Home · 2016 Honda Civic Type R · Complaints

What 1,061 owners told NHTSA about the 2016 Honda Civic Type R

These are the actual owner complaints behind this car’s reliability verdict, filed with the federal government, unedited. They’re unverified reports, not confirmed defects: read them as leads for your pre-purchase inspection, not a diagnosis.

All (1,061)Crash / fire / injury (43)Steering (428)Electrical system (117)Engine (94)Brakes (93)Visibility & wipers (67)Body & structure (48)Transmission & drivetrain (36)Lights (30)Fuel system (29)Airbags (28)

Newest first · 1,061 complaints · page 16 of 43

Oct 24, 2022SteeringSuspension

The contact owns a 2016 Honda Civic. The contact stated while her husband was driving 60 MPH and turning the steering wheel to the right, the vehicle would drift to the left. The contact stated no warning light was illuminated. The driver was able to continue driving to his destination. The contact took the vehicle to the local dealer, where it was diagnosed and determined that the vehicle needed an alignment. The vehicle was repaired but continued to experience the failure. The contact took the vehicle back to the dealer, but the mechanic was unable to duplicate the failure. The manufacturer had not been informed of the failure. The failure mileage was unknown.

NHTSA ODI 11490636

Oct 20, 2022Transmission & drivetrain

TRANSMISSION FAILED

NHTSA ODI 11490088

Oct 10, 2022Body & structure

Paint is chipping around the back windshield and is starting to cause paint chipping towards the top of the vehicle. Have never been in a collision.

NHTSA ODI 11488607

Oct 7, 2022

Although my car runs fine and the Check Engine Light (or any other warning light) did not illuminate, my car suddenly went into Limp Mode. I was on the I-90 East Freeway out of Seattle, just heading into a tunnel plus a bridge. Everyone was going about 65 (as was I), and suddenly I'm cut down to about 20 mph with no shoulder to turn onto. I'm surprised I didn't cause a huge pile-up - as cars curved toward the tunnel and into relative darkness, they had to suddenly slam on their breaks. I guess it would be one thing if Limp Mode engaged because my engine was about to blow up. But my mechanic found no error codes, nothing wrong. I am reading similar stories all over the Internet and never have I once seen a case in which an engine had a catastrophic problem that justified Limp Mode. Is Honda waiting around for a fatality before they'll issue a recall? They came very close to having one on the day this happened to me, and there have surely been many other near-misses. I'm afraid to drive on the freeway now!

NHTSA ODI 11488381

Oct 6, 2022Brakes

I HAVE CONTACTED HONDA ABOUT THE ( EPB) PROBLEM. THEY REFUSES TO AKNOWEDGE THE ISSUE BECAUSE MY VIN NUMBER DID NOT SHOW UP. THE PROBLEM IS THERE AND I HAD IT COMFRIM BY A MECHANIC. THERE WAS NO WARNING BEFORE HAND TILL ONE DAY WHEN DAY WHEN ENGAGING THE PARKING BRAKE THE WARNING LIGHT CAME ON AND WOULD NOT ENGAGED. THE ONLY WAY WAS TO CUT THE CAR OFF AND RESTART IT AGAIN. I AM UNABLE TO PARK ON A HILL BECAUSE OF THIS PROBLEM AND AFRAID OF THE SYSTEM FAILING ALL TOGETHER.

NHTSA ODI 11488201

Oct 4, 2022Equipment

The BT will lag & skip while listening to music. Also, the home screen will malfunction & return to the default screen & beep constantly (during driving operations).

NHTSA ODI 11487881

Sep 27, 2022Body & structure

My paint is peeling off around the rear windshield of the car. Not sure what is causing this. My honda civic is a cobalt blue color, when brought to the dealer it was stated they have seen this on the color blue my car is as well as white. Car was not in a accident and no one is at risk.

NHTSA ODI 11486731

Sep 21, 2022Steering

The contact owns a 2016 Honda Civic. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the steering wheel was drifting and failed to move as needed and continued to jerk. The contact forced the steering wheel into position however, the action would overcorrect the vehicle. The contact stated that while his wife was driving at an undisclosed speed, the steering wheel was jerking and the vehicle was difficult to turn. There were no warning lights illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer who was unable to duplicate the failure. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer again where it was diagnosed and determined that the power steering rack needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer was not contacted. The approximate failure mileage was 47,466.

