RideTruth

Honda Civic Years to Avoid? The Complaint Count, Ranked

By Sam Rhodes · Published

Rank every Civic model year from 1995 to 2026 by NHTSA complaints and the 2006 comes first, 1,449, with 17 recall campaigns on file.

Sorted by NHTSA complaints, the 2006 leads the 1995-2026 Honda Civic model years in RideTruth's catalog with 1,449, ahead of the 2007's 1,263, the 2016's 1,079, the 2001's 1,068 and the 2008's 984. The 2006 has 17 recall campaigns on file.

Key facts

  • The 2006 Honda Civic has more NHTSA complaints than any other model year, 1,449, as of September 23, 2026.
  • The 2007 Civic is next with 1,263 complaints, then the 2016 with 1,079, the 2001 with 1,068 and the 2008 with 984.
  • Engine is the area named most in the 2006 Civic's 1,449 complaints, 387 of them (26.7%).
  • The 2006 Civic has 17 NHTSA recall campaigns on file.
  • Six of the 2006 Civic's 17 recall campaigns, filed 2016 through 2019, list the same component: the passenger-side frontal airbag inflator module.
A dark blue Honda Civic sedan facing left, its front end crushed against a barrier at the end of NHTSA's frontal crash test, showing the driver side.
Crash-test image: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), U.S. Department of Transportation. The tested car's exact year isn't confirmed; RideTruth's archive files this same photo under both the 2006 and 2010 model years. · Public domain (US government)

Ranked by NHTSA complaint count, the 2006 Honda Civic comes first of the 1995-2026 model years with 1,449, ahead of the 2007's 1,263. No NHTSA dataset ranks Civic model years from worst to best; what exists is a complaint and recall count by year, and that's what this page sorts instead.

Which Civic year leads the complaint count?

The top five, by complaint count:

Model year NHTSA complaints
2006 1,449
2007 1,263
2016 1,079
2001 1,068
2008 984
Column chart of NHTSA complaints for the Honda Civic by model year, 1995 through 2026. The 2006 has the most at 1,449, followed by the 2007 at 1,263 and the 2016 at 1,079.

RideTruth's Civic catalog holds 15,964 complaints across its 32 model years, 1995 through 2026.

Which complaint category dominates the 2006 Civic's record?

The 2006 Civic's 1,449 complaints name Engine more than any other area, in 387 of them (26.7%). Two areas sit almost level behind it: Suspension, Wheels & Tires at 262 (18.1%) and Visibility & Lighting at 259 (17.9%).

Area Complaints Share of 1,449
Engine 387 26.7%
Suspension, Wheels & Tires 262 18.1%
Visibility & Lighting 259 17.9%
Airbags & Restraints 192 13.3%
Electrical 121 8.4%
Other 96 6.6%
Body, Seats & Latches 94 6.5%
Transmission & Drivetrain 89 6.1%
Brakes 67 4.6%
Steering 49 3.4%
Driver Assistance & Speed Control 48 3.3%
Fuel System 30 2.1%
Bar chart of 2006 Honda Civic complaints by area. Engine leads with 387, then Suspension, Wheels & Tires at 262 and Visibility & Lighting at 259.

The shares overlap: a complaint naming both Engine and Electrical appears in both rows. Airbags & Restraints, fourth on the list at 192 complaints, is also the category with the most complaints marked as a crash, 43, and the most reporting an injury, 53.

How many recall campaigns does the 2006 Civic have?

The 2006 Civic has 17 NHTSA recall campaigns on file, spanning from an accelerator-pedal campaign filed in November 2005 to an airbag campaign filed in June 2019.

Campaign Filed Component
05V509000 Nov 3, 2005 Accelerator pedal
05V572000 Dec 27, 2005 Frontal airbags
06E023000 Mar 13, 2006 Headlights
06E064000 Jul 17, 2006 Exterior lighting
06V270000 Jul 26, 2006 Owner's/service manual
06V326000 Aug 31, 2006 Side/rear glass
07V034000 Feb 8, 2007 Engine
07V399000 Sep 5, 2007 Wheel speed sensor
07V402000 Sep 5, 2007 Brake light switch
07V512000 Nov 1, 2007 Fuel tank assembly
11V106000 Mar 2, 2011 Electrical system
16V346000 May 24, 2016 Passenger frontal airbag inflator
17V030000 Jan 10, 2017 Passenger frontal airbag inflator
17V545000 Aug 31, 2017 Passenger frontal airbag inflator
18V268000 Apr 26, 2018 Passenger frontal airbag inflator
19V378000 May 16, 2019 Passenger frontal airbag inflator
19V502000 Jun 27, 2019 Passenger frontal airbag inflator
Timeline of the 17 NHTSA recall campaigns on file for the 2006 Honda Civic, from a November 2005 accelerator-pedal campaign to a June 2019 airbag inflator campaign.

Six of those 17 campaigns, filed between May 2016 and June 2019, list the identical NHTSA component: the passenger-side frontal airbag inflator module. That's the same general system as the Airbags & Restraints complaints above, though a complaint filed by an owner and a recall campaign filed by Honda measure two different things, and neither confirms the other. Whether any of these 17 apply to one particular 2006 Civic is a VIN question, not a model-year one; NHTSA's recall lookup answers it for a specific car.

So does the complaint leader deserve to be avoided?

That's not a conclusion this data supports. The 2006 Civic leads the complaint count, but an older model year has had more time on the road to collect reports, and no count here is adjusted for sales. If you're comparing a 2006 against a newer Civic, the full complaint and recall history for the 2006 is one input, not a verdict, and every other year is on the Civic hub. NHTSA's next recall campaign on a Civic shows up automatically once it's saved to your garage.

Data as of . Sources: NHTSA complaints data, NHTSA recalls.

Common questions

Which Honda Civic year has the most NHTSA complaints?

The 2006 tops every Civic model year RideTruth has on file, 1995 through 2026, with 1,449 NHTSA complaints as of September 23, 2026. The 2007 is next with 1,263.

Does NHTSA say which Honda Civic years are unreliable?

No. NHTSA doesn't rate model years for reliability; it collects owner complaints and publishes the recalls manufacturers file. This page sorts those two counts by model year, which is the closest thing to an answer this data can give.

What do 2006 Honda Civic owners complain about most?

Engine, named in 387 of the 2006 Civic's 1,449 complaints (26.7%). Suspension, Wheels & Tires is next at 262 (18.1%), then Visibility & Lighting at 259 (17.9%).

How many recalls does the 2006 Honda Civic have?

17 NHTSA recall campaigns are on file, spanning November 2005 to June 2019. Six of them, filed between 2016 and 2019, list the same component: the passenger-side frontal airbag inflator module.