Automotive
SmartSectors

The automotive sector produces parts, components, and finished cars, trucks, trailers, tractors and other motorized vehicles.

Use the checkboxes below to select an environmental performance and an economic indicator.

Environmental Performance Indicators





Economic Indicators




What is in this chart?

This chart shows total air emissions, as reported biannually to EPA’s Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) between 1996 and 2022, by establishments classified into NAICS 3361 (motor vehicle manufacturing), 3362 (motor vehicle body and trailer manufacturing), and 3363 (motor vehicle parts manufacturing). Total air emissions for this sector decreased from 78 million pounds in 1996 to 12.50 million pounds in 2022.

What are TRI air emissions?

Total air emissions reported to TRI include fugitive air emissions and stack air emissions. Fugitive air emissions are all releases to air that do not occur through a confined air stream; such emissions may include equipment leaks, releases from building ventilation systems, and evaporative losses from surface impoundments and spills. Stack air emissions are releases to air that occur through a confined air stream, such as stacks, ducts, or pipes.

The quantity of releases does not indicate the level of health risk posed by the emissions. TRI data can vary from year to year at the facility and sector levels for a variety of reasons. For questions about specific values, contact TRI. In addition to TRI reporting, motor vehicle manufacturers are subject to statutory and regulatory requirements, including permitting.

Select an Economic Indicator Click to View Totals

What is in this chart?

This chart shows total air emissions, as reported annually to EPA’s Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) between 1996 and 2018, by establishments classified into NAICS 3361 (motor vehicle manufacturing), 3362 (motor vehicle body and trailer manufacturing), and 3363 (motor vehicle parts manufacturing). Total air emissions for this sector decreased from 78 million pounds in 1996 to 15 million pounds in 2018.

What are TRI air emissions?

Total air emissions reported to TRI include fugitive air emissions and stack air emissions. Fugitive air emissions are all releases to air that do not occur through a confined air stream; such emissions may include equipment leaks, releases from building ventilation systems, and evaporative losses from surface impoundments and spills. Stack air emissions are releases to air that occur through a confined air stream, such as stacks, ducts, or pipes.

The quantity of releases does not indicate the level of health risk posed by the emissions. TRI data can vary from year to year at the facility and sector levels for a variety of reasons. For questions about specific values, contact TRI. In addition to TRI reporting, motor vehicle manufacturers are subject to statutory and regulatory requirements, including permitting.

The automotive manufacturing sector comprises a range of establishments primarily engaged in manufacturing:

  • Complete automobiles, SUVs, pick-ups, light trucks and heavy-duty trucks. (NAICS 3361)
  • Bodies, cabs, trailers, RVs, utility trucks, buses and other vehicles built on purchased chassis. (NAICS 3362)
  • Engines, transmissions and parts including steering, suspension, brakes, seats, trim, springs, electronics and other components. (NAICS 3363)

Data presented in the Snapshot cover the entire automotive manufacturing sector (NAICS 3361, 3362, 3363). The number of facilities reporting data for the most recent year represented in the Snapshot charts for each environmental indicator are shown below:

Indicator EPA Program Facilities Reporting
Air Emission Toxic Release Inventory 607
Criteria air pollutants National Emission Inventory 499
Greenhouse gases Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program 51
Hazardous waste National Biannual Report 428
Production-related waste managed Toxic Release Inventory 637
Recycling of waste chemicals Toxic Release Inventory 24
Releases to land Toxic Release Inventory 12
Water discharges Toxic Release Inventory 55

NOTE: Variation in facilities counts between indicators reflects differences in reporting requirements. For more information, click on the program links in the chart description.

The Smart Sectors Automotive Sector Information page has more details on the industry and related EPA programs.

