1999 Honda Civic problems & reliability
338 owner complaints filed with NHTSA for the 1999 Honda Civic, alongside 3 safety recall campaigns. Last verified Aug 7, 2026. Complaints are unverified reports submitted by owners to the federal Office of Defects Investigation.
Each complaint is counted once (by NHTSA case number), even when it names several vehicles.
44 complaints report injuries (54 injured, 1 deaths reported).
Federal crash records (FARS 2020–2023): 1999 Honda Civic vehicles were involved in 88 fatal crashes with 74 occupant deaths. Involvement counts are not adjusted for how many are on the road and do not imply fault or a vehicle defect.
Most reported problems
| Component | Complaints | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Electrical System → | 118 | 35% |
| Air Bags → | 58 | 17% |
| Power Train → | 35 | 10% |
| Engine and Engine Cooling → | 30 | 9% |
| Tires → | 17 | 5% |
| Service Brakes, Hydraulic → | 16 | 5% |
| Structure → | 16 | 5% |
| Engine → | 14 | 4% |
| Unknown OR Other | 13 | 4% |
| Vehicle Speed Control → | 13 | 4% |
Component groups as classified by NHTSA. A complaint can name more than one component, so shares may sum to more than 100%.
Common symptoms owners describe
Keyword analysis of complaint narratives; one complaint can describe several symptoms.
Mileage when problems occurred
Half of the failures with a reported odometer reading occurred by 122,000 miles (middle 50% between 77,250 and 155,000 miles), based on 142 complaints that included mileage.
Complaints by incident year
What owners report
“3 out of 4 doors have stopped opening from the outside. The locks still work properly and have no effect on the outside door handles. The doors still open just fine from the inside, except for the driver door. The driver door will not open at all, which is a major safety issue and should have been recalled, especially…”
Structure · filed Dec 13, 2023
“The contact owns a 1999 Honda Civic. The contact stated while driving 20 MPH, the vehicle lost electrical power inadvertently. There was no warning light illuminated. The contact was able to veer to the side of the road. The contact was able to restart the vehicle and continued driving. The contact stated that the…”
Electrical System · filed Aug 2, 2023
“I left work as usual when shortly after near my work I began to smell a strong gasoline smell and I parked to check the vehicle when I turned off the vehicle it made a slight explosion and caught fire”
Fuel/propulsion System · filed Jun 5, 2023
Verbatim excerpts from complaints filed with NHTSA. Reports are not independently verified.
Technical service bulletins
144 manufacturer communications (TSBs, service campaigns, warranty extensions) are on file with NHTSA for the 1999 Honda Civic. The 10 most recent:
"service bulletin - for vehicles with sci compressed natural gas (cng) fuel tanks, honda is no longer replacing the fuel tank and solenoid valve altogether. If you replace the fuel tank solenoid valve, you must now…
A13-022 · Service Bulletin/Repair Instructions · issued Feb 10, 2017
Service news article - planning on using a leak check dye to help find a leak? Here s the current list of vehicles that you shouldn t use dye on.
A15070B - 7-2-15 · Service Bulletin/Repair Instructions · issued Jul 2, 2015
"service bulletin - for vehicles with sci compressed natural gas (cng) fuel tanks, honda is no longer replacing the fuel tank and solenoid valve altogether. If you replace the fuel tank solenoid valve, you must now…
A13-022 · Service Bulletin/Repair Instructions · issued Jun 24, 2015
"dealer message - this is to inform you that honda service bulletin 06-015, natural gas fuel tank and fuel line inspection, has been revised to include instructions for ordering the cng fuel tank inspection labels…
DLR MSG - HONDA · Service Bulletin/Repair Instructions · issued Jun 16, 2015
"dealer message - this is to inform you that honda service bulletin 06-015, natural gas fuel tank and fuel line inspection, has been revised to include instructions for ordering the cng fuel tank inspection labels…
DLR MSG - HONDA · Service Bulletin/Repair Instructions · issued Jun 2, 2015
"service bulletin - the fuel tank in all honda natural gas vehicles must be inspected for deterioration or damage every 3 years or 36,000 miles, whichever comes first. This is a requirement of honda and the federal…
A06-015 · Service Bulletin/Repair Instructions · issued May 7, 2015
Honda: troubleshooting of diagnostic trouble codes (dtc) p1456 and p1457. Dealers are to run evap function test to find if there is a leak so the vehicle can be repaired. *kb
SB-99-075 · Service Bulletin/Repair Instructions · issued Aug 9, 2013
Honda: the fuel tank and solenoid valve are no longer being replaced together and if fuel tank solenoid valve is replaced, then reinstall original fuel tank. Models 1998-11 civic gx, 2012-13 civic. *pe updated…
SB-13-022 · Service Bulletin/Repair Instructions · issued Mar 29, 2013
Honda: fuel tank assembly warranty information. *rm
SB-01-005 · Service Bulletin/Repair Instructions · issued Aug 10, 2011
Natural gas fuel tank inspection. *tt
06015 · Service Bulletin/Repair Instructions · issued Mar 31, 2006
TSBs are repair guidance manufacturers send to dealers — they are not recalls and repairs are not automatically free. Full documents are available on NHTSA’s site.
Safety recalls
The 1999 Honda Civic has 3 NHTSA recall campaigns — recall repairs are free at franchised dealers regardless of the vehicle’s age.
Check whether your specific vehicle is affected
Recall campaigns often cover only certain VIN ranges. Enter your VIN on the official NHTSA site to confirm whether your vehicle is included and whether the repair is still open.
Check VIN on NHTSA →Buying a used 1999 Honda Civic?
- · Decode the seller’s VIN with our free VIN decoder to confirm the exact year, engine and trim.
- · Check for unrepaired recalls by VIN on NHTSA’s official lookup — recall repairs are free.
- · Owners most often reported problems around 122,000 miles — budget accordingly if the car is approaching that mileage.