How big is a typical recall in Canada?

The median campaign from 2016 to 2025 named 220 vehicles. In 2025 it was 295.

Do most recalled vehicles come from small campaigns?

No. The 107 campaigns that named 100,000 vehicles or more hold 47% of the units, while the 2,536 that named fewer than 100 hold 0.1%.

Does a recall listed for my model year apply to my vehicle?

Not necessarily. The public record lists a recall against models and model years. The maker holds the list of vehicles and confirms each VIN.

Editions

Edition 1/October 28, 2026

Recalls edition 1, Most recalls are small, page 1 of 10

Recalls edition 1, Most recalls are small, page 2 of 10

Recalls edition 1, Most recalls are small, page 3 of 10

Recalls edition 1, Most recalls are small, page 4 of 10

Recalls edition 1, Most recalls are small, page 5 of 10

Cover

Recalls edition 1, Most recalls are small

Most recalls are small

Ten years of Canada's vehicle recall record, counted campaign by campaign, from Transport Canada's own open file.

Kind: Data edition
Published: October 28, 2026
Data as of: Transport Canada file read 26 October 2026
Length: 10 pages

Download the PDF3.3 MB

220
vehicles named by the median campaign, the middle of the decade's record.
of 6,325 campaigns · 2016–2025. Transport Canada recalls database, read 26 October 2026
40%
of campaigns name fewer than 100 vehicles. Together they hold 0.1% of the units.
2,536 of 6,325 campaigns. Transport Canada recalls database, read 26 October 2026
107
campaigns name 100,000 vehicles or more, 1.7% of campaigns, 47% of the units.
of 6,325 campaigns · 51.4 million units. Transport Canada recalls database, read 26 October 2026
25%
of campaigns on cars, SUVs, pickups and vans also name fewer than 100.
764 of 3,078 campaigns. Transport Canada recalls database, read 26 October 2026

The answer

Half of Canada's recall campaigns name 220 vehicles or fewer. Counting every campaign in Transport Canada's recall database from 2016 to 2025 gives 6,325 campaigns naming 51.4 million vehicle units in Canada. 2,536 of them, 40%, name fewer than 100 vehicles and hold 0.1% of the units. At the other end, 107 campaigns name 100,000 vehicles or more: 1.7% of campaigns and 47% of the units.

Method

Canada. Transport Canada's Motor Vehicle Safety Recalls Database, the full monthly file, read 26 October 2026, latest recall date 6 October 2026. One row per recall, make, model and model year; 17,987 recall numbers in all. Rows are grouped by recall number. The units figure repeats on every row of a campaign, so each campaign is counted once.
Year, size, class and system. Year is the year of the recall date. Size bands, class and system are as the file records them. Campaigns of every notification type are counted.
The US, alongside. The US regulator's recalls flat file, vehicle campaigns only, by the date it received the Part 573 report. Pairs use one key both files print: the maker's campaign code, same make, overlapping model years, dates within two years. No count in this edition adds the two authorities.

Every figure is computed by one build script from the two files named here.

Limits

A campaign is one Transport Canada recall number. Its units are the vehicles, seats or tires the authority records as affected in Canada, as the maker filed them. A vehicle named by two campaigns counts in both, so units are campaign-vehicles, not distinct vehicles.
A recall listed for a model year is not a finding about any one vehicle. Remedy status for a VIN is the maker's to give.
Recalls are listed for a model and a model year. Whether one applies to a given vehicle is for its maker to confirm, by VIN.
13 of the decade's campaigns record no count at all and sit outside the size bands.
Size on the record is a count of units, not a measure of how serious the defect is.
This edition names no maker and ranks none; it reads the record by size, class, system and year.

Sources

Data as of Transport Canada file read 26 October 2026. Published October 28, 2026. Every count is Transport Canada's. The US record is read on its own, set beside Canada's and never added to it.

Transport Canada, Motor Vehicle Safety Recalls Database, the full monthly file (vrdb_full_monthly.csv), read 26 October 2026, latest recall date 6 October 2026.
The US regulator's recalls flat file, vehicle campaigns only, by the date its Part 573 report was received, latest 21 October 2026. Read alongside, never added.

This edition

Supersedes: None. This is the first edition.
Superseded by: Not yet. The same count, refreshed each time Transport Canada publishes its monthly file, so a change in the record shows up as a change in the number, never as a change in the method.

This edition is sealed: it is not edited after publication. A later one supersedes it, and this one stays readable here.

Questions

How big is a typical recall in Canada?: The median campaign from 2016 to 2025 named 220 vehicles. In 2025 it was 295.
Do most recalled vehicles come from small campaigns?: No. The 107 campaigns that named 100,000 vehicles or more hold 47% of the units, while the 2,536 that named fewer than 100 hold 0.1%.
Does a recall listed for my model year apply to my vehicle?: Not necessarily. The public record lists a recall against models and model years. The maker holds the list of vehicles and confirms each VIN.

Figures