Owners have filed 13,383 complaints on the Honda Civic, covering 1983–2022. The system named most often is Steering (1,330 reports). Worst years by volume: 2006, 2016, 2007; cleanest: 1983, 1985, 1986. 1,393 reports describe a crash, 152 a fire, 95 a death. On average the car was 5.3 years old when the problem happened.
What breaks on Honda Civic
Grouped by the system owners named — percentages are shares of all 13,383 Civic complaints. Open any row for the full reports in owners' own words.
Steering 1,330 Read
My daughter (17 years old) was driving at 35 miles in leona valley ca on last friday 2015 her honda civic (7,000 miles on odometer). Her car low-pressure air light came on and then car started to swerve violently left to right. Within few minutes the car brakes stopped functioning (according to her, it felt she was…
Steering pulls to the side making it very hard to steer. Will stay in lane when going straight but makes your arms sore trying to steer it. Does not happen at all speeds usually above 30mph. Duplicated by dealer. Unable To fix the problem due to steering rack in back order for over 6 months and counting. Will not…
On Friday January 27th, I was driving approximately 65mph when the steering wheel got stuck to the right, causing me to run off the road. I hit a rut where the road meets the grass and it caused a couple of my wheel weights to fall off. Initially the lane keep was on, but I turned it off as it started pulling to the…
Air Bags 844 Read
I was in a wreck may 2020. I swerved to miss a deer and hit a concrete colvert, the vehicle launched and my airbags didn't go off. Vehicle caught fire, my motor, transmission, and tires came off. I suffered from spinal injury and nerve damage
Airbags deployed in an accident (minimal impact/superficial damage) & deeply lacerated my right thumb. No warning lamps or symptoms of the problem prior. Car to be inspected by insurance claim adjuster & available for inspection
A " check airbag system" message as I am driving the vehicle. The message occurs after about 2 minutes
Electrical System 246 Read
Couple of weeks ago I was driving and the car kept going with full speed flying with no control to stop it . I did get to make the full stop of avoiding hitting the car in front of me . But I did get rear ended
I was driving a 2012 honda civic when the car in front of me slammed on their brakes and came to a complete stop due to something in the road. I slammed on my brakes and tried to avoid the car in front of me by swerving to the right. The driver side of the front of my car hit the back of the car in front of me. My car…
Vehicle rollover crash. Fire seems to be from a recalled fuel valve. If my family burnt alive in that vehicle I would have a sick vendetta for those responsible for the non reporting of safety concerns to me as an insured driver. Including but not limited to all parties involved or responsible. This is a child safety…
Service Brakes 166 Read
The 2022 Honda Civic (Sport) with approx. 13,000 miles had been driving fine for the previous 10 minutes, on and off the highway, when I was almost home and on a more residential 25-30mph road. All of a sudden all of the warning lights went off on the dashboard at once, so I went to brake to slow down and pull over.…
I had just parked my vehicle on a city street, turn the vehicle off. I applied the electrical emergency brake. Then my phone rang and I talked on my phone for about five minutes. I then got out of my vehicle grabbed my bag from the trunk and started walking towards my friends house. When my vehicles automatic door…
Rear electronic parking brake failed while in park. The vehicle had the parking brake engaged, and the vehicle rolled down a hill into trees, damaging the rear bumper and hatch. This parking brake issue was also documented on earlier civic models from this generation
Fuel System 166 Read
The contact owned a 2019 Honda Civic Hatchback. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 23V858000 (FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE); however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The local dealer was contacted. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of…
The contact owns a 2018 Honda Civic. The contact stated while driving on a decline of a public garage road and depressing the brake pedal, the vehicle stalled. The contact continuously depressed the brake pedal, but the vehicle failed to respond, and the power steering became inoperable. The vehicle rolled at…
The contact owned a 2018 Honda Civic. The contact stated while driving at approximately 30 MPH a warning that read "analyzing the system" appeared on the instrument cluster, then the steering wheel independently veered to the right. The contact stated that he crashed into a vehicle parked on the side of the road. The…
Vehicle Speed Control 141 Read
Driving down the highway about 70 mph and it started to rain so little that I had not even needed the wipers yet. Then out of nowhere with absolutely no warning what so ever the breaks locked up and the car began to slide and was completely unresponsive to any solution possible. The steering wheel was locked in place…
Was in reverse backing into parking spot. My foot was on the break; however, the car accelerated rapidly resulting in hitting a post. There were no warnings that registered took it to Honda and reported, they indicated they were not aware of this issue and did not run diagnostics as requested
The contact owns a 2019 Honda Civic. The contact stated that while her husband was reversing the vehicle in a parking lot, the brake pedal was depressed, but the vehicle experienced unintended acceleration. The vehicle crashed into a parked vehicle. No air bags were deployed. There were no injuries sustained.…
Fuel/propulsion System 124 Read
Unknown
Upon starting out at a red light on a major street, engine went to full-throttle, causing a collision to the car in front. Operator then tried to put car in park, but instead went into to reverse, car started rapid backing up, then went back to drive and hit the car in front a second time. Once the vehicle was in…
I have less than 2000 miles on a new Honda Civic Ex and the emission systems problem warning light has come on and it says power may be reduced and see your dealer. Took to dealer and they think it is with the fuel cap but cannot get parts since it is too new. Everything I read indicates it is serious and needs…
Power Train 120 Read
Our new 2005 honda civic had both front wheels lock while my wife was going to work, driving down the freeway in fort worth tx. The car was totaled, crashing into a guard rail, blowing the air bags, spinning around, starting a fire at the left front wheel and starting my wife's coat on fire as she was getting out. We…
Ltr fm (tx) re his wife new honda which was totaled in a near fatal accident, the transmission locked up, honda won't assist them or release the title, car was paid for. *ts the vehicle crashed into a guardrail when the transmission locked up and caught on fire
[XXX] The power steering column locked up while driving down [XXX] causing an incident that caused the car to become a total loss. A police report was generated where II stated the power steering column locked which caused the incident, I informed my insurance company immediately and throughout the dealings with my…
Civic years to avoid — and the clean ones
Complaints per model year. More reports usually means more cars on the road as well as more trouble, so read the crash and fire columns alongside the count.
