Collection and preservation
Source data is collected on a regular schedule and preserved after a successful update. Existing complete records remain available if an upstream service is temporarily unavailable. New updates can add useful details, while blank source fields do not erase stronger information already collected.
Record quality
We give priority to records that contain substantive source details. For FDA records, useful fields include the product description, reason for recall, classification, status, recalling firm, dates, distribution and quantity. For NHTSA campaigns, useful fields include the issue summary, consequence, remedy, manufacturer, component and campaign identifier.
Publication rules
Detailed recall pages rely on substantive source fields. Company profiles require multiple complete records, while vehicle pages become more useful as additional campaigns are found. When the source offers only a small amount of information, we keep the presentation concise and do not manufacture extra facts.
Deduplication
FDA records are identified by their source recall number. NHTSA campaigns are stored once by campaign number and mapped separately to model-year searches, reducing repeated campaign pages when one campaign covers several vehicles.