ProblemsByVin Data Center

Open data · updated weekly

Data Center

Free, downloadable datasets built from the NHTSA owner-complaint and recall record — the derived layer (failure-mileage quartiles, recall gaps, per-family density) you can't get from the raw API. CSV and JSON, refreshed every week. Use them anywhere with credit.

License: CC BY 4.0 — free to use, republish, and remix with attribution.

Cite as: ProblemsByVin (https://problemsbyvin.com)

Source: US NHTSA owner complaints + recalls (public record), MY 2005–2025 · Updated: 2026-05-31

NHTSA complaints are unverified consumer reports. Counts of crashes, fires, injuries, and deaths reflect what owners alleged when filing — not adjudicated incidents.

Failure-Mileage Distribution

9,187 failure patterns

For every vehicle + component failure pattern with enough mileage-bearing complaints, the mileage at which owners report the failure — as quartiles (25th / median / 75th percentile). Built from NHTSA’s ODI flat-file, which carries odometer readings the JSON API omits. No other public source aggregates complaint mileage at this resolution.

Download CSV Download JSON

Columns & methodology

How it's built: Each row is one (vehicle, component-category) cluster. Mileage is parsed from the NHTSA ODI bulk export and validated to the 1,000–400,000 mi band (data-entry artifacts outside that range are dropped). Quartiles are published only when a cluster has ≥8 mileage-bearing complaints. Complaints are unverified consumer reports.

Column	Meaning
`year`	Model year
`make`	Manufacturer
`model`	Model
`component`	Failure category (NHTSA component taxonomy)
`complaints`	Total NHTSA complaints in this cluster
`mileage_samples`	Complaints carrying a valid odometer reading
`mileage_p25`	25th-percentile failure mileage
`mileage_median`	Median failure mileage
`mileage_p75`	75th-percentile failure mileage
`est_repair_usd`	Est. independent-shop repair cost (USD)
`severity`	critical \| severe \| moderate
`url`	Source page on ProblemsByVin

Post-Warranty Failure Patterns

4,782 post-warranty failure patterns

Failure patterns whose median reported mileage is past the typical 60,000-mile powertrain warranty — i.e. defects that statistically surface after coverage lapses, leaving owners to pay. Sorted by complaint volume.

Download CSV Download JSON

Columns & methodology

How it's built: Subset of the failure-mileage dataset where the median failure mileage exceeds 60,000 mi (the most common US powertrain term, 5yr/60k) and the cluster has ≥8 mileage-bearing complaints. "miles_past_warranty" is median minus 60,000. Complaints are unverified consumer reports.

Column	Meaning
`year`	Model year
`make`	Manufacturer
`model`	Model
`component`	Failure category
`complaints`	Total NHTSA complaints in this cluster
`mileage_median`	Median failure mileage
`miles_past_warranty`	Median minus 60,000-mi warranty
`mileage_samples`	Complaints carrying a valid odometer reading
`est_repair_usd`	Est. independent-shop repair cost (USD)
`severity`	critical \| severe \| moderate
`url`	Source page on ProblemsByVin

Fire / Crash / Injury Complaint Index

13,539 harm-flagged failure patterns

Failure patterns where owners alleged a fire, crash, injury, or death in their NHTSA complaint, ranked by alleged deaths then fires. These are UNVERIFIED consumer reports filed with NHTSA, not confirmed incidents — they indicate where owners report the most severe outcomes, not adjudicated causation.

Download CSV Download JSON

Columns & methodology

How it's built: Each row is a (vehicle, component-category) cluster carrying ≥1 complaint flagged by NHTSA for crash, fire, injury, or death. Counts are sums of those NHTSA flags across the cluster’s complaints. NHTSA complaints are submitted by consumers and are not verified by NHTSA or ProblemsByVin; treat as allegations.

Column	Meaning
`year`	Model year
`make`	Manufacturer
`model`	Model
`component`	Failure category
`complaints`	Total NHTSA complaints in this cluster
`alleged_deaths`	Complaints alleging a death (unverified)
`alleged_fires`	Complaints alleging a fire (unverified)
`alleged_injuries`	Complaints alleging an injury (unverified)
`alleged_crashes`	Complaints alleging a crash (unverified)
`severity`	critical \| severe \| moderate
`url`	Source page on ProblemsByVin

Engine-Family Complaint Density

21 engine families

Curated problematic engine families (documented defect patterns — class actions, NHTSA investigations, or 100+ fleet complaints), with total NHTSA complaints, recalls, and complaints normalized per model-year entry. Density lets you compare families of different production volumes.

