component is Fuel System, Gasoline:delivery:fuel Pump with 38 campaigns. 97 of the 148 model-years earned NHTSA's five-star overall rating. Read the methodology for exactly how these figures are compiled, or browse the guides for rankings by recalls, complaints, safety stars and fuel economy.
How to Use This Data
Start with the question you actually have. If you are buying a used car, open its model-year page and read three things in order: the recall list (every campaign is a free repair — check the VIN to see which are still open), the complaint component table (which shows what owners of that exact year report, and how many filings mention crashes or fires), and the ratings scorecard (the tested variant's frontal, side, pole and rollover scores). If you are comparing two vehicles, the guides rank the whole tracked range on one measure at a time — most recalls, most complaints, five-star ratings, best fuel economy — and state the method on the page, including the limits of each count. Complaint totals are never adjusted for sales volume anywhere on this site, and the pages say so where the figures appear.
The underlying pull covered 230 model-years; 148 are published in this launch edition and the remainder were held back where a record was too thin to support a complete page. Data is a snapshot of the agencies' databases as accessed in October 2026. NHTSA and the EPA update their records continuously, so for a final check on a specific vehicle, confirm by VIN at nhtsa.gov and by configuration at fueleconomy.gov — links and method are on the about page.