How to Search NHTSA Vehicle Complaints by Make, Model, and Component (Consumer Safety Data API)

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) maintains a database of every consumer vehicle safety complaint filed in the United States. When someone reports a defect -- brakes failing, airbags deploying unexpectedly, engines stalling at highway speed -- it goes into this database. The data includes crash and fire flags, injury and death counts, the specific vehicle component involved, and the consumer's full narrative description. This is the same data NHTSA uses to decide whether to open a defect investigation, which can lead to mandatory recalls. It is public, free, and updated continuously. But the NHTSA website search is limited to one make/model at a time, results are paginated manually, and there is no bulk export. What each complaint record contains odiNumber -- the unique NHTSA complaint identifier make , model , modelYear -- the vehicle involved component -- the affected system (AIR BAGS, BRAKES, ENGINE, POWER TRAIN, ELECTRICAL SYSTEM, FUEL SYSTEM, STEERING, etc