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2005 Honda CIVIC HYBRID: complaints, problems and recalls

Explore the records behind recurring owner reports.

Key facts

48 owner complaints analyzed

6 distinct recall campaigns

96,500 mi median reported failure mileage

Scope: 2005 model year. Data snapshot: . 42 complaints include usable failure mileage.

Owner-reported patterns

Most common problems

Power Train is the most frequently named component, appearing in 20 of 48 complaints (41.7%). A complaint can name multiple components.

Recurring terms in complaint narratives
TopicMatching reportsShare of complaints
Transmission and shifting1837.5%
Electrical and battery issues510.4%
Braking behavior24.2%
Steering behavior24.2%
Engine operation12.1%

Topic matches use published keyword rules. They describe mentions, including negations or comparisons, and do not confirm a diagnosis. Read the matching rules.

Component breakdown

Number of unique complaints naming each component. Top eight shown.

Power Train
20
Air Bags
15
Electrical System
10
Unknown Or Other
5
Vehicle Speed Control
4
Engine
2
Engine And Engine Cooling
2
Fuel/Propulsion System
2
Component breakdown data
CategoryCount
Power Train20
Air Bags15
Electrical System10
Unknown Or Other5
Vehicle Speed Control4
Engine2
Engine And Engine Cooling2
Fuel/Propulsion System2

Power Train: 20; Air Bags: 15; Electrical System: 10; Unknown Or Other: 5; Vehicle Speed Control: 4; Engine: 2; Engine And Engine Cooling: 2; Fuel/Propulsion System: 2

Reported problems by failure mileage

Complaint counts in mileage bands. These are not failure rates per vehicle or mile.

Under 25,000
1
25,000 to 49,999
4
50,000 to 74,999
8
75,000 to 99,999
10
100,000 to 149,999
8
150,000 and above
11
Reported problems by failure mileage data
CategoryCount
Under 25,0001
25,000 to 49,9994
50,000 to 74,9998
75,000 to 99,99910
100,000 to 149,9998
150,000 and above11

Under 25,000: 1; 25,000 to 49,999: 4; 50,000 to 74,999: 8; 75,000 to 99,999: 10; 100,000 to 149,999: 8; 150,000 and above: 11

150,000 and above miles has the most reports with usable mileage (11). 6 complaints have missing, zero or invalid mileage.

Complaints over time

Year the complaint was filed, not the vehicle model year or incident year. The snapshot year is partial.

2011
4
2012
5
2013
7
2014
14
2015
7
2016
5
2017
1
2018
3
2019
2
Complaints over time data
CategoryCount
20114
20125
20137
201414
20157
20165
20171
20183
20192

2011: 4; 2012: 5; 2013: 7; 2014: 14; 2015: 7; 2016: 5; 2017: 1; 2018: 3; 2019: 2

Pattern summary

Power Train leads the component reports. Transmission and shifting appears in 18 complaint narratives. Electrical and battery issues appears in 5 complaint narratives. Braking behavior appears in 2 complaint narratives. Use these patterns to inspect individual reports and prepare questions for a mechanic.

Calculated from recorded counts. An AI narrative has not been published for this selection.

Examples from the source records

Examples provide context, not a representative sample or a verified diagnosis.

Owner report 10427937 · 2011-09-29 (September 29, 2011)

TRANSMISSION IS JUDDERING WHEN ACCELERATING FROM A STOP. I'M ONLY 10,000 MILES OVER THE 105,000 EXTENDED TRANSMISSION WARRANTY (THEY KNOW THE TRANSMISSIONS ARE BROKEN), AND I HAVE AN EXTREMELY EXTENSIVE SERVICE RECORD WITH THE DEALER. THEY REFUSE TO WORK WITH ME ON THE ISSUE. A RECALL SHOULD BE ISSUED ON THE CVT TRANSMISSION AND STARTER CLUTCH, AND THE WARRANTY SHOULD BE EXTENDED TO 200,000 MILES. *TT

Owner-reported narrative. 115,000 miles reported. Look up ODI 10427937 at NHTSA ↗

Owner report 10428722 · 2011-10-04 (October 4, 2011)

2005 HONDA CIVIC HYBRID BEGAN JUDDERING WHEN TAKING OFF FROM A STOP. THE TRANSMISSION ALSO BEGAN SLIPPING. HONDA HAS ACKNOWLEDGED PROBLEM WITH THE CVT TRANSMISSION AND EXTENDED THE WARRANTY TO 105,000 MILES OR 7 YEARS. HOWEVER, THEY INITIALLY INSIST ON ATTEMPTING TO FIX THE PROBLEM WITH A PROCEDURE CALLED "BURNISHING". THIS PROCEDURE TAKES CARE OF THE PROBLEM TEMPORARILY, BUT JUDDERING AND SLIPPING EVENTUALLY COMES BACK. THIS IS NOT A PERMANENT FIX. THE STARTER CLUTCH NEEDS TO BE REPLACED, A MORE EXTENSIVE AND EXPENSIVE REPAIR, BUT THE ON…

