2005 Honda Civic problems & reliability
314 owner complaints filed with NHTSA for the 2005 Honda Civic, alongside 10 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.
54 complaints report injuries (70 injured, 3 deaths reported).
Federal crash records (FARS 2020–2023): 2005 Honda Civic vehicles were involved in 155 fatal crashes with 117 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Air Bags | 127 | 40% |
| Power Train | 36 | 11% |
| Electrical System | 26 | 8% |
| Structure | 25 | 8% |
| Vehicle Speed Control | 25 | 8% |
| Engine and Engine Cooling | 19 | 6% |
| Seat Belts | 19 | 6% |
| Engine | 14 | 4% |
| Service Brakes, Hydraulic | 13 | 4% |
| Unknown OR Other | 12 | 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 75,000 miles (middle 50% between 29,450 and 124,862 miles), based on 199 complaints that included mileage.
Complaints by incident year
What owners report
“Pushrods going through engine and shredding bottom half of motor. I know many 05 Honda civic owners who have had the same issues”
Engine · filed Sep 4, 2025
“The air bag light came on in April of 2022 indicating that the air bag will not deploy in the event of a car accident. We took the car to the Honda dealership and the mechanic diagnosed it as a bad seat-belt tensioner and confirmed that the part is under warranty by American Honda. The dealership requested the part…”
Seat Belts · filed Feb 2, 2024
“Hagerstown Honda is 80 plus miles away from my house. My ignition failed which is a very common problem in that generation of all Honda vehicles. My ignition failed and I had it replaced by a local mechanic with genuine Honda parts. All dealerships including Honda run a monopoly on reprogramming ignition. The local…”
Electrical System · filed Aug 9, 2023
Verbatim excerpts from complaints filed with NHTSA. Reports are not independently verified.
Federal defect investigations
- Desiccated Air Bag Inflator Rupture
Engineering Analysis EA21002 · opened Sep 17, 2021 · open
- Air Bag Inflator Rupture
Engineering Analysis EA15001 · opened Feb 24, 2015 · open · led to recall 22V945
- Honda EWR Reporting
Audit Query AQ14004 · opened Oct 30, 2014 · closed Apr 21, 2016
- Air Bag Inflator Rupture
Preliminary Evaluation PE14016 · opened Jun 11, 2014 · closed Mar 2, 2015 · led to recall 15V226000
Technical service bulletins
163 manufacturer communications (TSBs, service campaigns, warranty extensions) are on file with NHTSA for the 2005 Honda Civic. The 10 most recent:
Service Bulletin - This bulletin is a notification of a class action settlement relating to airbag inflators. American Honda is offering a Customer Support Program (Warranty Extension) to cover any manufacturing defects…
A20-014 · Service Bulletin/Repair Instructions · issued Mar 10, 2020
Service Bulletin - This bulletin is a notification of a class action settlement relating to airbag inflators. American Honda is offering a Customer Support Program (Warranty Extension) to cover any manufacturing defects…
A20-009 · Service Bulletin/Repair Instructions · issued Mar 10, 2020
Service bulletin - This bulletin is a notification of a class action settlement relating to airbag inflators. American Honda is offering a Customer Support Program (Warranty Extension) to cover any manufacturing defects…
A18-049 · Service Bulletin/Repair Instructions · issued May 25, 2018
Service bulletin - This bulletin is a notification of a class action settlement relating to airbag inflators. American Honda is offering a Customer Support Program (Warranty Extension) to cover any manufacturing defects…
A18-046 · Service Bulletin/Repair Instructions · issued May 24, 2018
"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 bulletin - the fuel gauge does not work and the low fuel indicator blinks with fuel in the tank. The pcm may need to be replaced.
A15021 · Service Bulletin/Repair Instructions · issued Oct 4, 2016
Posters sent to hawaiian independent repair facilities, automotive part stores, car washes, and gas stations to remind owners of the takata recall and to schedule an appointment at their earliest convenience.
TAKATA_HAWAII PO · Service Bulletin/Repair Instructions · issued Sep 7, 2016
Flyer circulated to the residents of hawaii to remind owners of the takata recall and to schedule an appointment at their earliest convenience.
TAKATA_HAWAII FL · Service Bulletin/Repair Instructions · issued Sep 7, 2016
Letter sent in conjunction with the florida highway safety and motor vehicles department to remind florida owners of the takata recall and to schedule an appointment at their earliest convenience.
TAKATA_FLORIDA D · Service Bulletin/Repair Instructions · issued Aug 29, 2016
Us virgin islands newspaper advertisements to remind owners of the takata recall and to schedule an appointment at their earliest convenience.
TAKATA_TEXT MESS · Service Bulletin/Repair Instructions · issued Aug 23, 2016
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 2005 Honda Civic has 10 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 2005 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 75,000 miles — budget accordingly if the car is approaching that mileage.