2006 Honda Civic
Complaints about this year name engine block far more often than the other years of this generation — 15% of them, about 7× the usual rate of 2%.
First year of a new generation. The Honda Civic was redesigned for 2006. A first year carries problems nobody has found yet, and they are found by the people who buy it — which is worth knowing before you become one of them.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 1,405 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 396 |
| Involving a crash | 78 |
| Involving a fire | 21 |
| Recalls | 15 |
| EPA combined | 29 mpg |
Also unusual this year
- cracked — 12% of complaints, 3× usual
- coolant — 8% of complaints, 6× usual
- crack — 6% of complaints, 3× usual
What owners wrote
SMOKED STARTED TO EMIT FROM THE ENGINE COMPARTMENT DUE TO COOLANT LEAK. THE VEHICLE WAS TAKEN TO AN INDEPENDENT MECHANIC WHO DIAGNOSE THAT THE ENGINE BLOCK CRACKED DUE TO DEFECTIVE MATERIAL. THE VEHICLE WAS NOT REPAIRED. THE [VIN] WAS NOT MADE AWARE OF THE FAI…
cracked engine block leaking coolant. Honda says it's not covered after the extended warranty expired. The issue starts happening in many vehicles after 100K miles and my car started seeing the issue at 135K miles . Dealer will not help, Honda of America won't…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 18V268000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 19V502000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 06V270000 EQUIPMENT
- 19V378000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 17V545000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 17V030000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 16V346000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 07V399000 SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC Fixed free of charge.
Showing 8 of 15. The rest are on NHTSA's site.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Honda Civic was compared against its own history rather than against other cars, which removes popularity and age from the answer — a common car draws more complaints at equal reliability, and an older one has had longer to accumulate them. A year is flagged when it drew at least 2.5× this model's median and at least 50 complaints.
This is a fault record, not a review. Nobody files a federal complaint to say the car was fine, so it shows what tends to go wrong — not whether owners liked it, and not whether it is a good car.
Source: NHTSA complaints, recalls and investigations, retrieved . Look this vehicle up directly on NHTSA's site to check anything here.
Own a 2006 Honda Civic? What happened to yours?
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