CarWizz data study
We counted 3,380 distinct recall campaigns recorded by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration across 496 used-car models. For the 20 most-recalled models, we also pulled the most frequent recall area and the single model year with the most recalls on record.
Published July 2026. Source: NHTSA recall campaigns (US public record).
Key findings
Distinct NHTSA recall campaigns per model, counted across all model years on record. Click a car for its full owner report, or a year for that year's complaint and recall breakdown.
We counted distinct recall campaign numbers recorded by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), a free public-domain government dataset, for each of 496 used-car models in the CarWizz database, across model years 1996 to 2026. A campaign that covers several model years of the same model is counted once for that model. In total the dataset holds 3,380distinct campaigns. The “most recalled area” is the recall component NHTSA lists most often for that model.
The important caveat: recall counts track production span and sales volume, and a recall is a defect the manufacturer fixes for free. A long-running best-seller collects more campaigns than a short-lived niche model, and a high count is not by itself evidence of an unreliable car. What matters when buying used is whether the recall work was actually performed. You can check any VIN for open recalls on the NHTSA website before buying.
That is why each row links to the model's most-recalled model year: recalls cluster in specific years, and the year pages break down what was recalled and what owners complained about for that exact year.
Journalists and writers are welcome to reference this data with a link back to the source:
CarWizz, “The most recalled used cars in America,” July 2026. https://car-wizz.com/studies/most-recalled-used-cars