Recalls Are Now a Software Business: 891 Campaigns in 2025, and Nearly Half of 2026 Recalls Can Be Fixed Over the Air

In its 2025 annual recalls report, NHTSA tallied 891 vehicle recalls covering more than 29 million vehicles. The scale is staggering — roughly one in ten vehicles on American roads was covered by a recall last year — but the more important shift is how those recalls are being fixed. BizzyCar, a firm that compiles recall data, counted about 5.7 million vehicles in the first quarter of 2026 that could be repaired over the air, close to half of the 12.2 million recalled in the quarter.

GM’s latest recall is the perfect illustration. The company’s recall of 67,380 Cadillac and Chevy EVs over a brake software defect has no new part: the remedy is a file, delivered over the air to owners who opted in or installed at a dealer. The brake system control module gets corrected code, and the car never needs a lift. A decade ago, a braking recall meant a service bay, a loaner car, and a parts backlog; today it increasingly means a download.

The shift cuts both ways. Over-the-air fixes mean defects can be corrected faster and more completely, with no appointment needed — but they also mean software defects can reach millions of cars before anyone notices, and a bad update can itself become a safety problem. GM’s own history proves the point: its 2024 brake software patch did not fully fix the condition, so the same cars are being recalled again. The recall system is adapting — NHTSA’s counts now track a world where the fix is code — and owners should treat recall notices for software with the same urgency as a mechanical defect.