Honda Civic / 1998
1998 Honda Civic problems
Owners have filed 502 complaints about the 1998 Honda Civic with NHTSA. Air bags account for 19.3% of them — narrowly the most common, ahead of electrical system at 19.1%.
Complaints502
Crashes92
Fires3
Injuries60
Deaths1
What owners report breaking
Air bags 19.3% · 97
Electrical system 19.1% · 96
Engine and engine cooling 10.8% · 54
Power train 10.6% · 53
Vehicle speed control 6.0% · 30
Structure 5.6% · 28
Visibility 5.0% · 25
Tires 3.8% · 19
Severity
Of those complaints, 92 describe a crash, 3 describe a fire, 60 report an injury and 1 report a death.
Reading the numbers
Across the 36 model years of the Honda Civic in this data, 1998 sits 13th by complaint volume. 2006 draws the most.
Filings have fallen off, 5 in the last three years against 19 in the three before. That is normal as a generation leaves the road.
The median odometer reading at the time of complaint was 96,702 miles.
In owners' own words
My wife regina was driving the car she hit a car broadside that had run a red light. She was going about 20 miles per hour, and the other car was going about 25 miles per hour. The failure was that the air bags did not deploy. Officer peterson from the meadville city police filed the accident report. The accident happened at the intersection of park avenue and north street in the city of meadville, pa 16335. Air bags
The contact owned a 1998 Honda Civic. The contact stated that the driver crashed the vehicle into a pole. The air bags failed to deploy. A police report was filed and the vehicle was destroyed. The driver was taken to a hospital and sustained a broken nose, dissected aorta, and was in cardiac intensive care. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage and vin were unavailable. Air bags
While driving, consumer was cut off by another vehicle which sped up to pass her in the high speed lane of the highway, leaving only 10 to 15 feet cleareance, and then slammed on brakes as the vehicle soon passed the consumer, she then swerved to avoid colliding with the vehicle, and lost control, striking the center guard rail head-on in which the airbags failed to deploy.(Attorney on behalf of client) Air bags
Verbatim from NHTSA filings. Complaints are unverified owner reports.
Safety recalls
Checking NHTSA for open recalls…