The law does not leave the timing of a recall letter to the manufacturer. 49 CFR 577.7 requires the owner notification to be furnished no later than sixty days from the date the manufacturer files its defect or noncompliance information report. Both of those dates are columns in the regulator’s own bulk file, and have been for fifteen years.
Nobody subtracts one from the other and holds the answer against the sixty days in the regulation. The regulator publishes the two columns and does not draw the line. This page draws it.
What the record shows
Of the 14,853 campaigns whose record carries both dates and agrees with itself, 2,726 (18.4 per cent) show owners notified more than 60 days after the report was filed. Across those, the median overrun is 51 days beyond the deadline.
The median gap across every campaign is 39 days and the ninetieth percentile is 103 days, so this is not a story about a broken system. It is a story about a minority that is measurable, nameable and has never been named.
What this does not say
It does not say anyone broke the law, and no honest reading of this file could. Three reasons, all of them in the regulation itself:
- The Administrator may order notification on a different date where the public interest requires it.
- Where the remedy is not yet available, an interim notice goes out first and a second notification follows when it is. The file carries one date, so a second-round notification can read as a late first one.
- A blank or wrong field is a gap in the record, not proof of a gap in the post.
What the arithmetic does support is the sentence used throughout this page: the regulator’s own record shows owners notified more than 60 days after the report was filed. Every figure below can be checked against the same file, which is the only standard this site accepts.
By manufacturer
Manufacturers with at least 15 usable campaigns, ranked by the share of their campaigns on the far side of the 60-day line. A maker with three recalls and one late letter is not a maker that is late a third of the time, so small filers are left out rather than made to look dramatic.
| Filed by | Campaigns | Over 60 days | Share | Median gap | Longest |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Daimler Vans USA | 126 | 69 | 55% | 63 days | 681 days (21V153) |
| CHRYSLER GROUP | 109 | 56 | 51% | 61 days | 552 days (13V527) |
| Aston Martin The Americas | 17 | 8 | 47% | 60 days | 111 days (24V712) |
| BENDIX COMMERCIAL VEHICLE SYSTEMS | 15 | 7 | 47% | 58 days | 99 days (22E033) |
| Supreme | 22 | 10 | 45% | 59 days | 122 days (25V692) |
| PORSCHE CARS NORTH AMERICA | 119 | 49 | 41% | 58 days | 561 days (23V241) |
| DAIMLER TRUCKS NORTH AMERICA | 484 | 193 | 40% | 58 days | 779 days (13V099) |
| Rosenbauer America | 18 | 7 | 39% | 51 days | 439 days (21V562) |
| Nova Bus (US) | 52 | 20 | 38% | 56 days | 302 days (25V213) |
| VAN HOOL N.V | 22 | 8 | 36% | 52 days | 261 days (15V743) |
| HME | 17 | 6 | 35% | 41 days | 220 days (21V791) |
| DAIMLER BUSES NORTH AMERICA | 15 | 5 | 33% | 37 days | 396 days (10V538) |
| MERCEDES-BENZ USA | 385 | 123 | 32% | 49 days | 1,075 days (11V493) |
| PREVOST CARS | 63 | 20 | 32% | 49 days | 276 days (17E068) |
| HINO MOTORS SALES U.S.A | 37 | 12 | 32% | 57 days | 314 days (11V320) |
| Prevost Car (US) | 38 | 12 | 32% | 50 days | 290 days (24V523) |
| WABASH NATIONAL | 22 | 7 | 32% | 47 days | 218 days (14V726) |
| PACCAR | 182 | 56 | 31% | 50 days | 720 days (18V368) |
| COLLINS BUS | 29 | 9 | 31% | 34 days | 154 days (10V362) |
| Arcimoto | 30 | 9 | 30% | 57 days | 98 days (19V728) |
| Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing | 236 | 69 | 29% | 55 days | 487 days (14V604) |
| FERRARI NORTH AMERICA | 28 | 8 | 29% | 53 days | 525 days (16V341) |
| SPARTAN CHASSIS | 21 | 6 | 29% | 49 days | 117 days (10V052) |
| BMW OF NORTH AMERICA | 378 | 106 | 28% | 57 days | 989 days (16V747) |
| FORD MOTOR | 752 | 205 | 27% | 41 days | 889 days (11V445) |
| NAVISTAR | 260 | 68 | 26% | 49 days | 378 days (10V258) |
