2005 Honda Civic Hybrid: problems, recalls and reliability
6 recalls and 48 owner complaints on record; the weakest area is power train (40% of complaints).
Data updated weekly · latest recall Jun 2019
All counts are reports filed with NHTSA in the United States - US market only, not worldwide totals.
Common problems
Computed from 48 owner complaints filed with NHTSA for this exact model year.
“When starting from a complete stop the transmission shudders and lacks take off power which could be a dangerous problem.”Owner report · Power Train · Apr 2018
“My air bag light constantly stays on. No codes come up when auto repair shop hooked it up so I can't even get a diagnosis and attempt to repair. The safety hazard aspect worries me immensely but it's my only vehicle so I'm forced to drive it regardless. All available recalls have been performed. My car hesitated to accelerate after I put it in drive or reverse when I'm at a complete stop. The transmission also hesitates to switch gears to accelerate at a normal rate to safely merge onto a road or interstate whether I'm stopped first or turn right in at a low speed and attempt to merge.”Owner report · Power Train · Apr 2018
“Cvt transmission violently shakes at speeds 0-10 and causes auto stop to engage at all times extremely dangerous when driving through congested traffic on the highway. It performs poorly when in motion in any street or highway when driving very slow or after accelerating at a stoplight.”Owner report · Vehicle Speed Control · Nov 2017
Show 7 more owner reports
“Takata recall. Honda did a safety recall in 2015 but in 2017 I got the airbag sign again in civic hybrid and it's not going even mechanic tried to remove it with obd. Other problem is with ima system, it works often sometimes and sign stays at the dashboard. Honda should recall for airbag and ima system and fix it permanently.”Owner report · Electrical System · Jan 2017
“Takata recall. My airbag lights have been on since I purchased the car about 2 years ago. Was told by used car dealer that they will go off which they haven't.”Owner report · Air Bags · Mar 2016
“My 2005 honda civic hybrid is experiencing a shudder with momentary loss of power upon acceleration from a stationary position. Vehicle has been taken to honda dealership for a clutch burnishing procedure. This temporarily fixed the problem for approximately 3000-4000 miles. Problem has returned and has become a safety concern as there is momentary loss of acceleration power during the shudder event. Dealership insists on charging for another burnishing procedure though it is outlined in a technical notice. This shuddering happens upon every acceleration from a stationary position. It is not intermittent and can be felt every time I accelerate.”Owner report · Power Train · Mar 2016
“As I am driving on a four lane road, with high traffic, my engine and battery lights come on. The car seems sluggish. I notice that the ima has stopped working. The car stopped accelerating at its normal pace. This made it dangerous for me to maneuver in traffic. I just pulled into the closest auto place I could find. They said it needed a new hybrid battery. Since I am afraid to drive it with its unpredictable state I got on line and see there was a recall on the voltage converter. Now I need to get it to a honda dealership, pay for them to diagnose it, and see if honda will cover the cost of a new battery. I will probably get it towed there since I am scared to drive it now.”Owner report · Electrical System · Feb 2016
“Tl* the contact owns a 2005 honda civic hybrid. The contact received notification of NHTSA campaign numbers: 15v370000 (air bags) and 15v320000 (air bags); however, the part to do the repair was unavailable. The contact stated that the manufacturer exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The manufacturer was made aware of the issue. The contact had not experienced a failure.”Owner report · Air Bags · May 2015
“Takata recall: my daughter suffered injury as airbag replaced under takata recall blew up on her with intense force causing injury and tearing off her wrist. Seat belt also caused injury as they tighten and cut her check area. It was light collision when passing car scrapped her front bumper. My daughter feel airbag impact caused more damage that light collision.. Airbag cut her wrist and threw her hear back and some dust or power went in her eyes.. With the result she lost control of vehicle and her passenger side ran through the side curb.”Owner report · Air Bags · Apr 2015
“We received a recall letter and immediately called and scheduled and appointment to have the recalled part replaced. We went to our local honda dealer - honda world in westminster, ca. The parts had to be ordered. As of today, saturday april 11 we have not heard anything from the dealer about receiving these parts and being able to make the repairs. I went online to honda and found that this is a very serious recall and the part malfunction has caused some deaths. Honda's information online also stated we could get a replacement vehicle if the parts needed to be ordered. We were never offered this. We need this vehicle and cannot go without a car. *tr”Owner report · Air Bags · Apr 2015
When filing, owners marked a crash in 7 of these complaints and injuries in 6 - self-reported to NHTSA, not verified accident statistics.
Recalls - 6 campaigns
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
How other years compare
Counts are not adjusted for time on the road here - see all Civic Hybrid years ranked fairly for the age-adjusted comparison.
Check your exact Civic Hybrid by VIN
Recalls and equipment differ between individual vehicles. Decode your VIN to see what applies to yours.
Open VIN decoderFrequently asked questions
Is the 2005 Honda Civic Hybrid reliable?
NHTSA has 48 owner complaints and 6 recall campaigns on record for the 2005 Honda Civic Hybrid. The most complained-about area is power train (40% of complaints).
At what mileage do 2005 Honda Civic Hybrid problems usually appear?
Half of the complaints that mention mileage were filed at 96,500 miles or less.
Does the 2005 Honda Civic Hybrid have open recalls?
6 recall campaigns have been issued, the latest concerning air bags. Check your specific vehicle by VIN - recall repairs are free at franchised dealers.
Source: NHTSA recall campaigns and owner complaints (public domain). Counts reflect reports on file and are not a defect rate.