Glossary
Each term has one meaning on this register. Where an agency publishes a definition, the entry quotes it and names the source.
- Recall campaign
One recall in the NHTSA recall file, with one campaign number. A campaign can name many makes, models and model years.
A recall is issued when a manufacturer or NHTSA determines that a vehicle, equipment, car seat, or tire creates an unreasonable safety risk or fails to meet minimum safety standards.
NHTSA. Source: NHTSA, Check for Recalls.
- Remedy
What the manufacturer or the firm does about a recalled product. The agency record states the remedy of each recall.
Manufacturers are required to fix the problem by repairing it, replacing it, offering a refund, or in rare cases repurchasing the vehicle.
NHTSA. Source: NHTSA, Check for Recalls.
- Units
The number of vehicles or products that a recall can include. The manufacturer or the firm reports the number to the agency.
Potential Number of Units Affected
NHTSA. Source: NHTSA, field list of the recall file (RCL.txt).
- Do-not-drive advisory
A mark on a recall campaign in the NHTSA recall file. This site shows the mark as NHTSA sets it.
Consumer Advisory: Do Not Drive
NHTSA. Source: NHTSA, field list of the recall file (RCL.txt).
- Park-outside advisory
A mark on a recall campaign in the NHTSA recall file. This site shows the mark as NHTSA sets it.
Consumer Advisory: Park Outside
NHTSA. Source: NHTSA, field list of the recall file (RCL.txt).
- Complaint
A report about a possible safety problem that a person sends to NHTSA. This site shows the number of complaints and not their text.
Your complaint will be added to a public NHTSA database after personally identifying information is removed.
NHTSA. Source: NHTSA, Check for Recalls.
- Component
The part or the system that a complaint or a recall campaign names. NHTSA has a fixed list of component names.
- Per 1,000 component mentions
A complaint can name more than one component. Each component that a complaint names is one component mention. The figure per 1,000 component mentions shows how many of each 1,000 mentions name the component.
- Investigation
A study of a possible safety defect by the NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation. An investigation with no closing date in the NHTSA file is open.
NHTSA opens an investigation of alleged safety defects. It is closed when they notify the manufacturer of recall recommendations or they don’t identify a safety-related defect.
NHTSA. Source: NHTSA, Check for Recalls.
- Recall notice
The page that CPSC publishes for one recall of a consumer product. It states the product, the hazard, the remedy and the incidents.
- Hazard
The way a product can cause harm, in the words of the CPSC recall notice. This site also puts each recall under short hazard names.
- Enforcement report
The FDA publication that lists recalls. It has one record for each product of a recall.
All recalls monitored by FDA are included in the Enforcement Report once they are classified and may be listed prior to classification when FDA determines the firm’s removal or correction of a marketed product(s) meets the definition of a recall.
FDA. Source: FDA, Enforcement Reports.
- Enforcement event
All the product records that have one FDA event number. This site shows one event on one page.
- Recalling firm
The firm that the FDA record names for a recall.
Recalling firm means the firm that initiates a recall or, in the case of a Food and Drug Administration-requested recall, the firm that has primary responsibility for the manufacture and marketing of the product to be recalled.
FDA. Source: 21 CFR 7.3, Definitions.
- Class I
The highest of the three FDA recall classes.
Class I recall: a situation in which there is a reasonable probability that the use of or exposure to a violative product will cause serious adverse health consequences or death.
FDA. Source: FDA, Recalls Background and Definitions.
- Class II
The middle of the three FDA recall classes.
Class II recall: a situation in which use of or exposure to a violative product may cause temporary or medically reversible adverse health consequences or where the probability of serious adverse health consequences is remote.
FDA. Source: FDA, Recalls Background and Definitions.
- Class III
The lowest of the three FDA recall classes.
Class III recall: a situation in which use of or exposure to a violative product is not likely to cause adverse health consequences.
FDA. Source: FDA, Recalls Background and Definitions.
- Not yet classified
The enforcement report lists the recall, and FDA has not given it a class.
Once FDA completes the hazard assessment, the Enforcement Report entry will be updated with the recall classification.
FDA. Source: FDA, Enforcement Reports.
The quotations were read on 1 October 2026. The NHTSA pages were read in their Internet Archive copies of September 2026. How the register is made explains how the register uses each term.
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