CarComplaints.com Notes: Haven't we all owned one of these things at some point? Despite being a popular first car for teenage drivers and, as a result, being beat up like no other, the late 90's Civic is a true endurance car. And it still gets better gas mileage than more modern cars.
3.8
definitely annoying
Crashes / Fires:
0 / 0
Injuries / Deaths:
0 / 0
Average Mileage:
32,400 miles
About These NHTSA Complaints:
This data is from the NHTSA — the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints are spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem.
So how do you find out what problems are occurring? For this NHTSA complaint data, the only way is to read through the comments below. Any duplicates or errors? It's not us.
My check engine light came on. The next month during an oil change I had my mechanic look at it. They ran diagnostics and inspected my exhaust and informed me that there is a defect in this model that causes the oxygen sensor to be triggered. Since the oxygen sensor is part of the same assembly as the catalytic converter, the component was very expensive. They informed me that there was a recall on similar Honda vehicles of similar years and that I should contact Honda to get it fixed. After many calls with Honda, they refused stating that my year and model was excluded, despite having identical issues.
Vehicle was sluggish and consuming more gas; a rattling noise at acceleration after being idle for awhile; accelerated with reduced power. I took it into the shop and was told the exhaust manafold was cracked. The car is no longer making the noise and is running as it should, but the cost to me was $620 (mostly in the Honda part).
The check engine light came on; it turned out that the O2 sensor had blown. We were about to have it replaced when our mechanic suggested that he had seen a bunch of Honda Civics with the same problem and as it turned out, the exhaused manifold had cracked causing the O2 sensor to go. When our Civic was check, this was exactly the case. It is ~$1000 for parts alone. We believe Honda knows this problem exsists and will not recall due to the cost.
Consumer has exhaust concerns. There was a small crack at the catalytic convertor. There was also some rattling noises heard. An A-pipe heat shield was replaced.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Burlington, MA, USA