Vehicles

The basic vehicle search screen consists of three pull-down menus (Make, Model and Year) and a text box. At least one of the fields must contain a value in order to complete a search. The pull-downs allow searches for specific makes, models and years or all makes, models or years.

To further limit a search, enter a word, or portion of a word, into the text box – this will return only the records meeting the criteria in the pull-down menus that contain that text in the appropriate text fields.

Results are returned in a series of tabs. If you choose to search multiple databases, the results are first divided by database. Within each database tab, there are four additional tabs: Exact, Model Range, Model Twins and Related Information.

The Exact tab contains results that exactly match the search criteria. If you selected a specific make, model and year, the Model Range will provide results for the year ranges of the model selected. Similarly, if a specific model was selected in the search criteria, the Model Twins tab will show the results for model twins (and their appropriate model ranges). The Related Information tab provides results that may be related to your query but do not contain enough information to qualify as an exact match. Related Information is designed to ensure that potentially related results are not missed.

Child Restraints

The basic child restraints search screen consists of a list of child restraint manufacturers and a text box. To begin searching, select one or more manufacturers (multiple manufacturers can be selected by holding the control key while making selections) or enter a word or portion of a word into the text box. Selecting a manufacturer and entering a term will return only records that meet both criteria.

Within the four database tabs, child restraint records are broken down into two tabs – Exact and Related Information. The Exact tab contains records coded as having the selected manufacturer(s), and meeting the criteria entered into the text box. The text criteria will be searched for anywhere in the record (including make, model, and any descriptive fields summarizing the documents in detail).

Due to inconsistent coding by NHTSA of child restraint records, VSIRC has built in child restraint searching intelligence. Records identified using VSIRC’s automatic search intelligence are displayed in the Related Information tab. These records are generated by searching for the selected manufacturer(s) throughout all fields in the records, rather than searching only the manufacturer field. Any text criteria specified in the search will be included in this search as well. This allows users to retrieve records that have been coded as having an unknown manufacturer, but contain manufacturer information elsewhere in the record (e.g., a complaint summary, a description of a defect addressed by a recall, or a NHTSA notes field).

Tires

The basic tires search screen consists of two pull-down menus representing tire manufacturers and tires makes, respectively, and a text box.

To begin searching, select a manufacturer or a make. These lists are designed to work independent of each other, allowing users to conduct broad manufacturer searches (containing multiple makes) or more narrow searches focusing on makes, some of which may be associated with different manufacturers during different time periods. This is particularly true of private label make designations. For example, tires labeled under the Pep Boys brand may have been manufactured by one of several manufacturers. However, the NHTSA data do not provide enough information to identify which manufacturer.

In order to narrow a search further, enter criteria into the text box. Entering text in the text search will bring back all records coded with the selected manufacturer or make that also meet the text criteria.

To begin searching, select a manufacturer or a make. These lists are designed to work independent of each other, allowing users to conduct broad manufacturer searches (containing multiple makes) or more narrow searches focusing on makes, some of which may be associated with different manufacturers during different time periods. This is particularly true of private label make designations. For example, tires labeled under the Pep Boys brand may have been manufactured by one of several manufacturers. However, the NHTSA data do not provide enough information to identify which manufacturer.

Within the four database tabs, tire records are broken down into two tabs – Exact and Related Information. The Exact tab contains records coded as having the selected manufacturer or make, and meeting the criteria entered into the text box. The text criteria search within the entire record (including make, model, and any descriptive fields summarizing the documents in detail) because of the limited coding associated with tires

Due to inconsistent and incomplete coding by NHTSA of tire records, VSIRC has built in tire searching intelligence. Records identified using this method are displayed in the Related Information tab. These records are generated by searching for the selected manufacturer or make throughout all fields in the records, rather than searching only the manufacturer or make fields. Any text criteria specified in the search will be included in this search as well. This allows users to retrieve records that have been coded with an unknown manufacturer, but contain manufacturer information elsewhere in the record (e.g., a complaint summary, a description of a defect addressed by a recall, or a NHTSA notes field). This is particularly important in the case of tires because many tire complaints are coded under the vehicle manufacturers, makes, and models on which they were mounted at the time of failure.

Equipment

The basic equipment search screen consists of one pull-down menu of equipment manufacturers, one populated box of equipment makes that will autofill as text is inputted, and a text box. To begin searching, select a manufacturer or a make. These lists are designed to work independently from each other, allowing searches by manufacturer or by the more commonly known equipment makes, some of which may be associated with different manufacturers during different time periods.

In order to narrow a search further, enter criteria into the text box. Entering text in the text search will bring back all records coded as having the specified manufacturer or make that also meet the text criteria.

Within the four database tabs, equipment records are broken down into two tabs – Exact and Related Information. The Exact tab contains records coded as having the selected manufacturer or make, and meeting the criteria entered into the text box. The text criteria will be searched for anywhere in the record (including make, model, and any descriptive fields summarizing the documents in detail).

Due to inconsistent and incomplete coding by NHTSA of equipment records, VSIRC has built in equipment searching intelligence. Records identified using this method are displayed in the Related Information tab. These records are generated by searching for the selected manufacturer or make throughout all fields in the records, rather than searching only the manufacturer or make fields. Any text criteria specified in the search will be included in this search as well. This allows users to retrieve records that have been coded as having an unknown manufacturer, but contain manufacturer information elsewhere in the record (e.g., a complaint summary, a description of a defect addressed by a recall, or a NHTSA notes field).