Air Emissions

How to Download Your Data
  1. Go to https://www.epa.gov/enviro/tri-ez-search.
  2. Scroll down and click on “Flat (Denormalized) Form R – A flat view of the TRI database that contains a majority of the available TRI information.
  3. Select the following variables from the list of data elements provided.
    1. Reporting Year
    2. In the row immediately below Air Total Release check the box above SUM
    3. Primary NAICS Code
  4. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click on “STEP 3: Enter Search Criteria”
  5. On the next page:
    1. For Reporting Year – switch Operator Definition to “Between.” In the Search Value field, enter the first year shown in the Sector Snapshots chart, followed by “AND”, and the last year shown in the Sector Snapshots chart. For example, if the first year is 1996 and the last year is 2022, enter “1996 AND 2022” in the Search Value field.
    2. For Primary NAICS Code – switch Operator to “Beginning with,” and enter 3361 (Motor Vehicle Manufacturing) under Search Value. Then check the last box to the right under “Where Only.”
    3. Click on “Search database” or “Output to CSV File”
  6. Repeat Step 5b for the following NAICS codes, and aggregate the results for all three NAICS codes. Note that once you have accessed your search results, you can use your browser’s “back” button to go back to Step 5 and change the NAICS code accordingly, without completing Steps 1 through 4 again.
    1. 3362 (Motor Vehicle Body and Trailer Manufacturing)
    2. 3363 (Motor Vehicle Parts Manufacturing)
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Criteria Air Pollutants

How to Download Your Data

Note: The data are available in a tab or comma-delimited text format that must be imported into a program that will allow you to analyze the file (such as Excel).

  1. Go to : Get Air Emissions Data | US EPA which has a table with yearly data tables. Download the data years desired.
  2. In the "Table of Air Emissions Data by Year and Time", select the relevant NEI file under the Triennial NEI column for years within the range of the Snapshot Sectors Graphic.
  3. For 1996 – 2005, select the file with "naics" or "sics" in the file name. For example, for 2000, use the "2000sicsummarymade09" file, but for 2005, use the "naics_summary.zip" file.
  4. For 2008 and onwards, click the “Data Summaries” hyperlink, then download the “Facility-level by Pollutant” File.
  5. Automotive manufacturing facilities are grouped under SIC codes 2399, 2396, 3519, 3592, 3647, 3694, 3711, 3713, 3714, 3715, 3716, 3792, 2399 and 3465 for the years 1996 and 1999 and NAICS codes beginning with 3361, 3362 and 3363 for the years 2002 – 2017.
  6. Using the SIC and NAICS variables, filter for paper products facilities, then sum total emissions of CO, NOX, VOC, PM10, NH3, and SO2 in each year to arrive at the totals shown in this chart.
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Greenhouse Gases

How to Download Your Data
  1. Go to https://www.epa.gov/ghgreporting/ghg-reporting-program-data-sets
  2. Click the “Data Summary Spreadsheets” link. In the resulting ZIP file, open the spreadsheet, “ghgp_data_by_year.xlsx.” Navigate to the first worksheet, “Direct Emitters.”
  3. Apply a filter to Column K (Primary NAICS Code), displaying only the values for NAICS Codes beginning with 3361, 3362, and 3363.
  4. With the filter from Step 3 applied, for each year, 2011 onwards, sum the relevant column of “Total reported direct emissions.” For example, Column T corresponds to 2011, Column S corresponds to 2012, etc.
  5. For 2010 data, open the spreadsheet, “ghgp_data_2010.xlsx” from the ZIP file. Repeat Steps 3 and 4 in this file; the 2010 “Total reported direct emissions” data are in Column N of the “Direct Emitters” worksheet.
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Hazardous Waste Generation