Owner-reported narrative. 53,000 miles reported. Look up ODI 10428722 at NHTSA ↗

Owner report 10434169 · 2011-11-03 (November 3, 2011)

I RECEIVED A RECALL UPDATE FROM HONDA ON MY 2005 CIVIC HYBRID. THEY PERFORMED THE UPDATE THEN MY HYBRID BATTER DIED AND MY CAR WOULD NOT FUNCTION CORRECTLY. WHILE DRIVING, MY HEADLIGHTS WOULD DIM GREATLY AND MY INSTRUMENT PANEL WOULD SHOULD DOWN. MY CAR WOULD ALSO SURGE FORWARD WHEN THE TACHOMETER WOULD RACE UP AND DOWN BY 500 RPM. I TOOK IT TO THE DEALER AFTER THEY UPDATE AND THEY ADMITTED THEY'D BEEN HAVING THIS PROBLEM WITH MANY CARS POST UPDATE. THEY AGREED TO FIX IT. A FEW DAYS LATER, THE CAR BEGAN TO ACT IN THE SAME MANNER. I TOOK IT B…

Owner-reported narrative. 150,000 miles reported. Look up ODI 10434169 at NHTSA ↗

Owner report 10434379 · 2011-11-06 (November 6, 2011)

MULTIPLE FAILURES OF THE CONTINOUS VARIABLE TRANSMISSION DEALERSHIP JUST CHANGES TRANSMISSION FLUID UNTIL NOW, SINCE VEHICLE IS OUT OF WARRANTY THEY NOW RECOMMEND A TRANSMISSION REPLACEMENT. AMERICAN HONDA MOTOR WILL NOT COVER THE REPAIRS. *TR

Owner-reported narrative. 90,000 miles reported. Look up ODI 10434379 at NHTSA ↗

Owner report 10446272 · 2012-02-02 (February 2, 2012)

FROM WHAT I HAS BEEN TOLD TO ME BY THE DEALER, THE STARTER CLUTCH IN THE TRANSMISSION OF THE CVT CIVIC HYBRID BECOMES DEFICIENT AND UPON INITIAL ACCELERATION, FROM A STOP, YOU FEEL A HARSH JUTTER WHICH GETS WORSE WITH TIME UNTIL IT FAILS. THEY PUT OUT A SERVICE BULLETIN BUT THIS ONLY COVERS CARS WITHIN WARRANTY. BUT SINCE OUT OF WARRANTY, THEY WANT PEOPLE TO PAY $1500 TO $200 FOR A PROBLEM WHICH SHOULD NEVER OCCURRED. *KB

Owner-reported narrative. 105,000 miles reported. Look up ODI 10446272 at NHTSA ↗

Owner report 10454488 · 2012-04-09 (April 9, 2012)

MY CAR IS NOT ACCELERATING PROPERLY. DESPITE THE FACT THAT I BROUGHT IT IN TO THE DEALER IN ABOUT NOVEMBER OF 2011, THEY DID NOT DO ANYTHING. THEY CLAIMED IT WAS THE WAY I DROVE. I'VE ALWAYS DRIVEN THE SAME WAY AND OWNED THE CAR FOR 7 YEARS NOW. THEN, A FEW MONTHS AGO, I DISCOVERED THE REASON I LOST POWER WAS THEY REPROGRAMMED THE CAR SO I LOST POWER! I AM SURE YOU ARE AWARE OF THE VARIOUS LAWSUITS AGAINST HONDA FOR REPROGRAMMING THE HYBRIDS SO THAT EVERYONE LOST ABOUT 5 MPG AND THE BATTERY WAS LESS POWERFUL, ALL SO THEY COULD MAKE THE BATTERIE…

Owner-reported narrative. Look up ODI 10454488 at NHTSA ↗

Owner report 10470662 · 2012-08-14 (August 14, 2012)

TRIED TO ACCELERATE ON TO THE HIGHWAY, THE VEHICLE JUDDER AND SLIPPED. I COULD NOT GAIN ENOUGH SPEED TO GET AHEAD OF TRAFFIC AND OTHER CAR'S ALMOST COLLIDED WITH MY VEHICLE. THIS IS A COMMON DANGEROUS OCCURRENCE WHEN DRIVING THE CAR. HONDA IS AWARE OF ISSUE AND REFUSES TO REPAIR. *TR

Owner-reported narrative. 68,000 miles reported. Look up ODI 10470662 at NHTSA ↗

Owner report 10478786 · 2012-10-05 (October 5, 2012)

IGNITION LOCK FAILURE. CAR CAN BE TURNED OF AND KEY CAN BE REMOVED FROM IGNITION WHEN THE CAR IS IN DRIVE. FORTUNATELY I USE MY PARKING BREAK. *TR

Owner-reported narrative. 100,000 miles reported. Look up ODI 10478786 at NHTSA ↗

Recall history

6 distinct campaigns affect this selection. Announcement dates below are different from vehicle model years. A campaign may cover multiple years.

