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Market statistics · snapshot 2026-10-11
U.S. product recalls in numbers
Aggregate statistics computed from the full RecallDB ledger: 129,279 official recalls and 295,319 recalled products joined from the five federal recall feeds (CPSC, FDA, FSIS, NHTSA, USCG), every row carrying its agency ID, source URL and retrieval time. Every figure is free to cite, quote and embed with a link to this page.
- Official recalls129,279
- Recalled products295,319
- Recalling firms19,193
- Agencies5
- Records from1966
- Snapshot2026-10-11
How many recalls the U.S. issues
Across the five federal agencies, the United States issued an average of 7,339 recalls a year from 2012 to 2025, about 20.1 a day. The peak year was 2015 with 8,850; 2025 closed at 6,709, and 2026 stands at 4,534 through Oct.
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<a href="https://recalldb.dataengineered.io/stats/#fig-recalls-per-year"><img src="https://recalldb.dataengineered.io/stats/charts/recalls-per-year.svg" alt="U.S. product recalls per year, 2012 to 2025" width="720" style="max-width:100%;height:auto"></a>
<p><small>Source: <a href="https://recalldb.dataengineered.io/stats/">RecallDB U.S. recall statistics</a> (CC BY 4.0)</small></p>| Year | CPSC | FDA | FSIS | NHTSA | USCG | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 330 | 7,294 | 138 | 1,031 | 21 | 8,814 |
| 2017 | 280 | 7,077 | 145 | 897 | 28 | 8,427 |
| 2018 | 258 | 6,671 | 133 | 1,033 | 33 | 8,128 |
| 2019 | 241 | 6,612 | 131 | 963 | 38 | 7,985 |
| 2020 | 257 | 4,650 | 50 | 881 | 35 | 5,873 |
| 2021 | 219 | 4,914 | 63 | 1,094 | 45 | 6,335 |
| 2022 | 292 | 5,095 | 69 | 1,051 | 51 | 6,558 |
| 2023 | 324 | 5,959 | 89 | 1,000 | 47 | 7,419 |
| 2024 | 305 | 5,240 | 55 | 1,073 | 28 | 6,701 |
| 2025 | 420 | 5,204 | 67 | 994 | 24 | 6,709 |
| 2026 | 479 | 3,306 | 37 | 699 | 13 | 4,534 |
One row per official recall record (a vehicle campaign, an FDA enforcement entry, a CPSC recall notice, an FSIS recall or alert, a USCG campaign). FDA enforcement reports are published in bulk from 2012, so the chart starts there; earlier years hold mostly NHTSA, CPSC and USCG records back to 1966. 2026 is partial (to 2026-10-08). The table shows the last 11 years by agency.
Which agency issues the recalls
The FDA accounts for 67.8% of all recall records, NHTSA for 23.5% and CPSC for 6.4%. Food-safety recalls from FSIS are the smallest feed at 1.0%; 67.9% of their classified hazards are microbial contamination.
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<a href="https://recalldb.dataengineered.io/stats/#fig-by-agency"><img src="https://recalldb.dataengineered.io/stats/charts/by-agency.svg" alt="Which agency issues the recalls" width="720" style="max-width:100%;height:auto"></a>
<p><small>Source: <a href="https://recalldb.dataengineered.io/stats/">RecallDB U.S. recall statistics</a> (CC BY 4.0)</small></p>| Agency | Full name | Recalls | Share | Earliest | Latest |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FDA | Food and Drug Administration | 87,649 | 67.8% | 2005-07-01 | 2026-09-15 |
| NHTSA | National Highway Traffic Safety Administration | 30,362 | 23.5% | 1966-01-19 | 2026-10-06 |
| CPSC | Consumer Product Safety Commission | 8,335 | 6.4% | 2000-01-04 | 2026-10-08 |
| USCG | United States Coast Guard | 1,697 | 1.3% | 1970-01-01 | 2026-08-21 |
| FSIS | USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service | 1,236 | 1.0% | 2014-01-10 | 2026-09-09 |
Each agency publishes in its own format and granularity: one NHTSA campaign can cover many makes and model years, while FDA files one enforcement entry per product lot, which inflates FDA's share relative to distinct events. Compare within an agency, not across.
What the recalls are for
Drug defect is the largest hazard class at 32.0% of classified hazard assignments, followed by Crash injury (18.6%) and Microbial contamination (18.5%). 13.8% of assignments are not yet mapped to the taxonomy and are excluded from the shares.
