Top cities most and least affected by vehicle recalls in 2017

RepairPal organized user data relating to car owner inquiries for repair information over a specified time period. RepairPal then used recall data, collected from NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration), to compare against the top researched vehicles in each specified metropolitan area. From there, RepairPal was able to derive a "recall score" by looking at top researched vehicles and if they had been a part of a recall in the last five years.

The following are RepairPal's most frequently searched metropolitan areas with the recall data compared to the top car owner searched vehicle (make, model, year).

The top five metropolitan areas most affected by vehicle recalls:

1. Pittsburgh, PA
2. New York-White Plains-Wayne, NY + NJ
3. Edison, NJ
4. Newark-Union, NJ + PA
5. Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, MA + NH

The top five metropolitan areas least affected by vehicle recalls:

1. Seattle-Bellevue-Everett, WA
2. Portland-Vancouver-Beaverton, OR + WA
3. Las Vegas-Paradise, NV
4. Richmond, VA
5. Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, VA + NC

Full data results

This data is on a scale from 1 to 25, and -25 to -1. 

1. Pittsburgh, PA: 60.85%

2. New York-White Plains-Wayne, NY-NJ: 60.13%

3. Edison, NJ Metro Div: 59.90%

4. Newark-Union, NJ-PA Metro Div: 59.12%

5. Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, MA-NH: 59.06%

6. Baltimore-Towson, MD: 57.38%

7. Bethesda-Gaithersburg-Frederick, MD: 57.30%

8. Columbus, OH: 56.97%

9. Miami-Miami Beach-Kendall, FL: 56.30%

10. San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA: 56.21%

11. Dallas-Plano-Irving, TX Metro Div: 56.02%

12. Cleveland-Elyria-Mentor, OH: 56.01%

13. Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, CT: 55.83%

14. Raleigh-Cary, NC: 55.75%

15. Santa Ana-Anaheim-Irvine, CA Metro Div: 55.70%

16. Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV: 55.53%

17. Chicago-Naperville-Joliet, IL: 55.50%

18. Fort Worth-Arlington, TX: 55.27%

19. Providence-Fall River-Warwick, RI-MA: 55.15%

20. Philadelphia, PA: 55.00%

21. Detroit-Livonia-Dearborn, MI: 54.39%

22. Cincinnati-Middletown, OH-KY-IN: 54.25%

23. Warren-Troy-Farmington Hills, MI: 53.94%

24. Nassau-Suffolk, NY Metro Div: 53.88%

25. Oakland-Fremont-Hayward, CA: 53.72%

St. Louis, MO-IL: 53.61%

-25.  San Antonio, TX: 53.33%

-24. Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, TX: 53.31%

-23. Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta, GA: 53.30%

-22. Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach-Deerfield Beach, FL: 53.23%

-21. Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI: 52.86%

-20. Milwaukee-Waukesha-West Allis, WI: 52.76%

-19. Indianapolis-Carmel, IN: 52.75%

-18. Austin-Round Rock, TX: 52.61%

-17. San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos, CA: 52.31%

-16.Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, AZ: 51.92%

-15. Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach-Deerfield Beach, FL: 53.23%

-14. Orlando-Kissimmee, FL: 51.77%

-13. Jacksonville, FL: 51.26%

-12. Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale, CA: 51.05%

-11. Denver-Aurora, CO: 50.89%

-10. Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro, TN: 50.50%

-9. Kansas City, MO-KS: 50.10%

-8. Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL: 49.50%

-7. Sacramento--Arden-Arcade--Roseville, CA: 48.37%

-6. Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA: 47.45%

-5. Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, VA-NC: 46.70%

-4. Richmond, VA: 46.47%

-3. Las Vegas-Paradise, NV: 46.27%

-2. Portland-Vancouver-Beaverton, OR-WA: 42.68%

-1. Seattle-Bellevue-Everett, WA: 42.62%