| Model year | Complaints | Top system | Crashes | Fires |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | Air Bags | 34 | 3 | |
| 2021 | Air Bags | 5 | 2 | |
| 2020 | Air Bags | 15 | 1 | |
| 2019 | Air Bags | 23 | — | |
| 2018 | Air Bags | 25 | 4 | |
| 2017 | Air Bags | 22 | 6 | |
| 2016 | Air Bags | 35 | 4 | |
| 2015 | Air Bags | 33 | 2 | |
| 2014 | Air Bags | 25 | 3 | |
| 2013 | Air Bags | 26 | 1 | |
| 2012 | Air Bags | 44 | 5 | |
| 2011 | Air Bags | 20 | 5 | |
| 2010 | Air Bags | 28 | 4 | |
| 2009 | Air Bags | 37 | 6 | |
| 2008 | Air Bags | 54 | 4 | |
| 2007 | Air Bags | 42 | 8 | |
| 2006 | Air Bags | 64 | 18 | |
| 2005 | Air Bags | 63 | 8 | |
| 2004 | Air Bags | 41 | 5 | |
| 2003 | Air Bags | 81 | 6 | |
| 2002 | Air Bags | 95 | 14 | |
| 2001 | Air Bags | 114 | 12 | |
| 2000 | Air Bags | 52 | 5 | |
| 1999 | Air Bags | 47 | 3 | |
| 1998 | Air Bags | 61 | — | |
| 1997 | Air Bags | 56 | 1 | |
| 1996 | Air Bags | 53 | 3 | |
| 1995 | Air Bags | 62 | 2 | |
| 1994 | Air Bags | 49 | — | |
| 1993 | Air Bags | 29 | 2 |
The same model year, different builds
Every complaint carries the first 11 characters of the VIN — plant, year, body and engine. That is a production series, and complaints are spread across them very unevenly.
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| Distinct production series | 4,760 |
| Average complaints per series | 2.8 |
| Worst single series | 47 complaints |
| Average age at failure | 5.3 years |
A model average of 2.8 hides a worst series at 47. Enter a VIN above to see the numbers for that exact build instead of the model as a whole.
Owners reported these. Find out if yours is one of them.
- Complaints matched to the exact production run, not just the model
- What the car is worth given what tends to fail on it
- The original window sticker and factory options
- Full research report as a PDF for the pre-purchase inspection
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How we count
Every figure here comes from complaints owners filed with NHTSA — 1,100,006 of them, covering 1,982 models built between 1981 and 2026.
A complaint is an unverified report: someone wrote down what happened to their car. It is not a confirmed defect and not a recall. What makes the volume useful is the pattern — when thousands of owners of the same build describe the same failure, that is a signal no marketing brochure will give you.
Two things we do that the source does not. First, we compute the age of the car at the moment of failure from the incident date and the model year. Second, we group complaints by the first 11 characters of the VIN — the production series — so a bad plant run does not disappear into a model-wide average.
Frequently asked questions
What are the worst years for the Civic?
By complaint volume, 2006, 2016, 2007 drew the most owner reports. Bear in mind that popular years put more cars on the road, so check the crash and fire columns too.
Which Civic years are the cleanest?
1993, 2021, 1994 have the fewest complaints on file. For recent years that can simply mean the cars are young.
How many complaints does the Honda Civic have?
13,383 owner complaints filed with NHTSA, covering 1983–2022. Of those, 1,393 describe a crash and 152 a fire.
Are these complaints verified?
No. They are unverified reports from owners. NHTSA publishes them as filed and investigates only a fraction. The value is in the pattern, not in any single report.
Can I check complaints for one specific car?
Yes — enter its VIN above. We match the first 11 characters, which identify the plant, year, body and engine, so you get complaints on that exact production series rather than the whole model.