Vehicle Data for Journalists and Researchers

Writing about car reliability, recalls or what people drive where? Our data is free to quote and chart. All we ask is a credit with a link.

What you can use

NHTSA complaints by make, model and year

2.1M owner complaints filed with NHTSA, normalized per 10,000 vehicles sold so small and large brands compare fairly. Includes the components that fail most and the model years to avoid.

Model vs. model reliability

Side-by-side complaint rates, recalls and problem areas for competing models, e.g. Civic vs. Corolla or Crosstrek vs. Seltos.

Most popular car brands by state

The top brands in all 50 states with market share, from vehicle registration records.

Safest cars

Brands ranked by the lowest accident rates, from 16M+ vehicle history records.

Cars with the most accidents

Brands with the highest accident rates, from the same 16M+ vehicle records.

Most reliable used cars to buy in 2026

A ranked list by segment, built from the complaint data above.

How the numbers are built, and what they can't tell you, is in our data methodology.

How to cite us

Plain text, for print or captions:

Source: VinItel analysis of NHTSA complaint data (vinitel.com)

For online articles, please link to the page you took the numbers from, for example:

<a href="https://vinitel.com/stats/nhtsa-complaints">VinItel analysis of NHTSA complaint data</a>

Screenshots of our charts are fine to publish with the same credit. You don't need to ask first.

Need a custom cut?

We can pull numbers that aren't on the site, such as one model across every year, a group of competitors, or a single state. Email support@vinitel.com with the vehicles, the question and your deadline.

  • Free. No fee for editorial use.
  • Sourced. Every number comes from NHTSA public data or vehicle title and history records, and we tell you which.

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