What safety authorities changed after they announced it
A campaign number such as 26V448, or a make and model.
A recall notice is edited more often than anyone realises, and the authority publishes one version at a time. We keep every version, re-read what we hold, the newest every few hours and the rest on a rolling sweep, and publish what moved, with the working shown.
Three places to start. 42 per cent of recent recalls have been filed more than once. One recall, filed twice, with the fix rewritten in between, and 387 recalls Canada published before America did.
Every notice in the register is fingerprinted, so we see when one moves. The word for word set is the part we hold in every version we have read. Whole register last read 17 September 2026.
Across the campaigns we have measured, 5,156,457 recalled vehicles were never repaired.
- Rewritten: 26V290 JEEP CHEROKEE · remedy · 16 September
- Rewritten: 26E063 FORD BATTERY ENERGY CONTROL MODULE · defect, consequence · 16 September
- Rewritten: 26V582 FORD MUSTANG MACH E · defect, consequence · 16 September
- Rewritten: 26E050 JOYSON SAFETY SYSTEMS CURTAIN SHIELD AIR BAG · remedy · 16 September
- Rewritten: 26V475 FREIGHTLINER BUSINESS CLASS M2 · remedy · 16 September
The week in full · recalls by year · the most recalled makes
The wire
What changed after it was published
Every rewrite caught so far, newest first. Both versions are kept, with the hour each was read.
15,259 notices in the register · 102 caught being rewritten · whole register last read 17 Sep, 09:35 UTC
And once a defect is reported, owners wait a median of 41 days to be told. We measured 14,869 American recalls to find that out.
Questions nobody else answers
Every recall database mirrors the authority’s current text. None keeps the previous one. None times the gap before owners are written to, or measures it against the deadline the law sets. None turns the annual repair figures into data, counts the notices that never promise a letter at all, or ties one country’s recall to another’s. These do.
The wire
What changed after publication
102
rewrites caught so far
Every edit we catch gets a dated page showing both versions, which words moved, and the hour each was read.
The delay
How long before they tell you
41 days
median wait before owners are notified
The gap between a defect reaching the regulator and the letter reaching the driveway, for every American recall since 2010.
The ledger
How many were actually fixed
5,156,457
vehicles still carrying the defect
NHTSA publishes repair rates once a year as a PDF and in no other form. This site reads it and checks every row against the bulk file.
Two registers
Same fault, different country
69
recalls published by both authorities
One defect, one manufacturer code, two national notices. We hold both registers, so the two descriptions can be read side by side.
The letter
What failed, and what happened next
1,224
notices that never say when the letter comes
A recall notice is not the recall. The letter is. Nothing anywhere counts the notices that promise one without ever naming a day, or checks the promised dates that have since passed.
The deadline
Sixty days to tell you
2,731
campaigns past the line the law draws
49 CFR 577.7 gives sixty days from the filing to the letter. Both dates sit in the regulator’s own file and nobody subtracts one from the other.
Two continents
Europe and America, the same recall
138
recalls identified on both sides
Joined on the manufacturer’s own campaign code and nothing else. The European alerts behind it (6,396 of them, from 29 member states) are held here too.
Why you can check us
Nothing here is a summary of someone else’s summary. Every figure traces to a file the authority published, and the page tells you which file, when it was read, and what was excluded and why. Where a source cannot be verified, the number does not go up.
How long owners wait to be told
Both dates are published in the American register: the day a defect report reached the regulator, and the day the manufacturer wrote to owners. The distance between them is not published. This is that distance.
Days between report and owner notification
14,869 American campaigns with both dates on record
Show the numbers
| Year | Recalls | Median days | p90 days |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 719 | 27.5 | 116 |
| 2011 | 652 | 28 | 98 |
| 2012 | 647 | 29 | 82 |
| 2013 | 684 | 42 | 99 |
| 2014 | 859 | 45 | 98 |
| 2015 | 967 | 37 | 89 |
| 2016 | 1,023 | 41 | 97 |
| 2017 | 895 | 42 | 101 |
| 2018 | 1,025 | 41 | 100 |
| 2019 | 956 | 42 | 120 |
| 2020 | 876 | 41 | 103 |
| 2021 | 1,090 | 46.5 | 118 |
| 2022 | 1,045 | 46 | 140 |
| 2023 | 995 | 46 | 129 |
| 2024 | 1,053 | 42 | 123 |
| 2025 | 932 | 42 | 112 |
| 2026 (part year) | 451 | 37.5 | 60 |
Who keeps owners waiting
Median wait, longest first. Only makers with fifteen or more datable recalls. The dark tick is the 41-day overall median.
Read from the NHTSA flat file. Every manufacturer, and the method.