Lemon-law and defect work: the federal record, numbered.
Every federal filing on a model’s defect, cited, in one file.
Lemon-law, warranty and product-liability work starts with what NHTSA holds: the manufacturer’s bulletins and coverage programs, the recalls, the investigations and the owner complaints. A WhichTrim defect dossier gathers all of it for one model and one system across every model year from 2006 on, numbered as exhibits. $79, ready in a minute.
What a dossier holds
Source: NHTSA, 49 CFR 573, 579 and 554Coverage programs
Warranty extensions and special coverage on the system, with the years-or-miles terms and every number they were filed under.
Safety recalls
Defect, consequence and remedy, the campaign population, and the manufacturer’s defect report and owner letter (PDF).
Investigations
NHTSA’s preliminary evaluations and engineering analyses: opened, closed, and what they found.
Manufacturer communications
Every bulletin, campaign and dealer notice filed under the system, once each, with its NHTSA id and the model years it names.
Owner complaints
Every one, with its ODI number, dates, mileage, state, crash, fire, injury and death flags, and the owner’s words.
A timeline of the filings
The record in date order, and the earliest filing of each kind: when complaints began, when the first bulletin went to dealers, when NHTSA opened a file. Dates as filed, no inference.
A reference date
Enter the purchase or incident date and the dossier lists every bulletin, coverage program, recall and investigation filed before it, and counts the owner complaints received before it.
Two CSVs and a printable index
The exhibits and the complaints as spreadsheets for the case file, and the whole dossier as a PDF from the browser.
The sample: Chevrolet Silverado, power train
A real dossier, built from NHTSA’s files the way a paid one is. Open it, print it, and download both CSVs before you buy one.
Where it helps
Intake
Whether the model and system have a documented pattern before you take the case: the counts per model year, and how far back the filings go.
Demand letters
The bulletin and coverage-program numbers the manufacturer itself filed before your client bought, quoted exactly, with the model years each names.
Discovery
The manufacturer’s own filings and the ODI complaint numbers to request against, already listed and dated.
Experts and depositions
A timeline of what was filed when, from the first owner complaint to the latest bulletin, for the expert to work from.
Questions attorneys ask
Source: WhichTrimWhere does the data come from?
NHTSA's public files: recalls (49 CFR 573), manufacturer communications and owner complaints (49 CFR 579), and defect investigations (49 CFR 554), read nightly. Recall documents link to NHTSA's own copies.
How complete is it?
Every manufacturer communication NHTSA holds that is filed under the system, and every owner complaint naming the system, each once, for every model year from 2006 on. Counts can differ from NHTSA's search tool where a filing names the system under a different component. NHTSA's public file of manufacturer communications is thin before 2015, so older model years carry fewer of them.
Which model years, and why 2006?
Lemon-law claims concern new vehicles; product-liability claims can concern older ones. Most states with a statute of repose on product claims set it at 10 to 15 years, and the average car on US roads is about 13 years old. The dossier reaches back to the 2006 model year and can be narrowed to the years of a case once it is open.
Can I cite it?
Cite the underlying records by their own numbers: the NHTSA campaign, the bulletin number and NHTSA id, the investigation's action number and the complaint's ODI number. Every exhibit carries them.
Are the complaints evidence of a defect?
They are allegations filed with NHTSA by owners, which NHTSA does not verify, and the dossier labels them that way. Personal details are removed from the narratives; the full text is at NHTSA under the ODI number.
Is this legal advice?
No. WhichTrim is a data publisher, not a law firm. The dossier organises public federal records and draws no conclusion about any defect.
How do I pay, and do you invoice?
One payment of $79 per dossier through Stripe, with no account; Stripe emails the receipt. For volume or invoicing, write to info@whichtrim.com.
Reaching car owners rather than researching them? WhichTrim also sells one flat-fee attorney placement per state, labelled as advertising: how it works.