14V700000 · Air Bags

Reported: 2014-11-04 (November 4, 2014)

American Honda Motor Co. (Honda) is recalling certain model year 2001-2005 Honda Civic, 2003-2004 Civic CNG and Element, 2002-2005 CR-V, 2002-2004 Odyssey, 2003-2005 Accord, Pilot, Civic Hybrid, and Acura MDX, 2005 Acura RL and 2006 Honda Ridgeline vehicles originally sold, or ever registered, in geographic locations associated with high absolute humidity. Specifically, vehicles sold, or ever registered, in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Texas, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, Saipan, Guam, and American Samoa are addressed by this recall. Upon deployment of the passenger side frontal air bag, excessive internal pressure may cause the inflator to rupture.

Consequence: In the event of a crash necessitating deployment of the passenger’s frontal air bag, the inflator could rupture with metal fragments striking the vehicle occupants potentially resulting in serious injury or death.

Remedy: Honda will notify owners, and dealers will replace the passenger side air bag inflator, free of charge. The recall began January 26, 2015. Owners may contact Honda customer service at 1-800-999-1009.

NHTSA campaign record ↗
15V320000 · Air Bags:Frontal:Driver Side:Inflator Module

Reported: 2015-05-28 (May 28, 2015)

Honda (American Honda Motor Co.) is recalling certain model year 2001-2007 Accord, 2001-2005 Civic, 2001-2004 Honda Civic GX, 2003-2005 Honda Civic Hybrid, 2002-2006 CR-V, 2003-2011 Element, 2002-2004 Odyssey, 2003-2008 Pilot, 2006 Ridgeline, 2003 Acura 3.2CL, 2003-2006 Acura MDX, and 2002-2003 Acura 3.2TL vehicles. The affected vehicles are equipped with a dual-stage driver frontal air bag that may be susceptible to moisture intrusion and other factors, including manufacturing variability that, over time, could cause the inflator to rupture.

Consequence: In the event of a crash necessitating deployment of the driver's frontal air bag, the inflator could rupture with metal fragments striking the driver or other occupants resulting in serious injury or death.

Remedy: Honda will notify owners, and dealers will replace the driver frontal air bag inflator, free of charge. The recall began on July 1, 2015. Owners may contact Honda customer service at 1-888-234-2138. Owners may contact Acura customer service at 1-800-382-2238, select option 4. Note: Vehicles that have had their driver frontal air bag replaced previously as part of a recall remedy prior to September 12, 2014 need to have their air bag replaced under this recall as well. Vehicles that, on or after September 12, 2014, received a remedy for a prior driver frontal air bag inflator recall already received an inflator of a different design, and therefore are not included in this recall and do not require additional servicing. Note: This recall fully supersedes recalls 08V-593, 09V-259, 10V-041, 11V-260, 14V-351 and 15V-153. Honda's numbers for this recall are JQ9, JR0, JR1, JR2, JR3, JR4, JR5, JR6, JR7, and JR8.

NHTSA campaign record ↗
15V370000 · Air Bags:Frontal:Passenger Side:Inflator Module

Reported: 2015-06-15 (June 15, 2015)

Honda (American Honda Motor Co.) is recalling certain model year 2001-2005 Honda Civic vehicles manufactured March 21, 2000, to January 20, 2005, 2001-2004 Honda Civic GX vehicles manufactured June 14, 2000, to August 19, 2004, 2003-2005 Honda Civic Hybrid vehicles manufactured February 24, 2002, to January 18, 2005, 2003-2007 Honda Accord vehicles manufactured February 21, 2002, to August 28, 2007, 2002-2004 Honda CR-V vehicles, 2002-2003 Honda Odyssey vehicles manufactured June 19, 2001, to July 12, 2003, 2003 Acura MDX vehicles manufactured September 19, 2002, to June 19, 2003, 2003 Honda Element vehicles manufactured June 25, 2002, to July 31, 2003, and 2003 Honda Pilot vehicles manufactured November 26, 2001, to August 21, 2003. The affected vehicles have a passenger side frontal air bag that may be susceptible to moisture intrusion which, over time, could cause the inflator to rupture upon its deployment.

Consequence: In the event of a crash necessitating deployment of the passenger's frontal air bag, the inflator could rupture with metal fragments striking the passenger seat occupant or other occupants possibly causing serious injury or death.

