Who runs RecallGarage

Who runs RecallGarage

RecallGarage is built and maintained by the Das Creative Data Desk, the editorial arm of Das Creative LLC. We're a small US data operation. We build pipelines that pull public data and turn it into something you can actually read.

We are not a newsroom with a staff of reporters. There's no bylined "senior automotive correspondent" behind these pages. The Data Desk is a persona: a consistent editorial voice we use to write up what the data shows, model year by model year.

What we actually do

We work with data published by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). That includes:

• Recall records, which cover specific VIN ranges within a model year, not every car built that year
• Complaint counts, which we track as numbers only

We don't ingest or publish the text of individual complaints. We report counts and trends, not personal stories or unverified claims from complaint filings.

Our job is to organize that data by model year and explain what it means in plain terms. We look for patterns. We tell you how many recalls a given model year has had, what systems they touched, and how complaint volume compares across years.

What we're not

We're not mechanics. Nobody on the Data Desk is going to tell you whether that noise in your steering column is dangerous. We're not lawyers either. If you're dealing with a recall dispute, a lemon law question, or anything with legal weight, talk to someone qualified.

We're also not able to tell you if your car is affected by a recall. Recalls apply to VIN ranges, not whole model years. A 2019 model year recall might cover cars built in a six-month window, not every 2019 of that model. The only way to know for sure is to check your own VIN.

Do that at nhtsa.gov/recalls. It's free. If your car is under an open recall, the repair is also free at a franchised dealer. Nobody should ever charge you to look up a recall or to fix one that's still open.

Where our data comes from

Everything on RecallGarage traces back to NHTSA's public recall and complaint databases. We don't supplement that with rumor, forum threads, or manufacturer press releases dressed up as fact. If NHTSA hasn't published it, it's not on this site.

That also means our pages are only as current as NHTSA's data. There can be a lag between when a recall is issued and when it shows up in the federal system. When in doubt, the VIN lookup is always more current than any static page here.

Corrections

We make mistakes. When an error traces back to a mistake in how we read or processed the source data, we fix it and note the correction on the affected page. We don't quietly edit things and pretend they were always right.

If you spot something that looks wrong, especially a number that doesn't match what NHTSA has published, we want to hear about it. Data pipelines have bugs. Catching them is part of the job.

RecallGarage exists to make public safety data easier to scan by model year. It's not a substitute for checking your own VIN, and it's not a substitute for a mechanic or a lawyer when the stakes are personal. Use it as a starting point, then verify anything that matters with the official source.