How CarTold Uses AI

Short version: our model-year reports are not written by AI. They are calculated from public records with fixed rules.

Model-year reports

Since October 29, 2026, model-year pages no longer show AI-written summaries. Every finding on those pages, including counts, rankings, most-reported components, year-over-year changes and fuel-cost estimates, is computed from the stored NHTSA, EPA and EIA records with fixed rules. A sentence appears only when the data behind it supports it. Earlier AI-drafted summaries are kept in our database for reference but are not published.

Guides and other articles

Buying guides are written as source files with a data pack listing the exact records and queries behind them, and a person approves each one before it goes live. AI tools may have helped draft or edit some of that text. Research pages, problem explainers and model hubs draw their figures from the database at the time the page loads.

What we will not publish

Invented facts, figures, quotations or experience with a car.
A diagnosis or prediction about an individual vehicle based on complaints about its model year.
A claim that fewer complaints make one year safer or more reliable.

More detail

Our data sources, refresh schedule and how the pages are built are described on How we make CarTold. Spot a mistake? Use our corrections process or email [email protected].