NHTSA ODI 11485683

Sep 17, 2022SteeringTransmission & drivetrain

Steering wheel has some extra resistance (sticking, stiff and jerky) when making small corrections at any speeds, resulting in extra pressure being applied to break the resistance, resulting in sharp (hard) correction changes.

NHTSA ODI 11485003

Sep 16, 2022Tires

Tire size: 215 / 50 R 17 While driving on a highway, a tire pressure warning appeared. Shortly after, theTPMS malfunction light came on and immediately the driver side rear tire blew out. My car spun 360 degrees and I managed to bring it to a stop. Luckily the cars behind me slowed down while I maneuvered to the curb. I was on a drawbridge and I could have driven off of it into the water below. The tread of the tire completely separated from the side walls of the tire. All that was left on the rim were the two side walls. I recovered the tread and I have the wheel with the side walls still on it. I showed it to the dealer and the service technicians had no idea about what happened. As of now the manufacturer has not been made aware. This 2016 Honda Civic was purchased from a dealer and there are still 3 of the same tire on the car. I drove the remaining distance to my destination on the rim where I put on the spare. I couldn’t change the tire where the blowout happened because I was on a bridge with very little shoulder.

NHTSA ODI 11484891

Sep 1, 2022Steering

Car abruptly pulls to the passenger side and requires significant force to keep car centered on the road. The system then lets go and car overcorrects into incoming lane requiring quick reaction to prevent car from hitting oncoming vehicles. This issue occurs on nearly every use of the vehicle especially if driven more than 30 min. The design of this car is drive by wire and there is no mechanical link between steering wheel and rack and pinion. This problem seems unrelated to the avoidance system as it happens when it is both on and off. Honda dealership seems unconcerned with the issue even though there is a recall for that same issue for both the 2017 and 2018 model years. The issue was related to a magnet for a sensor within the rack.

NHTSA ODI 11482390

Aug 30, 2022

AC compressor is leaking causing damage to the rest of the system and in the winter frost to build up on the inside of the car and during the summer the humidity in the car become so much your windows fog up to dangerous conditions.

NHTSA ODI 11481964

Aug 29, 2022Steering

Steering sticks when driving on the highway. When make small steering adjustments it has resistance, then suddenly becomes easy. This can cause oversteering when correcting.

NHTSA ODI 11481823

Aug 25, 2022Engine

The contact owns a 2016 Honda Civic. The contact stated that while driving approximately 30 MPH, the vehicle inadvertently decelerated to 5 MPH. The check engine warning light was illuminated. The contact returned the vehicle to the dealer who diagnosed that the catalytic convertor had failed and that the inner cooler with gaskets was defective. The catalytic converter was replaced; however, the failure reoccurred. The contact had returned the vehicle to the dealer. The vehicle had not been repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 236,000.

NHTSA ODI 11481236

Aug 17, 2022Steering

Same problem others have reported. At highway speeds the steering will become hard to manage and if going into a curve very dangerous. When this happens have to pull over at next exit and shut car off. Dealership service department claims the VSA modulator needs replacing (at a cost of 1500$).

NHTSA ODI 11479758

Aug 8, 2022Engine

Received recall notice on my vehicle per cylinder 2 & 3 misfiring. I brought my vehicle into service and I was told this recall did not apply to my vehicle as it was specific civics that had this problem (with my VIN on this recall) Honda then took this notice and disposed of it. I received another recall for drivability of my vehicle, still nothing done. About a year later my car was in and out of Honda due to my check engine light being illuminated. This was the trend from at least October 30, 2021 to present time. When my vehicle was brought in due to the check engine light being illuminated and the vehicle juddering, Honda replaced the solenoid purge valve as it was misfiring ($147). October 29, 2021 preformed a transmission fluid service ($159.95) and brake system fluid flush ($129.87) which I never approved of as I have never done any flush on any of my vehicles. December 10, 2021 my car was loosing power while car had only been running for less than 5 minutes, then died out in the middle of the road. Had car towed to Honda for diagnostic once again.. they performed a valve adjustment and replaced the gasket cover ($408.10). Which did not fix the problem but I was still responsible for the bill. Resulting in a “cracked engine” block per Honda’s diagnosis after all this extra work was put into my vehicle. I was giving a diagnosis of cylinders 2 and 3 being below specification (exact recall on vehicle, cylinders 2 and 2 under specification) resulting in the car needing a new engine, priced out to about $10,000 for a used engine and labor. Honda refuses to do anything about this problem.