| Hyundai Motor America | 199 | 52 | 26% | 55 days | 298 days (20V705) |
| VOLVO TRUCKS NORTH AMERICA | 114 | 30 | 26% | 43 days | 204 days (12V510) |
| AUTOCAR | 98 | 25 | 26% | 57 days | 684 days (24V261) |
| GULF STATES TOYOTA | 19 | 5 | 26% | 53 days | 162 days (11V588) |
| Volvo Bus | 24 | 6 | 25% | 51 days | 716 days (21V717) |
| Kalmar Solutions | 16 | 4 | 25% | 35 days | 84 days (23V029) |
| Volkswagen Group of America | 318 | 77 | 24% | 42 days | 599 days (20V056) |
| Suzuki Motor of America | 34 | 8 | 24% | 29 days | 911 days (19V343) |
| JAGUAR LAND ROVER NORTH AMERICA | 189 | 44 | 23% | 49 days | 382 days (25V017) |
| WINNEBAGO INDUSTRIES | 124 | 29 | 23% | 42 days | 563 days (24V733) |
| Hyundai Motor | 30 | 7 | 23% | 45 days | 262 days (11V472) |
| GENERAL MOTORS | 510 | 111 | 22% | 35 days | 1,287 days (17V567) |
| MITSUBISHI FUSO TRUCK OF AMERICA | 27 | 6 | 22% | 53 days | 392 days (20V645) |
| MOTOR COACH INDUSTRIES | 63 | 13 | 21% | 41 days | 858 days (19V027) |
101 further manufacturers clear the minimum and sit below these. Each has its own page under the notification-lag index.
The date the notice promised, against the date in the record
Separately from the deadline, a great many notices name a date of their own. The remedy text says owners are expected to be notified on a stated day. That promise is free text, buried in a paragraph; the notification date is a column. Nothing joins them, because nothing reads the free text.
We read it, and the first thing the reading finds is that most of the promise is not a promise. 4,241 notices say owners are expected to be notified. 3,694 of them never say when: the sentence is written in the future tense and names no day, which is a commitment nobody can ever be held to.
That leaves 547 notices that named an actual date. Against the notification date in the register:
- 299 were notified on or before the day the notice named.
- 112 were notified after it, by a median of 10 days, and at worst by 807.
- 136 have no usable notification date in the register at all, so the promise cannot be checked either way.
The longest of the missed promises:
- 15V015, Kia Motors America. The notice said 5 December 2012, the record says 20 February 2015, 807 days later.
- 16V078, Volkswagen Group of America. The notice said 12 April 2016, the record says 10 March 2017, 332 days later.
- 22V020, Ferrara Fire Apparatus. The notice said 31 January 2022, the record says 29 August 2022, 210 days later.
- 20V496, Autocar. The notice said 19 October 2020, the record says 29 April 2021, 192 days later.
- 23V707, BMW of North America. The notice said 18 December 2023, the record says 19 June 2024, 184 days later.
- 20V701, General Motors. The notice said 17 November 2020, the record says 11 May 2021, 175 days later.
- 22V260, Tiny Idahomes. The notice said 10 June 2022, the record says 27 September 2022, 109 days later.
- 17V241, Mercedes-Benz USA. The notice said 30 June 2017, the record says 29 September 2017, 91 days later.
- 21V808, HME. The notice said 25 February 2022, the record says 20 May 2022, 84 days later.
- 21V807, HME. The notice said 25 February 2022, the record says 20 May 2022, 84 days later.
- 25E056, Villa International. The notice said 15 September 2025, the record says 24 November 2025, 70 days later.
- 22V566, Kalmar Solutions. The notice said 17 August 2022, the record says 17 October 2022, 61 days later.
The campaigns with no notification date at all
372 campaigns carry a report date and no owner notification date. Every calculation of lag, ours included, has to drop them: you cannot subtract a blank. Dropping them is correct arithmetic and incomplete journalism, because a campaign with no notification date is not a rounding error. It is a recall with no record that anyone was told.
They are excluded from every figure above and counted here instead. The blank may be a filing gap rather than a postal one, but the register is what the public, the press and every downstream tool reads, and in the register these recalls were never announced to anybody.