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<a href="https://recalldb.dataengineered.io/stats/#fig-hazards"><img src="https://recalldb.dataengineered.io/stats/charts/hazards.svg" alt="What the recalls are for" width="720" style="max-width:100%;height:auto"></a>
<p><small>Source: <a href="https://recalldb.dataengineered.io/stats/">RecallDB U.S. recall statistics</a> (CC BY 4.0)</small></p>| Hazard class | Definition | Assignments | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Drug defect | Drug potency, contamination, mislabeling or dosage defects | 35,200 | 32.0% |
| Crash injury | Vehicle crash, airbag, braking or steering related injury risks | 20,471 | 18.6% |
| Microbial contamination | Bacterial/viral contamination: Salmonella, Listeria, E. coli, etc. | 20,310 | 18.5% |
| Fire burn | Fire, thermal burn, overheating or explosion hazards | 9,615 | 8.7% |
| Undeclared allergen | Undeclared allergens: milk, peanuts, soy, wheat, etc. | 9,233 | 8.4% |
| Chemical toxic | Toxic chemical exposure: lead, cadmium, carbon monoxide, etc. | 6,745 | 6.1% |
| Laceration | Cut, laceration or amputation hazards | 3,949 | 3.6% |
| Choking | Choking, aspiration or strangulation hazards (incl. small parts) | 2,170 | 2.0% |
| Fall injury | Fall, tip-over or structural collapse hazards | 1,519 | 1.4% |
| Electric shock | Electric shock or electrocution hazards | 708 | 0.6% |
Leading hazard per agency
| Agency | Leading hazard class | Assignments | Share of the agency's classified hazards |
|---|---|---|---|
| CPSC | Fire burn | 2,863 | 37.0% |
| FDA | Drug defect | 32,748 | 46.2% |
| FSIS | Microbial contamination | 779 | 67.9% |
| NHTSA | Crash injury | 19,211 | 63.8% |
| USCG | None: no defect text published since Aug–Sep 2026 | 0 | — |
Agency free-text hazard descriptions are mapped by a deterministic keyword table to 10 controlled classes; the original text is kept beside the class. A recall can carry several classes. Denominator: 109,920 of 127,516 hazard assignments that map to a class. USCG is listed without a class: the Coast Guard's recall list and detail pages have shown no defect text since August–September 2026, for new and older recalls alike, so none of its 1,697 recalls carries a hazard assignment; RecallDB leaves those recalls unclassified rather than guessing.
How serious FDA recalls are
21.0% of the 87,579 classified FDA recalls are Class I, the most serious category. The Class I share peaked at 32.6% in 2023 and was 22.0% in 2025.
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<a href="https://recalldb.dataengineered.io/stats/#fig-fda-class-i"><img src="https://recalldb.dataengineered.io/stats/charts/fda-class-i.svg" alt="Share of FDA recalls that are Class I" width="720" style="max-width:100%;height:auto"></a>
<p><small>Source: <a href="https://recalldb.dataengineered.io/stats/">RecallDB U.S. recall statistics</a> (CC BY 4.0)</small></p>| Classification | Recalls | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Class I | 18,377 | 21.0% |
| Class II | 64,695 | 73.9% |
| Class III | 4,507 | 5.1% |
Class I share by year
| Year | Class I | All classified | Class I share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 1,286 | 7,390 | 17.4% |
| 2016 | 1,736 | 7,294 | 23.8% |
| 2017 | 1,054 | 7,077 | 14.9% |
| 2018 | 1,295 | 6,671 | 19.4% |
| 2019 | 1,102 | 6,606 | 16.7% |
| 2020 | 715 | 4,649 | 15.4% |
| 2021 | 972 | 4,913 | 19.8% |
| 2022 | 933 | 5,093 | 18.3% |
| 2023 | 1,939 | 5,955 | 32.6% |
| 2024 | 899 | 5,221 | 17.2% |
| 2025 | 1,139 | 5,187 | 22.0% |
FDA assigns Class I, II or III to each enforcement entry (I: serious health consequences or death; II: temporary or reversible effects; III: unlikely to cause harm). Only FDA rows with a class are counted; 2026 is excluded from the yearly series as a partial year.
How many units a recall touches
NHTSA campaigns report the number of vehicles affected: 1,389,227,942 vehicle-units across 30,312 campaigns, a median of 680 per campaign, with 7.1% of campaigns above 100,000 units and 252 above one million. CPSC recalls report 673,371,257 units across 8,317 recalls, median 7,000. The largest single recall on record is a CPSC action from 2016 covering 118,000,000 units.
