2021 Honda Civic Reliability Report

Most of these complaints are about recall 24V064000, not an actual failure. Dealers lack parts for the repair. Owners report waiting months with no waitlist, and Honda is prioritizing cars with the airbag light on. A smaller set describes real faults: front airbags deploying with no impact and cracking the windshield, a passenger airbag deploying backward in a side collision, and no deployment in a front-end crash. Two complaints involve crashes, with two people injured.

Unintended braking dominates. The car brakes hard on clear roads at 25 to 35 mph or with cruise control on, sometimes to a full stop. It may not release right away when the driver presses the gas. Near rear-end collisions come up repeatedly, and dealers find no codes. Other complaints describe a frozen caliper with uneven brake wear. One car stalled at about 108,000 miles and was diagnosed with a bad brake master cylinder, along with fuel pump and ignition coil failures.

These complaints are few but serious. Reports describe the engine revving while the car barely moves from a stop, abrupt slowdowns with cruise control on, unexpected deceleration at 50 mph, and sudden acceleration in reverse with the brake pressed. One highway case involved locked brakes, a locked steering wheel, and an unneeded airbag deployment before a collision. Two complaints involve crashes and one involves fire. Dealers could not replicate the problems.

These complaints concern an open seat recall, not a failure in use. Dealers have had no parts for more than a year. Owners say they were notified that parts had arrived, then learned at booking that the part still was not in. One owner could not finish importing the car because the recall remained open. None of the excerpts describe a seat failing while driving.

A cylinder 4 misfire that led to head gasket failure is the most serious report in this scattered group, and the dealer cited a service bulletin that did not cover the car. Another car logged fault code P0340 near 70,000 miles. The third complaint concerns the fuel pump module recall, with the dealer unable to supply parts for more than six months. No crashes or fires are reported here.

Sudden stalls and loss of power define this small group. One car lost power at 35 mph and needed a new transmission. It later crashed when the steering stuck in a turn, and the crash led to a fire and an injury. Other reports describe a car that keeps trying to die alongside electrical problems, and a shutdown after startup followed by an evaporative leak code that the owner links to the fuel pump recall.

Lane keeping assist fails or misreads the road. One report links the failure to a sticking steering wheel and a steering rack diagnosis at about 36,200 miles. Another describes the windshield camera misjudging lane position on hills and highways and triggering phantom braking near bright traffic lights and construction zones. No crashes are reported in this group.