2003 Honda Civic Hybrid Problems, Complaints & Recalls

Source: NHTSA · Updated Aug 7, 2023 · 51 owner complaints analyzed

Compared with other Civic Hybrid years
Far more complaints than other years 4th of 14 for complaints
NHTSA crash rating
Not rated

Owners have filed 51 complaints with NHTSA about the 2003 Honda Civic Hybrid. That ranks 4th out of 14 Civic Hybrid model years for complaints. The most reported problem area is power train (26 complaints, 51%), typically at around 130,000 miles. Complaints mention 5 crashes, 2 injuries. There are 6 safety recalls covering this model year. NHTSA has opened 4 defect investigations involving it.

Honda Civic Hybrid
2025 Honda Civic Sport Touring Hybrid photographed in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada.. Representative photo; appearance varies by model year. Photo: Elise240SX, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Complaints are unverified owner reports and are not adjusted for sales volume.

Compare with another car

Most common 2003 Honda Civic Hybrid problems

Complaints grouped by the part of the car owners reported, with the median mileage when the problem happened.

Power Train26 · ~130,000 mi
Air Bags9 · ~91,000 mi
Engine8 · ~117,000 mi
Electrical System6 · ~57,500 mi
Exterior Lighting4 · ~117,500 mi
Vehicle Speed Control4 · ~104,000 mi
Unknown or Other2 · ~149,220 mi
Electronic Stability Control (esc)1 · ~3 mi
Engine and Engine Cooling1 · ~143,000 mi
Fuel/propulsion System1
Problem areaComplaintsShareMedian milesOwners mention mostTypical repair cost
Power Train2651%130,000——
Air Bags918%91,000——
Engine816%117,000——
Electrical System612%57,500——
Exterior Lighting48%117,500——
Vehicle Speed Control48%104,000——
Unknown or Other24%149,220——
Electronic Stability Control (esc)12%3——
Engine and Engine Cooling12%143,000——
Fuel/propulsion System12%———
Service Brakes12%———
Steering12%128,162——
Structure12%130,000——
Suspension12%104,000——

One complaint can list several problem areas, so shares can add up to more than 100%.

Complaints by year received

Peak: 2015, with 11 complaints
2011: 1201112012: 102012102013: 7201372014: 7201472015: 112015112016: 5201652017: 4201742018: 3201832019: 320193

n = 51 complaints · Source: NHTSA

2003 Honda Civic Hybrid recalls (6)

Tap a recall to see the problem, the risk and the fix.

Air bags:frontal:driver side:inflator moduleJun 27, 2019 · NHTSA campaign 19V499000 · 3,947 vehicles

Problem: 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.

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

Fix: 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.

Air bags:frontal:passenger side:inflator moduleJun 27, 2019 · NHTSA campaign 19V501000 · 1,657,752 vehicles

Problem: 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.

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

Fix: 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.

Air bags:frontal:driver side:inflator moduleMar 6, 2019 · NHTSA campaign 19V182000 · 1,101,534 vehicles

Problem: 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.

Risk: 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.

Fix: 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.

Air bags:frontal:passenger side:inflator moduleJun 15, 2015 · NHTSA campaign 15V370000 · 3,498,481 vehicles

Problem: 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.

Risk: 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.

Fix: 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.

Air bags:frontal:driver side:inflator moduleMay 28, 2015 · NHTSA campaign 15V320000 · 6,281,043 vehicles

Problem: 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.

Risk: 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.

Fix: 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.

Air bagsNov 4, 2014 · NHTSA campaign 14V700000

Problem: 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.

Risk: 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.

Fix: 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.

To see whether a specific car still has an open recall, enter its VIN on NHTSA's official recall lookup. You can also decode a VIN here.

NHTSA defect investigations

  • Desiccated Air Bag Inflator Rupture (EA21002) — opened Sep 17, 2021, still open.
  • Air Bag Inflator Rupture (EA15001) — opened Feb 24, 2015, still open, led to recall 14V668.
  • Pedestrian alert sounds (DP22005) — opened Jan 27, 2023, closed Aug 7, 2023, led to recall 22V063000.
  • Air Bag Inflator Rupture (PE14016) — opened Jun 11, 2014, closed Mar 2, 2015, led to recall 13V172000.

Recent owner reports

Short excerpts of the latest complaints filed with NHTSA, with personal details removed. Full reports can be searched on NHTSA.gov.

After the recall appointment on 5/3/2019,the sign "abs" still comes on all the time in the panel.besides,the auto audio system fails when the ignition is on. When the car is not on the audio system comes on again. This may be checked besides the abs sign.

Air Bags · received Jun 28, 2019 · NHTSA complaint 11228243

I was driving my car on antioch rd. Crestview, fl and had stopped at the stop sign to jump onto p.j. Adams rd. When traffic permitted i tired to pull out the car lunged forward a few feet putting the hood area completely in the road when the d light started flashing and the car stopped moving . The…

Power Train · received Jun 4, 2019 · NHTSA complaint 11217763

When starting from at stop the car hesitates and shudders when you press the gas pedal unless you let the car idle and roll forward first. It also has problems when you have the cruise control on for more than 10 min. After approx 10min it acts like i have turned off and back on the cruise control…

Power Train · received Jan 30, 2019 · NHTSA complaint 11172995

There is a shuttering in the transmission that occurs when the car is attempting to get out of first gear. The shuttering is becoming more violent. The car has also slipped out of drive (while on the road) and wouldn't accelerate. I've read that the shuttering isn't fairly common in this model…

Power Train · received Sep 16, 2018 · NHTSA complaint 11129739

I drove this 2003 honda civic hybrid took my baby honestly from the shopping market. It was just at the right turning corner, the vehicle suddenly lost power to move, i immediately press the emergency button, got out off the vehicle let other autos passed me ahead by the side way. Later some kindly…

Power Train · received Mar 31, 2018 · NHTSA complaint 11082323

Other Honda Civic Hybrid years

2004 Civic Hybrid →

See all Honda Civic Hybrid problems by year, every Honda model, or the Honda VIN decoder.

Similar Honda models

Embed this 2003 Honda Civic Hybrid badge on your site

Copy this code into your blog or forum post. It shows live complaint and recall counts and links back here.

Frequently asked questions

What are the most common problems with the 2003 Honda Civic Hybrid?

Owners most often report power train, air bags, engine problems. The top one, power train, accounts for 26 complaints.

Was there a recall on the 2003 Honda Civic Hybrid?

Yes, 6 safety recalls. Enter your VIN at NHTSA.gov to check whether the repairs were done on your car.

Was the 2003 Honda Civic Hybrid a good year?

Complaint data can't fully answer that, because counts aren't adjusted for sales. Compared with other Civic Hybrid model years, the 2003 has far more complaints than most years. Always get a pre-purchase inspection and check the VIN for open recalls.