Glossary
NHTSA (US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration)
The US federal regulator for motor vehicle safety. Runs the free vPIC VIN decoder and the recall database.
Definition
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is the US Department of Transportation agency responsible for vehicle safety standards (FMVSS), defect investigations, recall enforcement, and crash-test programmes (NCAP). Two NHTSA datasets matter for European used-car buyers: vPIC, the free Vehicle Product Information Catalog VIN decoder, which is authoritative for US-market vehicles and useful for VINs from US-built cars sold abroad; and the public recall database, which lists every US-issued recall by VIN range. NHTSA's safety standards are not identical to EU type-approval requirements — a US-spec car often needs lighting, mirror, and emissions modifications to be re-homologated for EU registration, and the recall coverage stops at the US border.
Why it matters when buying a used car
If you are considering a US-import car, NHTSA's recall database is the only complete record of open safety recalls — the EU recall systems do not import US recalls automatically.
Often confused with
Recall
A manufacturer or regulator order requiring affected vehicles to be returned to a dealer for free safety repair.
Safety Gate
The EU's central alert system for unsafe products, including motor vehicles. Aggregates recall notifications from every member state.
VIN decoder
Software that converts a 17-character VIN into make, model, year, engine, body and country fields.