Vehicle Safety Glossary
Plain-language definitions for 35 vehicle safety and NHTSA enforcement terms. From recalls to Safety Scores to federal regulations.
Vehicle Recall
A manufacturer-initiated or NHTSA-ordered action to repair a safety-related defect in a group of vehicles.
Active Recall
A recall that has not yet been completed for a specific vehicle, meaning the repair or replacement is still outstanding.
Recall Campaign
The formal NHTSA-tracked process by which a manufacturer notifies owners and repairs vehicles affected by a specific safety defect.
Part 573 Report
The formal defect and noncompliance report manufacturers must file with NHTSA within five business days of deciding a safety defect exists.
Remedy
The free repair, replacement, refund, or vehicle buyback that a manufacturer must provide to cure a recalled defect.
Owner Notification Letter
The mandatory first-class mail notice manufacturers must send to registered owners within 60 days of filing a recall with NHTSA.
Recall Completion Rate
The percentage of recalled vehicles that have actually received the free remedy, reported quarterly by manufacturers to NHTSA.
Safety Complaint
A report filed by a vehicle owner or other consumer with NHTSA describing a potential safety-related defect.
Crash Report
A safety complaint that indicates the reported defect resulted in an actual vehicle crash, weighted higher than non-crash complaints.
Fire Report
A safety complaint flagged by the consumer as involving a vehicle fire, treated with the highest urgency by NHTSA engineers.
Injury Report
A safety complaint where the consumer indicates the defect resulted in one or more injuries, the highest-weighted complaint category.
TSB (Technical Service Bulletin)
A notice from a manufacturer to its dealership network describing a known issue and its authorized fix, not classified as a safety recall.
Airbag System
A vehicle safety system that deploys inflatable cushions during a crash to protect occupants from impact with hard interior surfaces.
ABS (Anti-Lock Braking System)
A safety system that prevents wheel lockup during hard braking, allowing the driver to maintain steering control while braking.
ESC (Electronic Stability Control)
A safety system that detects and reduces loss of traction, helping the driver prevent skids and rollovers by applying individual-wheel braking.
Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB)
An advanced driver assistance system that detects potential forward collisions and automatically applies the brakes when the driver does not react in time.
VIN (Vehicle Identification Number)
A unique 17-character code assigned to every motor vehicle that encodes manufacturer, model, and production information.
VIN Lookup
The free NHTSA service that returns all open safety recalls affecting a specific vehicle when the 17-character VIN is entered.
Dealer Fix Obligations
The federal and state requirements governing what franchised dealers and used-car dealers must do about open recalls before selling or renting a vehicle.
Used Car Recall Risk
The elevated probability that a used vehicle has unrepaired open recalls, driven by lower completion rates among older and transferred vehicles.
Rental and Loaner Car Rules
Federal requirements under the FAST Act of 2015 prohibiting rental companies and dealer loaners from renting or loaning vehicles with open safety recalls.
Early Warning Reporting (EWR)
A TREAD Act-mandated program requiring manufacturers to submit quarterly data on warranty claims, death and injury reports, property damage claims, and consumer complaints.
NHTSA
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the federal agency responsible for vehicle safety standards and recall enforcement.
FMVSS (Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards)
The set of federal regulations that establish minimum safety performance requirements for motor vehicles and equipment sold in the United States.
TREAD Act
The Transportation Recall Enhancement, Accountability, and Documentation Act of 2000, a landmark law strengthening recall reporting and penalties.
Defect Investigation
A formal NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation inquiry into a potential safety defect, typically triggered by consumer complaints, EWR data, or crash reports.
Preliminary Evaluation
The first formal stage of a NHTSA defect investigation, typically lasting 4 to 6 months, that determines whether a safety issue merits deeper engineering analysis.
Engineering Analysis
The second and deeper stage of a NHTSA defect investigation, averaging 12 to 18 months, involving vehicle teardowns, component testing, and crash reconstruction.
Consent Order
A formal settlement between NHTSA and a manufacturer resolving alleged violations of vehicle safety law, typically including civil penalties and required corrective actions.
Civil Penalty
The maximum NHTSA civil penalty is $27,168 per individual violation and $135.8 million per related series of violations as of 2025, assessed against manufacturers for safety-law violations under 49 U.S.C. 30165.
Lemon Law
State laws that provide remedies (typically refund or replacement) for buyers of new vehicles that repeatedly fail to meet standards of quality and performance.
State vs Federal Jurisdiction
The division of vehicle safety authority between NHTSA (federal defects and FMVSS) and states (registration, inspection, lemon law, and used-car sales).
Safety Score
A proprietary 0-100 rating (A-F letter grade) that evaluates a vehicle's overall safety record based on NHTSA recall, complaint, and crash data.
Recall Severity
The component of the Safety Score that measures how serious a vehicle's recall history is, weighted at 40 percent of the overall grade.
Complaint Rate
The component of the Safety Score measuring how frequently consumers file NHTSA complaints for a specific make/model/year, normalized by registered population.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between a recall and a complaint?
A complaint is a report filed by a vehicle owner about a potential defect. A recall is an official manufacturer action to fix a known safety defect. Complaints sometimes lead to investigations that result in recalls, but they are separate processes.
What is a Safety Score?
The Safety Score is RecallIndex's proprietary 0-100 rating (A-F grade) based on four weighted factors: recall severity (40%), complaint frequency (30%), crash and fire reports (20%), and safety trend (10%). Higher scores indicate a better safety record.