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<a href="https://recalldb.dataengineered.io/stats/#fig-largest-recalls"><img src="https://recalldb.dataengineered.io/stats/charts/largest-recalls.svg" alt="The largest recalls by units affected" width="720" style="max-width:100%;height:auto"></a>
<p><small>Source: <a href="https://recalldb.dataengineered.io/stats/">RecallDB U.S. recall statistics</a> (CC BY 4.0)</small></p>| Agency | Date | Recall | Units affected |
|---|---|---|---|
| CPSC | 2016-02-12 | Crescent Point Energy Recalls To Inspect Propane Gas Due to Fire and Burn Hazard | 118,000,000 |
| NHTSA | 1999-03-23 | PENNZOIL-QUAKER STATE COMPANY TIRES Recall 99E007000 | 32,000,000 |
| CPSC | 2012-02-23 | Gas Cylinders Recalled by Worthington Cylinders Wisconsin Due to Fire Hazard | 29,026,000 |
| NHTSA | 1981-01-12 | FORD MOTOR COMPANY POWER TRAIN:AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION:GEAR POSITION INDICATION (PRNDL) Rec… | 21,000,000 |
| NHTSA | 2015-05-18 | Takata Corporation AIR BAGS:FRONTAL:DRIVER SIDE:INFLATOR MODULE Recall 15E040000 | 17,600,000 |
| NHTSA | 1978-12-11 | FIRESTONE TIRE AND RUBBER TIRES Recall 78T031000 | 14,500,000 |
| NHTSA | 2000-08-21 | BRIDGESTONE/FIRESTONE, INC. TIRES:TREAD/BELT Recall 00T005000 | 14,400,000 |
| NHTSA | 2001-05-22 | FORD MOTOR COMPANY TIRES:TREAD/BELT Recall 01X001000 | 13,000,000 |
| NHTSA | 2020-01-02 | Takata (TK Global LLC) AIR BAGS:FRONTAL Recall 20E001000 | 10,000,000 |
| NHTSA | 2016-05-16 | Takata Corporation AIR BAGS:FRONTAL:PASSENGER SIDE:INFLATOR MODULE Recall 16E042000 | 8,500,000 |
Units by agency
| Agency | Recalls with units | Total units | Median units | Over 100k | Over 1M |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NHTSA | 30,312 | 1,389,227,942 | 680 | 2,153 (7.1%) | 252 |
| CPSC | 8,317 | 673,371,257 | 7,000 | 1,245 (15.0%) | 32 |
| USCG | 1,638 | 4,174,781 | 86 | 5 (0.3%) | 0 |
Only CPSC, NHTSA and USCG records in this snapshot carry a units-affected figure; FDA and FSIS records carry none, and RecallDB leaves those blank rather than estimating. Units are the agency's own figure at the time of the notice (vehicles for NHTSA, product units for CPSC) and may be revised later in the source.
Which vehicle model years get recalled most
Model year 2021 carries the most recall entries, 6,688, of the 162,403 NHTSA make-model-year entries with a model year. Recent model years are still accumulating recalls, so 2026 and 2025 will keep rising.
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<a href="https://recalldb.dataengineered.io/stats/#fig-vehicle-model-years"><img src="https://recalldb.dataengineered.io/stats/charts/vehicle-model-years.svg" alt="Vehicle model years with the most recall entries" width="720" style="max-width:100%;height:auto"></a>
<p><small>Source: <a href="https://recalldb.dataengineered.io/stats/">RecallDB U.S. recall statistics</a> (CC BY 4.0)</small></p>| Model year | Recall entries |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 4,101 |
| 2001 | 4,112 |
| 2002 | 3,932 |
| 2003 | 4,516 |
| 2004 | 4,637 |
| 2005 | 4,787 |
| 2006 | 5,669 |
| 2007 | 5,827 |
| 2008 | 5,947 |
| 2009 | 5,688 |
| 2010 | 5,622 |
| 2011 | 5,714 |
| 2012 | 5,355 |
| 2013 | 5,643 |
| 2014 | 5,803 |
| 2015 | 5,843 |
| 2016 | 5,800 |
| 2017 | 5,710 |
| 2018 | 6,088 |
| 2019 | 6,522 |
| 2020 | 6,528 |
| 2021 | 6,688 |
| 2022 | 5,765 |
| 2023 | 4,688 |
| 2024 | 3,881 |
| 2025 | 3,024 |
| 2026 | 1,647 |
An NHTSA campaign lists every make, model and model year it covers; RecallDB stores each as one entry (6.47 per campaign on average), so this counts how often a model year appears in recall campaigns, not distinct vehicles or distinct campaigns.
When recalls are announced
May is the busiest recall month with 10,537 recalls over the period, 1.67 times Jan, the quietest. Friday is the busiest weekday; only 2.5% of recalls are dated on a weekend.