How to Download Your Data
  1. Go to https://rcrapublic.epa.gov/rcra-hwip/trends-and-analysis/details/7
  2. Repeat the following steps for each reporting cycle. You will be able to access data for one year at a time but multiple NAICS codes. For each reporting cycle, to recreate the values shown in this chart:
    1. Select a data year in the “Report Cycle” box and click on the blue “Update filter” box.
    2. Click on the “…” menu option in the upper right hand corner of the Generator List Box.
    3. Click on “Download results,” chose the file format you want and save the file on your computer.
    4. Open the file and create a filter the records in the “naics_code” column.
    5. Sort or filter the “naics_code” column for the following NAICS codes:
      • 336320 MOTOR VEHICLE ELECTRICAL AND ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT MANUFACTURING
      • 33611 AUTOMOBILE AND LIGHT DUTY MOTOR VEHICLE MANUFACTURING
      • 336390 OTHER MOTOR VEHICLE PARTS MANUFACTURING
      • 336110 AUTOMOBILE AND LIGHT DUTY MOTOR VEHICLE MANUFACTURING
      • 33639 OTHER MOTOR VEHICLE PARTS MANUFACTURING
      • 336120 HEAVY DUTY TRUCK MANUFACTURING
      • 336211 MOTOR VEHICLE BODY MANUFACTURING
      • 336370 MOTOR VEHICLE METAL STAMPING
      • 336330 MOTOR VEHICLE STEERING AND SUSPENSION COMPONENTS (EXCEPT SPRING) MANUFACTURING
      • 336310 MOTOR VEHICLE GASOLINE ENGINE AND ENGINE PARTS MANUFACTURING
      • 336112 LIGHT TRUCK AND UTILITY VEHICLE MANUFACTURING
      • 336212 TRUCK TRAILER MANUFACTURING
      • 336350 MOTOR VEHICLE TRANSMISSION AND POWER TRAIN PARTS MANUFACTURING
      • 33634 MOTOR VEHICLE BRAKE SYSTEM MANUFACTURING
      • 33631 MOTOR VEHICLE GASOLINE ENGINE AND ENGINE PARTS MANUFACTURING
      • 336360 MOTOR VEHICLE SEATING AND INTERIOR TRIM MANUFACTURING
      • 336340 MOTOR VEHICLE BRAKE SYSTEM MANUFACTURING
      • 33612 HEAVY DUTY TRUCK MANUFACTURING
      • 33636 MOTOR VEHICLE SEATING AND INTERIOR TRIM MANUFACTURING
      • 33637 MOTOR VEHICLE METAL STAMPING
      • 336214 TRAVEL TRAILER AND CAMPER MANUFACTURING
      • 336213 MOTOR HOME MANUFACTURING
      • 33632 MOTOR VEHICLE ELECTRICAL AND ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT MANUFACTURING
      • 33635 MOTOR VEHICLE TRANSMISSION AND POWER TRAIN PARTS MANUFACTURING
      • 33633 MOTOR VEHICLE STEERING AND SUSPENSION COMPONENTS (EXCEPT SPRING) MANUFACTURING
      • 33621 MOTOR VEHICLE BODY AND TRAILER MANUFACTURING
  3. Reporting cycles: Select each year individually that is presented on the Sector Snapshots graphic.
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Production-Related Waste Managed

How to Download Your Data
  1. Go to https://www.epa.gov/enviro/tri-ez-search.
  2. Scroll down and click on “Flat (Denormalized) Form R – A flat view of the TRI database that contains a majority of the available TRI information.
  3. Select the following variables from the list of data elements provided.
    1. Reporting Year
    2. In the row immediately below Total Production Related Waste check the box above SUM
    3. Primary NAICS Code
  4. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click on “STEP 3: Enter Search Criteria”
  5. On the next page:
    1. For Reporting Year – switch Operator Definition to “Between.” In the Search Value field, enter the first year shown in the Sector Snapshots chart, followed by “AND”, and the last year shown in the Sector Snapshots chart. For example, if the first year is 1996 and the last year is 2022, enter “1996 AND 2022” in the Search Value field.
    2. For Primary NAICS Code – switch Operator to “Beginning with,” and enter 3361 (Motor Vehicle Manufacturing) under Search Value. Then check the last box to the right under “Where Only.”
    3. Click on “Search database” or “Output to CSV File”
  6. Repeat Step 5b for the following NAICS codes, and aggregate the results for all three NAICS codes. Note that once you have accessed your search results, you can use your browser’s “back” button to go back to Step 5 and change the NAICS code accordingly, without completing Steps 1 through 4 again.
    1. 3362 (Motor Vehicle Body and Trailer Manufacturing)
    2. 3363 (Motor Vehicle Parts Manufacturing)
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Recycling of Waste Chemicals