Download CSV Download JSON

Columns & methodology

How it's built: Families are the editorial set powering /engines/. For each family we sum complaints/recalls/harm flags across every matching (year, make, model) in the DB. "complaints_per_modelyear" = total complaints ÷ model-year entries present. Complaints are unverified consumer reports.

Column	Meaning
`engine_family`	Engine family name
`manufacturer`	Manufacturer
`displacement`	Displacement
`configuration`	Engine configuration
`years`	Production years
`modelyear_entries`	Matching model-year entries in DB
`complaints`	Total NHTSA complaints across the family
`complaints_per_modelyear`	Complaints ÷ model-year entries
`recalls`	Total recalls across the family
`alleged_fires`	Complaints alleging fire (unverified)
`alleged_deaths`	Complaints alleging death (unverified)
`url`	Source page on ProblemsByVin

Worst Transmissions 2005–2025

10 transmission families

Curated problematic transmission families (DCT, CVT, and conventional automatics with documented defect patterns), ranked by total NHTSA owner complaints across every vehicle that used the unit.

Download CSV Download JSON

Columns & methodology

How it's built: Families are the editorial set powering /transmissions/. NHTSA does not expose a standalone "transmission" complaint category — transmission complaints bucket under "powertrain" — so this dataset aggregates by curated family (matching year/make/model lists), not a category filter. Complaints are unverified consumer reports.

Column	Meaning
`transmission_family`	Transmission family name
`manufacturer`	Manufacturer
`type`	Transmission type
`years`	Production years
`modelyear_entries`	Matching model-year entries in DB
`complaints`	Total NHTSA complaints across the family
`complaints_per_modelyear`	Complaints ÷ model-year entries
`recalls`	Total recalls across the family
`alleged_crashes`	Complaints alleging crash (unverified)
`url`	Source page on ProblemsByVin

Recall-Gap Index

1,035 unrecalled failure patterns

High-complaint failure patterns that have NO corresponding NHTSA recall — defects owners report in volume that regulators never forced a fix for. Every row is cross-checked against the live NHTSA recalls API, so vehicles that WERE recalled for the component (even when our local DB missed it) are excluded.

Download CSV Download JSON

Columns & methodology

How it's built: Candidates are (vehicle, component) clusters with no recall for that component in our DB and ≥ the complaint threshold. Each candidate vehicle is then queried against the live NHTSA recalls-by-vehicle API; any cluster whose component is in fact covered by a real NHTSA recall is REMOVED. Survivors are genuine recall gaps as of the verification date. Complaints are unverified consumer reports; absence of a recall is per NHTSA records on the verification date.

Column	Meaning
`year`	Model year
`make`	Manufacturer
`model`	Model
`component`	Failure category with no NHTSA recall
`complaints`	Total NHTSA complaints in this cluster
`mileage_median`	Median failure mileage (if available)
`alleged_deaths`	Complaints alleging death (unverified)
`alleged_fires`	Complaints alleging fire (unverified)
`severity`	critical \| severe \| moderate
`url`	Source page on ProblemsByVin

NHTSA Defect Investigations

584 investigations

Every NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) action touching a tracked vehicle — open and historical. The leading indicator of a recall: a Preliminary Evaluation (PE) can escalate to an Engineering Analysis (EA) and then a recall. Includes the recall campaign number for investigations that became recalls.

Download CSV Download JSON

Columns & methodology

How it's built: Parsed from NHTSA’s ODI investigations flat file (FLAT_INV) and matched to our vehicles by year/make/model. One row per NHTSA action number. "status" is open when the federal record carries no close date; "recall_campaign" holds the NHTSA campaign number when the investigation led to a recall. An investigation is NHTSA examining a pattern — not a confirmed defect.

Column	Meaning
`action_number`	NHTSA investigation ID (prefix = type)
`type`	PE \| EA \| RQ \| DP \| AQ — investigation stage
`status`	open \| closed, per the NHTSA record
`make`	Manufacturer (blank if it spans multiple makes)
`model`	Model (blank if it spans multiple models)
`year_start`	Earliest affected model year in our fleet
`year_end`	Latest affected model year in our fleet
`component`	NHTSA component under investigation
`opened`	Investigation open date
`closed`	Close date (blank if open)
`recall_campaign`	NHTSA recall campaign # if it led to a recall
`nhtsa_url`	Official NHTSA record

Writing about this?

Reporters and researchers: we'll pull a custom cut — by make, model year, state, component, or failure-mileage band — and our reliability analyst can speak to methodology on the record. Charts on this site are free to embed with attribution.

Request a custom dataset or analyst quote ›

Prefer the findings written up? See the reliability statistics — headline numbers from these same datasets. All datasets derive from NHTSA public-record complaints and recalls; methodology for each is documented inline above. Figures are computed live from the database snapshot dated 2026-05-31.