NHTSA ODI 11478083

Aug 5, 2022Driver assistance

I was driving through an intersection, the car ahead of me was turning right and I was behind them with plenty of distance. They turned right and I followed straight. However my emergency braking system decided the car was very close, and better yet after it had already turned, decided I was about to have a collision with nobody in front of me and stopped my car in the middle of the intersection, while the light turned red. I desperately got my car to go, after abruptly stopping for no reason, but safe to say I was shaken up a bit and turned that off. Happened today of this complaint 8/5/2022. And it’s happened before on curvy roads, once where my car came to a abrupt stop and other times false alarms to “brake”.

NHTSA ODI 11477858

Jul 30, 2022Steering

At highway speeds when it is warm and the vehicle has been driven for 20-30 minutes the steering becomes sticky. It is most noticeable at freeway speed when attempting minor corrections to maintain good lane position. The steering wheel resists minor effort to turn and then breaks loose causing an over correction, potentially as far as into another lane.

NHTSA ODI 11476679

Jul 29, 2022Driver assistance

Adaptive cruise control as well as automatic braking has come close several times to cause an accident on the highway. Sometimes a truck will be passing me in the left lane and the car will all of a sudden slam on brakes when there is nothing in front of me almost getting rear ended from the car behind me. Even when the cruise control isn’t set the automatic breaking will activate randomly when a large truck is passing me. I purchased this vehicle used and reported this to the dealer time of purchase but they did not fix it. But at the time it was not as noticeable. The car has less than 100,000 miles. The lane departure does not work pulling the car to oncoming traffic. In oncoming traffic in left lane it constantly causes the automatic breaking light to flash. This also randomly kicks off the cruise control. This situation seems to be getting worse. The form below is asking for a date that these incidents happen and does not give a place to say it happens every day, it’s only asking for a specific date. One day this is going to cause a severe accident.

NHTSA ODI 11476475

Jul 25, 2022Steering

Electric Power Steering after driving on hot days becomes resistant to turning the wheel at higher speeds. Requires about 5lbs of force to the wheel and then it gives way and causes a more abrupt turn than driver is attempting.

NHTSA ODI 11475661

Jul 18, 2022

structure --- : 2016-2019 Civic C-Pillar Paint Peel in rear window area

NHTSA ODI 11474472

Jul 11, 2022Steering

At highway speeds the car has problems with the steering sticking, and when it releases it jerks into the other lane . This has happened several times almost causing a wreck. I have reported it to Honda in the past and the technician could not find anything, or so they said

NHTSA ODI 11473274

Jul 11, 2022Steering

When traveling at highway speeds the steering wheel “catches” at center and feels almost stuck in position. This causes for over correction and an unsafe driving experience

NHTSA ODI 11473463

Jul 5, 2022

AC Compressor failed resulting in all refrigerant to leaking out of system. By law automotive refrigerant is required to be recycled as to not pollute the environment, Honda replaced the AC condenser because a lawsuit found that holes in the AC condenser tubes resulted in refrigerant leaking from the system and inevitable the failure of the AC system. AC system was inspected and found that the AC compressor had leaked and is defective. From doing some research it turns out that the AC compressor on Hondas is a common issue a lot of Honda owners have, spending thousands to replace the defective part. Also from all these defective compressors so much of the refrigerant ends up leaking and polluting the environment.

NHTSA ODI 11472455

Jul 1, 2022Seat belts

The center console under the radio is not equipped to hold anything like a phone or something of similar size. When accelerating, the phone or item will become unsecured and fall. In this particular incident, it caused my phone to slide backwards and undo my seatbelt while driving. A car was about to rear end me as this was happening. This is not the first time this has happened. This could be incredibly dangerous and cause a restrained driver to suddenly become unrestrained and before an accident. The center console is not large enough or secure enough to hold a phone or similar item. This is also where they would place a wireless charging pad so it is intended for your phone to sit in the center console under the radio.

NHTSA ODI 11471931

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Working with the data? Download all 1,061 complaints as CSV · fetched from NHTSA July 22, 2026

How to use these: a complaint is one owner’s report, filed voluntarily and published unverified. Patterns matter more than any single story. If several owners describe the same failure at similar mileage, put that system at the top of your pre-purchase inspection list. Back to the full 2016 Honda Civic Type R verdict →