How to Download Your Data
  1. Go to https://www.epa.gov/enviro/tri-ez-search.
  2. Scroll down and click on “Flat (Denormalized) Form R – A flat view of the TRI database that contains a majority of the available TRI information.
  3. Select the following variables from the list of data elements provided.
    1. Reporting Year
    2. In the row immediately below Recycling Onsite Current Year Quantity check the box above SUM
    3. Primary NAICS Code
  4. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click on “STEP 3: Enter Search Criteria”
  5. On the next page:
    1. For Reporting Year – switch Operator Definition to “Between.” In the Search Value field, enter the first year shown in the Sector Snapshots chart, followed by “AND”, and the last year shown in the Sector Snapshots chart. For example, if the first year is 1996 and the last year is 2022, enter “1996 AND 2022” in the Search Value field.
    2. For Primary NAICS Code – switch Operator to “Beginning with,” and enter 3361 (Motor Vehicle Manufacturing) under Search Value. Then check the last box to the right under “Where Only.”
    3. Click on “Search database” or “Output to CSV File”
  6. Repeat Step 5b for the following NAICS codes, and aggregate the results for all three NAICS codes. Note that once you have accessed your search results, you can use your browser’s “back” button to go back to Step 5 and change the NAICS code accordingly, without completing Steps 1 through 4 again.
    1. 3362 (Motor Vehicle Body and Trailer Manufacturing)
    2. 3363 (Motor Vehicle Parts Manufacturing)
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Releases to Land

How to Download Your Data
  1. Go to https://www.epa.gov/enviro/tri-ez-search.
  2. Scroll down and click on “Flat (Denormalized) Form R – A flat view of the TRI database that contains a majority of the available TRI information.
  3. Select the following variables from the list of data elements provided.
    1. Reporting Year
    2. In the row immediately below Land Total Release check the box above SUM
    3. Primary NAICS Code
  4. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click on “STEP 3: Enter Search Criteria”
  5. On the next page:
    1. For Reporting Year – switch Operator Definition to “Between.” In the Search Value field, enter the first year shown in the Sector Snapshots chart, followed by “AND”, and the last year shown in the Sector Snapshots chart. For example, if the first year is 1996 and the last year is 2022, enter “1996 AND 2022” in the Search Value field.
    2. For Primary NAICS Code – switch Operator to “Beginning with,” and enter 3361 (Motor Vehicle Manufacturing) under Search Value. Then check the last box to the right under “Where Only.”
    3. Click on “Search database” or “Output to CSV File”
  6. Repeat Step 5b for the following NAICS codes, and aggregate the results for all three NAICS codes. Note that once you have accessed your search results, you can use your browser’s “back” button to go back to Step 5 and change the NAICS code accordingly, without completing Steps 1 through 4 again.
    1. 3362 (Motor Vehicle Body and Trailer Manufacturing)
    2. 3363 (Motor Vehicle Parts Manufacturing)
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Water Discharges

How to Download Your Data
  1. Go to https://www.epa.gov/enviro/tri-ez-search.
  2. Scroll down and click on “Flat (Denormalized) Form R – A flat view of the TRI database that contains a majority of the available TRI information.
  3. Select the following variables from the list of data elements provided.
    1. Reporting Year
    2. In the row immediately below Water Total Release check the box above SUM
    3. Primary NAICS Code
  4. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click on “STEP 3: Enter Search Criteria”
  5. On the next page:
    1. For Reporting Year – switch Operator Definition to “Between.” In the Search Value field, enter the first year shown in the Sector Snapshots chart, followed by “AND”, and the last year shown in the Sector Snapshots chart. For example, if the first year is 1996 and the last year is 2022, enter “1996 AND 2022” in the Search Value field.
    2. For Primary NAICS Code – switch Operator to “Beginning with,” and enter 3361 (Motor Vehicle Manufacturing) under Search Value. Then check the last box to the right under “Where Only.”
    3. Click on “Search database” or “Output to CSV File”
  6. Repeat Step 5b for the following NAICS codes, and aggregate the results for all three NAICS codes. Note that once you have accessed your search results, you can use your browser’s “back” button to go back to Step 5 and change the NAICS code accordingly, without completing Steps 1 through 4 again.
    1. 3362 (Motor Vehicle Body and Trailer Manufacturing)
    2. 3363 (Motor Vehicle Parts Manufacturing)
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Dollar Value of Gross Output

