The full federal record - 1,598,458 owner complaints and 26,201 recall campaigns - cut a few honest ways. Every number below comes straight from NHTSA's public files, and each story says plainly what its numbers can and cannot mean.
Every recall campaign in the file, ranked by how many vehicles it covered. Number one covers 21,000,000 vehicles - and it was filed in 1981.
Every owner complaint in the file, added up brand by brand - plus recall campaigns, vehicles covered, and investigations for each.
Prefer the unranked record? Browse model years by complaint count, or the largest campaigns in the published record.
Data as of November 1, 2026. Sources: NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation complaints, recalls, and investigations files (U.S. Government public domain). DefectRecord is not affiliated with NHTSA or any manufacturer. For your specific vehicle, use NHTSA's VIN lookup. Report an error.