Every figure on CarYearly is calculated by code from official U.S. government data. Nothing is estimated by hand or written by AI. This page explains where each number comes from and what it can and can't tell you.
Sources
| Data | Source | As of |
|---|---|---|
| Fuel economy and specs | U.S. EPA / DOE, fueleconomy.gov data file | September 29, 2026 |
| Owner complaints | NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation complaints file | October 26, 2026 |
| Recalls | NHTSA recalls files | October 26, 2026 |
| Crash ratings and crash-test photos | NHTSA New Car Assessment Program (5-Star Safety Ratings) API | October 26, 2026 |
| VIN decoding, makes, models, WMIs | NHTSA vPIC (Product Information Catalog) | October 26, 2026 |
We refresh the data every month. A page's "updated" date changes only when its data has changed.
Which cars and years have pages
We cover model years 2008–2024 of popular models. A model-year page is published only when the data supports a useful page: at least one EPA fuel-economy record, at least 10 NHTSA complaints or one recall, a crash rating or vPIC model record, and at least 8 facts specific to that model year. Years that don't qualify still appear as rows on the model's overview page.
EPA and NHTSA name models differently, so we keep a reviewed map of which records belong to each model. Hybrid and plug-in versions of a model are included; battery-electric versions and different vehicles that share part of a name (for example Corolla Cross or Rogue Sport) are not.
Fuel economy (MPG)
- City, highway and combined mpg are the EPA's ratings for each version (engine, transmission and drive combination) of a model year.
- The headline mpg range covers the regular gasoline and diesel versions. Hybrid, plug-in hybrid, natural-gas and electric versions are listed separately because their figures aren't comparable.
- "Best mpg" on overview pages is the highest combined rating of a gasoline version in that year.
Owner complaints
- A complaint is a report an owner filed with NHTSA. NHTSA does not verify complaints, and a complaint is not a finding that a defect exists.
- Totals count each complaint once. One complaint can name several components, so component counts ("mentions") add up to more than the total. We group components at NHTSA's top level, such as "Power train" or "Air bags".
- Crash, fire and injury figures count complaints in which the owner reported a crash, a fire or at least one injury.
- Complaints per year on sale = total complaints ÷ years since the model year went on sale, counted to the date of our NHTSA data and never less than 1. We date each model year's release to 1 October of the previous calendar year, an approximation. Older model years have had longer to collect complaints, so this makes model years of different ages comparable. It does not adjust for how many of each model year were sold, so a best-seller will tend to show more complaints than a rare model.
- We never call a car or a model year "reliable", "unreliable", "best" or "worst". Pages state the counts and let you judge.
Owner quotes
Some pages quote short extracts from complaint narratives, labelled as unverified owner reports. Extracts are cut only at sentence ends and never edited. We leave out any narrative that could identify a person, business or vehicle (names, phone numbers, email addresses, VINs, dealerships, legal claims) or that NHTSA has partly redacted.
Recalls
- Recall counts are NHTSA recall campaigns that cover the model year. One campaign can cover many model years and models; each model-year page counts it once.
- "Replacement equipment" recalls cover parts sold for the vehicle rather than the vehicle as built; we list them separately.
- A recall list applies to the model year as a whole. Whether a recall is still open on a particular car can only be confirmed with its VIN at nhtsa.gov/recalls or a dealer.
Safety ratings
Star ratings are NHTSA's 5-Star Safety Ratings for each version NHTSA tested. NHTSA changed its tests for the 2011 model year, so stars for 2010 and earlier can't be compared with later ones; we label them. Crash-test photos are NHTSA's own photos of the test, and NHTSA sometimes reuses a test for later model years of the same design.
VIN decoder
The decoder runs in your browser: your VIN goes directly to NHTSA's vPIC service for the decode and to NHTSA's recall service for the recall list. It never reaches our server and is not stored. The make VIN pages list the World Manufacturer Identifiers that vPIC ties to each make.
Quality checks
Each build checks the data against the source files and NHTSA's own counts, re-tests every page for missing or broken values, and stops pages that are too similar to each other or too thin from being published.
Change log
What changed on the site and when, newest first. Data refreshes are dated on each page rather than listed here.
- : Added an author page for the site's founder and bylines on data pages and guides.
- : Added fuel cost per year to model-year pages, calculated from EPA combined mpg and the monthly U.S. average fuel price from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
- : Expanded the home, guides and VIN decoder pages, and added owner-report and fuel-cost sections to make pages.
- : Opened the site to search engines (launch).
- : Checked the generation year ranges used for photos against Wikipedia, and corrected quotes, recall summaries and wording found in a review of a sample of pages.
- : Built the first set of model-year, model and make pages from EPA and NHTSA data, the VIN decoder and the VIN guides.
Corrections
If you think a figure is wrong, please tell us through the contact page. We check reports against the source data and correct confirmed errors.