How to Download Your Data
  1. Go to https://www.bea.gov/industry/gdpbyind_data.htm
  2. Click on “Underlying Detail Tables, Annual, 1997-2022”
  3. Select “Gross Output by Industry.”
  4. Select “U.Gross Output by Industry (A).” Then, when prompted, click “Next Step.” The resulting data table will then load.
  5. After the table has loaded, click on “Modify” in the upper-right-hand corner of the table. In the resulting window:
    1. Set the scale as “Billions”
    2. Set the start year as “1997-A”
    3. Set the end year as the last year presented in the graphic.
    4. In the code list, select only “(3361MV) Motor vehicles, bodies and trailers, and parts.” Do not select any other item in this menu, doing so may double count.
    5. Click “Refresh Table”
  6. The first row of the resulting table, labeled “Motor vehicles, bodies and trailers, and parts” provides the corresponding data shown in this chart for each year.
  7. (Optional) Download the dataset in XLS, CSV, or PDF format.
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Employment

How to Download Your Data

Note: Processing employment data from the Census Bureau will require use of data processing software. The data are available in a comma-delimited text format that must be imported into a software package that will allow you to analyze the file.

  1. Go to https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/cbp/data/datasets.html
  2. Click on any link labeled “County Business Patterns: YEAR.” On the resulting page, click the “Complete U.S. File” link and download the corresponding file. Repeat this process for each year corresponding to years presented in the graphic.
  3. Open each file in a software package of your choice that can process comma-delimited text files. Repeat the steps below for each file.
  4. For entities with suppressed data, the Census Bureau replaces all employment values with zeroes and this underestimates the total number of employees in each sector. Using your software package, replace the suppression flags with the midpoint of the Data Suppression Flag employment ranges per the table below.
    Empflag Data Suppression Flag Employment Size Class Midpoint
    Min Max
    A 0 19 10
    B 20 99 60
    C 100 249 175
    E 250 499 375
    F 500 999 750
    G 1000 2,499 1,750
    H 2,500 4,999 3,750
    I 5000 9,999 7,500
    J 10,000 24,999 17,500
    K 25,000 49,999 37,500
    L 50,000 99,999 75,000
    M 100,000 >100,000 100,000
  5. In your software package, filter the data for NAICS codes that begin with 3361, 3362, and 3363.
  6. With the filter in place, aggregate the “emp” column across all records.
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Production

How to Download Your Data
  1. Go to https://www.bts.gov/content/world-motor-vehicle-production-selected-countries
  2. Click the link under the words “Dataset Excel:” which is described as “Table_01_23_022620.xlsx.”
  3. Scroll down to the row for the United States (on or near row 105). This row provides the corresponding data shown in the chart for each year, starting with 1996 (Column H) through the last date shown in the Sector Snapshots chart.
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Constant Dollar Output Value (2017)

How to Download Your Data
  1. The constant dollar output metric uses inflation-adjusted economic output values. This contrasts with the dollar value of gross output (nominal output), which does not account for inflation.
  2. The GDP Implicit Price Deflator (IPD) is used to adjust the dollar value of gross output for inflation.
  3. The IPD is calculated by dividing nominal economic output (i.e., GDP) by constant dollar economic output and reflects the impact of prices on the measure of economic output. It is similar to the widely reported Consumer Price Index, but the IPD is more commonly used to reflect price increases facing businesses as well as consumers. The IPD is specified in the RCRA regulations.
  4. The IPD is indexed to a base year. When this chart was created, the IPD used 2017 as the base year (2017 IDP = 100). For each annual economic output data element in the Sector Snapshot data, nominal output values are converted to constant dollar output values using this formula: Constant Dollar Output Value = Nominal Output Value (as currently displayed in Sector Snapshots) / [(IPD for current year) / (IPD for base year)]
  5. IPD data is sourced from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis (FRED) at https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/GDPDEF#.
  6. The constant dollar output values are also used to calculate intensity ratios for each environmental performance indicator.
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