Owners have filed 95 complaints on the Isuzu Hombre, covering 1996–2000. The system named most often is Visibility (44 reports). Worst years by volume: 1998, 1996, 1997; cleanest: 2000, 1997, 1996. 9 reports describe a crash, 2 a fire. On average the car was 4.2 years old when the problem happened.
What breaks on Isuzu Hombre
Grouped by the system owners named — percentages are shares of all 95 Hombre complaints. Open any row for the full reports in owners' own words.
Visibility 44 Read
The consumer stated the windshield wipers worked intermittently while driving, which resulted in poor visibility during inclement weather. However, the consumer's vehicle was not included due to VIN. *ak wipers completely stopped working and wouldn't come on until 2-3 hours later. *ph
The windshield wipers are malfunctioning -- they don't come on sometimes and stop in the middle of driving, too
Windshield wipers began to work intermitently. No particular pattern back in november of 2002. My isuzu dealer said that there was a recall in effect but only up to the 1997 model year for the isuzu hombre. The defect is the printed circuit board built into the windshield wiper assembly. The cost was over $80 to…
Engine And Engine Cooling 9 Read
Head-on collision at approx 30 mph. Both air bags (driver and passenger) failed to deploy despite the severity of the impact. Bumper detached from the vehicle, engine collapsed, causing an oil spill
Vehicle fire 1996 isuzu hombre pick up truck. Arrived home and truck engine was smoking. Thought loss of radiator, but engine area was on fire
Mechanics informed me 1) isuzu is responsible; 2) isuzu used chevrolet engine without informing me; 3) isuzu has not responded since being notified on 2/24/2001
Service Brakes 9 Read
Driving at 40 mph went apply brakes to stop, pedal went to floor, no brakes. Pumped brakes. Tried to pull emergency brakes could not stop, ended up hitting 2 trees at approximately 70 mph because of defect. There was no prior warning. Driver sustained injuries
Brakes make a grinding noise when applied and malfunction, causing vehicle to skid/slide. There have been many occurrences, one causing vehicle to rearend another vehicle
While driving vehicle at 5 mph went down road, applied brakes , and pedal went straight to the floor. Contacted dealer, dealer had the master cylinder replaced
Air Bags 6 Read
I was in a collision and struck another vehicle in the rear squarely with the front of my vehicle at approximately 45 mph. The airbags in my vehicle failed to deploy. My vehicle was a total loss. There was no indication that the airbags were defective prior to the accident
Consumer had accident and neither air bag deployed, causing serious injuries to both driver. Vehicle sustained substantial damage
When driving down hill all lights on dash came on. When brakes were applied no lights were on. Vehicle had lost all power and was uncontrollable. Vehicle slid downhill into a tree stump and stopped. Airbags did not deploy. Dealer contacted and cannot remedy the problem
Electrical System 5 Read
While driving vehicle and coming to a stop driver heard a click and the vehicle caught on fire in the engine compartment. Fire believed to be electrical. Vehicle was totalled
Between 96,000 and 97000 miles, the engine shut down 3 times, as if someone had turned the key off. First time turning a corner. Two other times, while driving 45 and 60mph. No control over vehicle. Very lucky nobody near me, or someone probably would have been severely injured. Problem fixed, by butitta auto 6765…
While driving at night attempted to switch from dim to bright lights and lights went out while driving. In addition, instrument panel cluster module failed
Parking Brake 3 Read
Parking brakes failed to prevent roll back on flat surface. Dealer claims brake is not designed to prevent vehicle from rolling backwards, it is designed to prevent it from rolling forward. They did put this in writing
Intermittently emergency parking brakes failed to engage. *ak the consumer suggested that for some unknown reason, the emergency brake had begun to work again. *scc
1998 isuzu hombre 4x4, 5spd, 4.3 liter there are multiple ares that need to be addressed. 1. The parking brake does not keep the vehicle from rolling backwards on even the smallest hills. 2. The passengers seat will not latch after it has been pushed forward then back into position. It must be slammed to get it to…
Steering 3 Read
Traveling at 65 mph on highway I-78 east during a rainstorm the steering rod gave causing me to spin about three times facing the on coming traffic. When the truck was taken to the dealership they said either someone losen them or they where never tightened from the manufacteur. The nuts where tightened and the tires…
The driver side seat will not anchor properly. When you accelerate, the seat slides backwards. Also, when sitting still, if I extend my legs, the seat slides backwards. I notified the dealer and he said several similar problems had been reported. No recall has been issued. This problem could cause the standard…
While driving about any mph vehicle will stall without prior warning, and at the same time, power steering will be lost
Vehicle Speed Control 3 Read
Consumer was driving on the highway, was about to turn off when vehicle lost acceleration due to a broken cable line. Dealer notified
When pressure is applied to accelerator pedal, vehicle would chatter & vibrate. Dealer cannot locate cause of vibration. This can happen from a called start
Throttle stuck when component riveted to the throttle plate broke and lodged itself in the throttle body. Truck was going at 60 mph. Throttle was stuck at that speed, dangerous as vehicle would not slow down. Had to shift to neutral, turn ignition off and pull to shoulder/exit
Hombre 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Air Bags | 1 | — | |
| 1998 | Air Bags | 4 | — | |
| 1997 | Electrical System | 1 | 1 | |
| 1996 | Air Bags | 3 | 1 |
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 | 54 |
| Average complaints per series | 1.8 |
| Worst single series | 5 complaints |
| Average age at failure | 4.2 years |
A model average of 1.8 hides a worst series at 5. 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
- No ads, on every page
- No ads, no tracking — and much more
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 Hombre?
By complaint volume, 1998, 1996, 1997 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 Hombre years are the cleanest?
2000, 1997, 1996 have the fewest complaints on file. For recent years that can simply mean the cars are young.
How many complaints does the Isuzu Hombre have?
95 owner complaints filed with NHTSA, covering 1996–2000. Of those, 9 describe a crash and 2 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.