Remedy: Honda will notify owners, and dealers will replace the passenger air bag inflator, free of charge. The recall began on July 1, 2015. Owners may contact Honda customer service at 1-888-234-2138. Honda's numbers for this recall are JU4, JU5, JU6, and JU7. Note: Vehicles that have already received a replacement passenger air bag inflator as part of the recall remedy for an earlier campaign such as 14V353 or 14V700 (Honda recall numbers S95, JH6, JH7, JH8, JH9, JJ0, JJ1, JJ2, JJ6, JM5 and JM6) are not included in this recall. However, this recall does supersede 13V132 and 14V349. Note: On December 18, 2015 Honda informed NHTSA of an expansion of this recall to include certain model year 2004 Honda CR-V vehicles in addition to additional model year 2003 CR-V vehicles.

NHTSA campaign record ↗
19V182000 · Air Bags:Frontal:Driver Side:Inflator Module

Reported: 2019-03-06 (March 6, 2019)

Honda (American Honda Motor Co.) is recalling specific 2003 Acura 3.2CL, 2013-2016 ILX, 2013-2014 ILX Hybrid, 2003-2006 MDX, 2007-2016 RDX, 2002-2003 3.2TL, 2004-2006, and 2009-2014 TL, 2010-2013 ZDX and 2001-2007 and 2009 Honda Accord, 2001-2005 Civic, 2003-2005 Civic Hybrid, 2001-2005 Civic GX NGV, 2002-2007 and 2010-2011 CR-V, 2003-2011 Element, 2007 Fit, 2002-2004 Odyssey, 2003-2008 Pilot, and 2006-2014 Ridgeline vehicles. The affected vehicles received a replacement driver air bag inflator as part of a previous Takata inflator recall remedy or a replacement driver air bag module containing the same inflator type as a service part. Due to a manufacturing error, in the event of a crash necessitating deployment of the driver frontal air bag, these inflators may explode.

Consequence: An explosion of an inflator within the driver frontal air bag module may result in sharp metal fragments striking the driver, front seat passenger or other occupants resulting in serious injury or death.

Remedy: Honda will notify owners, and dealers will replace the driver's air bag inflator with an alternate inflator, free of charge. The recall began April 10, 2019. Honda owners may contact customer service at 1-888-234-2138. Honda's number for this recall is O41. Acura owners may contact customer service at 1-888-234-2138. Acura's number for this recall is U40.

NHTSA campaign record ↗
19V499000 · Air Bags:Frontal:Driver Side:Inflator Module

Reported: 2019-06-27 (June 27, 2019)

Honda (American Honda Motor Co.) is recalling certain 2003 Acura 3.2CL, 2002-2003 3.2TL, 2003-2006 MDX, 2001-2007 Honda Accord, 2001-2005 Civic, 2003-2005 Civic Hybrid, 2001-2005 Civic GX NGV, 2002-2006 CR-V, 2003-2011 Element, 2002-2004 Odyssey, 2003-2008 Pilot and 2006 Ridgeline vehicles. These vehicles are equipped with driver frontal air bag inflators assembled as a recall remedy part or replacement service part, that may explode due to propellant degradation occurring after long-term exposure to high absolute humidity, temperature and temperature cycling.

Consequence: An inflator explosion may result in sharp metal fragments striking the driver or other occupants resulting in serious injury or death.

Remedy: Honda will notify owners, and dealers will replace the driver frontal air bag inflator, free of charge. The recall began August 12, 2019. Owners may contact Honda customer service at 1-888-234-2138. Honda's numbers for this recall are Q5A and Y58.

NHTSA campaign record ↗
19V501000 · Air Bags:Frontal:Passenger Side:Inflator Module

Reported: 2019-06-27 (June 27, 2019)

Honda (American Honda Motor Co.) is recalling certain 2003-2006 Acura MDX, 2005-2012 RL, 2003-2007 Honda Accord, 2001-2005 Civic, 2003-2005 Civic Hybrid, 2001-2005 Civic GX NGV, 2002-2006 CR-V, 2003-2011 Element, 2007-2008 Fit, 2002-2004 Odyssey, 2003-2008 Pilot, and 2006-2014 Ridgeline vehicles. The vehicles are equipped with passenger frontal air bag inflators assembled as a recall remedy part or replacement service part, that may explode due to propellant degradation occurring after long-term exposure to high absolute humidity, temperature and temperature cycling.

Consequence: An inflator explosion may result in sharp metal fragments striking the driver or other occupants resulting in serious injury or death.

Remedy: Honda will notify owners, and dealers will replace the passenger frontal airbag inflator, free of charge. The recall began August 12, 2019. Owners may contact Honda customer service at 1-888-234-2138. Honda's numbers for this recall are E5D and X5C.

NHTSA campaign record ↗