@meterapp/vehicle-db

Offline NHTSA vehicle database. All U.S. vehicle makes and models from 1990–2026. Zero dependencies, ~189 KB on npm. No network requests needed.

Covers three vehicle types: Passenger Car, Truck, and Multipurpose Passenger Vehicle (MPV).

Install

npm install @meterapp/vehicle-db

Requires Node.js 18+. Zero runtime dependencies — data is bundled as JSON.

Usage

import {
  getVehicleTypes,
  getMakes,
  getModels,
  getAvailableYears,
  close,
} from "@meterapp/vehicle-db";

// List available vehicle types
const types = getVehicleTypes();
// => [
//   { vehicleTypeId: 2, vehicleTypeName: "Passenger Car" },
//   { vehicleTypeId: 3, vehicleTypeName: "Truck" },
//   { vehicleTypeId: 7, vehicleTypeName: "Multipurpose Passenger Vehicle (MPV)" },
// ]

// Get all makes
const allMakes = getMakes();

// Get makes that have models in 2024
const makes2024 = getMakes({ year: 2024 });

// Get only truck makes for 2024
const truckMakes = getMakes({ year: 2024, vehicleTypeId: 3 });

// Get all Toyota models for 2024
const toyotaModels = getModels({ makeId: 474, year: 2024 });
// => [
//   { modelId: 2469, modelName: "Camry", makeId: 474, makeName: "TOYOTA", vehicleTypeId: 2, vehicleTypeName: "Passenger Car" },
//   { modelId: 2208, modelName: "Corolla", ... },
//   ...
// ]

// Get only Ford trucks for 2024
const fordTrucks = getModels({ makeId: 460, year: 2024, vehicleTypeId: 3 });
// => [{ modelId: 1801, modelName: "F-150", ... }, ...]

// Get all available years
const years = getAvailableYears();
// => [1990, 1991, ..., 2026]

// Optional: close the DB connection when you're done
close();

API

getVehicleTypes(): VehicleType[]

Returns all vehicle types in the database.

interface VehicleType {
  vehicleTypeId: number;   // e.g. 2
  vehicleTypeName: string; // e.g. "Passenger Car"
}

getMakes(options?): Make[]

Returns makes, optionally filtered by year and/or vehicle type.

getMakes()                                    // all makes
getMakes({ year: 2024 })                      // makes with models in 2024
getMakes({ vehicleTypeId: 3 })                // truck makes (all years)
getMakes({ year: 2024, vehicleTypeId: 3 })    // truck makes in 2024

interface Make {
  makeId: number;   // e.g. 460
  makeName: string; // e.g. "FORD"
}

getModels(options?): Model[]

Returns models, optionally filtered by year, vehicle type, and/or make.

getModels({ makeId: 474, year: 2024 })                      // Toyota 2024 (all types)
getModels({ makeId: 460, year: 2024, vehicleTypeId: 3 })    // Ford trucks 2024
getModels({ vehicleTypeId: 3 })                              // all trucks (all years)
getModels({ year: 2024 })                                    // everything in 2024

interface Model {
  modelId: number;          // e.g. 1801
  modelName: string;        // e.g. "F-150"
  makeId: number;           // e.g. 460
  makeName: string;         // e.g. "FORD"
  vehicleTypeId: number;    // e.g. 3
  vehicleTypeName: string;  // e.g. "Truck"
}

getAvailableYears(): number[]

Returns all years present in the database, sorted ascending.

close(): void

Closes the SQLite connection. Safe to call multiple times. The connection reopens automatically on the next query.

Database stats

| | | |---|---| | Years | 1990 – 2026 | | Vehicle types | 3 (Passenger Car, Truck, MPV) | | Makes | 400 | | Model entries | 51,270 | | Data file | 1.2 MB (JSON) | | npm package | 189 KB | | npm package size | 1.5 MB |

Rebuilding the database

To refresh the data from the NHTSA API:

npm run build:db

Or for a specific year range:

npm run build:db -- --start-year 2020 --end-year 2026

The NHTSA API rate-limits aggressively. The build script retries failed requests, but some obscure makes may be skipped. Major manufacturers (Toyota, Honda, Ford, BMW, etc.) are always fetched successfully.

License

ISC