- 10E008, ADVANCED CARBON COMPOSITES, reported 16 April 2010, no notification date on record.
- 10E012, ADVANCED CARBON COMPOSITES, reported 23 April 2010, no notification date on record.
- 10E060, ALPS ELECTRIC CO, reported 21 December 2010, no notification date on record.
- 11V439, CARRIAGE, reported 26 August 2011, no notification date on record.
- 11V528, CHRYSLER GROUP, reported 2 November 2011, no notification date on record.
- 12V366, Gulf Stream Coach, reported 30 July 2012, no notification date on record.
- 12V546, Navistar, reported 21 November 2012, no notification date on record.
- 12V278, WINNEBAGO INDUSTRIES, reported 18 June 2012, no notification date on record.
- 12E016, ENERGY AND WATER SOLUTIONS, reported 17 April 2012, no notification date on record.
- 12V314, NAVISTAR, reported 5 July 2012, no notification date on record.
- 12V587, Taylor-Dunn Manufacturing, reported 14 December 2012, no notification date on record.
- 12V327, TIFFIN MOTORHOMES, reported 19 June 2012, no notification date on record.
The longest gaps on record
Report filed, then owners notified. Every one of these is a single campaign.
| Campaign | Filed by | Report filed | Owners notified | Days |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 17V567 | GENERAL MOTORS | 14 September 2017 | 24 March 2021 | 1,287 |
| 17V348 | PIERCE MANUFACTURING | 30 May 2017 | 3 June 2020 | 1,100 |
| 11V493 | MERCEDES-BENZ USA | 3 October 2011 | 12 September 2014 | 1,075 |
| 22V420 | NISSAN NORTH AMERICA | 13 June 2022 | 26 March 2025 | 1,017 |
| 16V747 | BMW OF NORTH AMERICA | 17 October 2016 | 3 July 2019 | 989 |
| 19V343 | Suzuki Motor of America | 2 May 2019 | 29 October 2021 | 911 |
| 11V445 | FORD MOTOR | 26 August 2011 | 31 January 2014 | 889 |
| 19V027 | MOTOR COACH INDUSTRIES | 7 January 2019 | 14 May 2021 | 858 |
| 15V188 | BMW OF NORTH AMERICA | 31 March 2015 | 27 July 2017 | 849 |
| 17V119 | GILLIG | 24 February 2017 | 7 June 2019 | 833 |
| 10T001 | YOKOHAMA TIRE | 21 January 2010 | 27 April 2012 | 827 |
| 11C002 | DOREL JUVENILE GROUP | 24 June 2011 | 26 September 2013 | 825 |
| 18C001 | Harmony Juvenile Products | 17 April 2018 | 3 July 2020 | 808 |
| 16V363 | MERCEDES-BENZ USA | 26 May 2016 | 31 July 2018 | 796 |
| 13V099 | DAIMLER TRUCKS NORTH AMERICA | 18 March 2013 | 6 May 2015 | 779 |
How this page is built, and what it leaves out
One pass over NHTSA’s bulk recall file. Field 15 is the date the defect report was received, field 12 the date owners were notified, and the file carries one row per affected model, so the first row of each campaign is used and the rest skipped. Every exclusion is counted rather than quietly dropped:
- 15,229 campaigns read.
- 0 excluded for having no report date.
- 372 excluded for having no notification date, counted and named in their own section above rather than forgotten.
- 4 excluded because the report year contradicts the year in the campaign number, which means one of the two fields is wrong and the pair cannot be trusted either way.
- 615 show owners notified before the report reached the regulator. That is not a fault and they are not excluded: a maker may write to owners before the paperwork is filed, and dropping them would have shrunk the denominator and inflated the headline.
- 14,853 usable, and every figure on this page is drawn from those.
The same exclusions are applied by the notification-lag page, deliberately, so the two can never disagree about the same campaign. How we work sets out the whole method and the corrections page lists anything we have got wrong.
How long before they tell you · What failed, and what happened next · What changed after publication · Check your car
Sixty days later, still no letter — the same sixty days, counted forward instead of back: 175 notices filed in the last three years where the deadline has passed and the record still carries no date for the letter, listed by manufacturer.