U.S. D.O.T. Unveils New VIN Search Tool For Recalls

Specific motorcycle recall checks are now possible with the U.S. Department of Transportation’s online search tool that uses your vehicle identification number.

Determining if there was a recall on your motorcycle meant waiting for a notification from the manufacturer, registering your bike with the NHTSA and waiting for a text alert, or checking the safercar.com website and searching by year, make and model, and then trying to figure out if your particular bike was affected by a reported recall.

The NHTSA recall search engine page looks like this, with a list of searchable motorcycle and car manufacturers listed at the bottom.

For those who prefer a more proactive option to check for recalls on your bike or a used bike that you're about to purchase, the U.S. Department of Transportation's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) recently unveiled a new, free, online search tool that consumers can use to find out if a vehicle is directly impacted by a recall. The new tool is available on the safercar.gov website and provides a quick and easy way to identify uncompleted recalls by entering the Vehicle Identification Number (VIN). All major light vehicle and motorcycle brands can be searched. (Editor's note: not all "major" manufacturers appear on the NHTSA's list of searchable brands.)

Also effective on August 20, 2014 under the new NHTSA mandate, all major light vehicle and motorcycle manufacturers are required to provide VIN search capability for uncompleted recalls on their own websites. This data must be updated at least weekly. NHTSA’s new VIN look-up tool directly relies on information from all major automakers, and regularly updated information from the automakers is critical to the efficacy of the search tool. Determining whether there is a recall that consumers need to take action on is easy. After entering the VIN number into the field, results will appear if the consumer has an open recall on their vehicle, and if there are none, owners will see “No Open Recalls."

NHTSA unveils VIN search engine to access their recall database.
The NHTSA recall search engine page looks like this, with a list of searchable motorcycle and car manufacturers listed at the bottom.