Manufacturer right of reply

Any vehicle manufacturer whose product is covered on this site can submit a written response. We publish it verbatim, link it from the affected pages, and preserve it in the public record. We do not remove accurate NHTSA-derived data because a manufacturer objects to it — that's the line.

Why this exists

Most of what we publish is the federal record — NHTSA recall campaigns, owner-filed VOQ complaints, severity classifications derived from reported outcomes. That record is what it is. But it is one-sided by design: NHTSA collects owner reports and recall filings, not manufacturer commentary on those reports.

A page about a problematic engine, transmission, or model year is more honest when the manufacturer's perspective sits next to ours. So we offer the opportunity to submit one.

What you can submit

A formal written response to coverage on any specific page or set of pages.
Context that bears on a complaint cluster — for example, a service campaign that addressed a documented defect, a redesign that resolved an issue, fleet-size data that recontextualizes complaint volume.
Factual corrections backed by NHTSA campaign documents, recall amendments, or publicly verifiable engineering disclosures. These go through our corrections process and are logged publicly.

What we do with it

We verify the response is from the manufacturer (corporate domain or counsel of record).
We publish the response verbatim — no editing — on a dedicated page at /manufacturer-responses/<slug>/.
We link the response from each affected page so readers see both perspectives in context.
If the response identifies a factual error in our coverage, we correct the underlying page and log it in the corrections changelog.

What we will not do

We will not remove NHTSA recall campaigns, owner complaints, or our severity ratings because a manufacturer objects to them. The recalls are public regulatory records. The complaints are filings owners submitted to the federal government. We can't make either disappear from this site without breaking the premise of the site.

We will not pre-clear coverage with manufacturers, share drafts before publication, offer paid response packages, or apply different standards to OEMs that are also affiliate partners (none currently are — see our editorial standards).

How to submit

Send the response from a corporate-domain email (or via outside counsel of record) to the address on our contact page. Include the URL(s) the response addresses and a contact for verification. Plain text or PDF is fine; we will publish what you send, so format it for readers, not for us.

No manufacturer responses have been submitted to date. This page exists so the mechanism is in place when one is.