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<a href="https://recalldb.dataengineered.io/stats/#fig-by-month"><img src="https://recalldb.dataengineered.io/stats/charts/by-month.svg" alt="Recalls by month of the year" width="720" style="max-width:100%;height:auto"></a>
<p><small>Source: <a href="https://recalldb.dataengineered.io/stats/">RecallDB U.S. recall statistics</a> (CC BY 4.0)</small></p>Embed this chart
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<a href="https://recalldb.dataengineered.io/stats/#fig-by-weekday"><img src="https://recalldb.dataengineered.io/stats/charts/by-weekday.svg" alt="Recalls by day of the week" width="720" style="max-width:100%;height:auto"></a>
<p><small>Source: <a href="https://recalldb.dataengineered.io/stats/">RecallDB U.S. recall statistics</a> (CC BY 4.0)</small></p>| Month | Recalls |
|---|---|
| Jan | 6,301 |
| Feb | 7,293 |
| Mar | 8,992 |
| Apr | 8,883 |
| May | 10,537 |
| Jun | 9,141 |
| Jul | 10,006 |
| Aug | 7,576 |
| Sep | 8,021 |
| Oct | 9,171 |
| Nov | 8,777 |
| Dec | 8,044 |
By weekday
| Weekday | Recalls |
|---|---|
| Sunday | 885 |
| Monday | 16,934 |
| Tuesday | 19,147 |
| Wednesday | 20,193 |
| Thursday | 20,806 |
| Friday | 23,110 |
| Saturday | 1,667 |
Whole calendar years 2012 to 2025 only, all agencies, using each record's official recall date. FDA dates are the recall initiation date reported by the firm, which is why some fall on weekends.
Firms with the most recall records
Ford Motor Company has the most recall records on file with 1,906, ahead of General Motors, LLC (1,791) and Chrysler (FCA US, LLC) (1,582). Vehicle makers lead because NHTSA files one campaign per defect across a whole fleet; medical-device makers follow because FDA files one entry per affected lot.
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<a href="https://recalldb.dataengineered.io/stats/#fig-top-firms"><img src="https://recalldb.dataengineered.io/stats/charts/top-firms.svg" alt="Firms with the most recall records" width="720" style="max-width:100%;height:auto"></a>
<p><small>Source: <a href="https://recalldb.dataengineered.io/stats/">RecallDB U.S. recall statistics</a> (CC BY 4.0)</small></p>| Recalling firm | Recalls | Agencies |
|---|---|---|
| Ford Motor Company | 1,906 | NHTSA |
| General Motors, LLC | 1,791 | NHTSA |
| Chrysler (FCA US, LLC) | 1,582 | NHTSA |
| Zimmer Biomet, Inc. | 875 | FDA |
| MEDLINE INDUSTRIES, LP - Northfield | 822 | FDA |
| Siemens Medical Solutions USA, Inc | 796 | FDA |
| Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics, Inc. | 694 | FDA |
| Customed, Inc | 682 | FDA |
| ICU Medical Inc | 666 | FDA |
| Boston Scientific Corporation | 660 | FDA |
| Newly Weds Foods Inc | 657 | FDA |
| Forest River, Inc. | 649 | NHTSA, USCG |
| Garden-Fresh Foods, Inc. | 634 | FDA |
| Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. | 600 | NHTSA |
| BMW of North America, LLC | 596 | NHTSA |
Firm names are as recorded by the issuing agency, with spelling variants merged by a deterministic rule; subsidiaries and regional entities of one corporation stay separate, so a group's true total can be higher. A high count reflects fleet size and filing conventions as much as product quality.
Method, reuse and citation
- Source. The full RecallDB snapshot of 2026-10-11: 129,279 recall records pulled from the CPSC SaferProducts API, NHTSA's recall flat file, openFDA enforcement reports plus FDA Safety Alerts, the USDA FSIS recall API and the USCG recall list. All five are U.S. federal publications in the public domain. Every row keeps the agency's own ID, record URL, retrieval timestamp and raw-payload fingerprint; see Sources.
- Nothing is estimated. Units, classifications, dates and firm names are the agency's own values; where an agency publishes no value the field is blank and excluded from the figure's denominator, which every section states.
- Agencies are not directly comparable. One NHTSA campaign covers a fleet; FDA files one entry per lot; CPSC one notice per product. Counts describe records, not distinct safety events.
- Refresh. RecallDB is refreshed monthly; this page and its charts are regenerated from a published snapshot, so figures move. Cite the snapshot date. NHTSA has flagged 210 campaigns as do-not-drive and 104 as park-outside since 2012.
- Reuse. The figures and charts on this page are published under CC BY 4.0: use them in articles, slides and posts with a link to https://recalldb.dataengineered.io/stats/. The machine-readable version is data.json. The underlying row-level ledger is a separate commercial product; a free 200-row sample is in the public repository.
- Suggested citation. RecallDB (2026). U.S. product recalls in numbers, snapshot 2026-10-11. DataEngineered. https://recalldb.dataengineered.io/stats/
- Questions or corrections: contact form or recalldb@dataengineered.io.
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