Which parts fail
Components named in complaints (automatic and manual transmissions, CVT, axles, driveshaft, 4WD/AWD).
Mileage when the problem started
Owner reports
Selected complaints filed with NHTSA by 2005 Honda Civic owners, lightly cleaned up (personal details are redacted by NHTSA).
In 2019 Honda came out to fix the air bag recall. I never had problems with the air bag light coming on until after they fixed the air bag. The air bag light stays on all the time along with a check engine light. Also I've had to replace the whole transmission in 2019. In 2018 my engine cracked and I had to replace it with another engine. Currently the rack and pion went bad. The vehicle will at times steer on its own and sometimes the steering wheel won't turn. I've spent thousands of dollars over the past few years. I do not believe Honda put in the air bags correctly. I barely had driven my car anywhere and I should not be having these types of problems. It's a safety hazard.
The car runs good but will not stay in 2nd gear this is the 2nd manual transmission the factory did the same then tran#2 did the same now had replaced for 3rd time and this one's doing the same thing.
I purchased this car from a Honda dealership used for over 7 thousand dollars in 2021 it's a 2005 car with known issues. I drove it for less than 2 months before it overheated without an indication by the gauge that it was overheating and blew a head gasket. It was acting funny before it happened I brought it back to the dealership a couple times they charged me several hundred dollars to do nothing besides diagnosed it and told me nothing was wrong with it. Obviously there's plenty wrong with a car I'm just finding out that the battery is probably going to die really soon and I had to pay a mechanic to put another engine in it and paid another 2 thousand dollars. …
My transmission is slipping and barley shifting into 2nd gear to 3rd it has 95000 miles on it and the transmission is bad all 2000 to 2005 hondas have bad transmission problems but they never recalled it why????? Now I had to replace the head gasket because it was blown at 75000 miles thats to early for that to be happening I spent 2000 grand on it already why didn't they recall this????
Ltr fm (tx) re his wife new Honda which was totaled in a near fatal accident, the transmission locked up, Honda won't assist them or release the title, car was paid for. The vehicle crashed into a guardrail when the transmission locked up and caught on fire.
Our new 2005 Honda Civic had both front wheels lock while my wife was going to work, driving down the freeway in fort worth tx. The car was totaled, crashing into a guard rail, blowing the air bags, spinning around, starting a fire at the left front wheel and starting my wife's coat on fire as she was getting out. We have an eye witness who has a degree in engineering, photos, a police report and the car itself. The car started to pull to the right by itself and my wife was not able to correct it since the front wheels were in a complete skid. The car had 2113 miles on it and even the police commented that in her twelve years on the force she had never seen anything so strange as this. There are two solid black lines that show where the skid started in the center of the lane ending at the guardrail. Both tires are torn up and melted in one spot. …
Reverse in a Honda Civic manual transmission. The problem is engaging reverse in a manual transmission. When I need to reverse I move the transmission into reverse and release the clutch. A grinding noise occurs and the grinding noise gets louder if I give it more gas while the clutch is not engaged. It takes me a while to try and get reverse engaged and it is very annoying and dangerous. I am having problems everyday with this and I just had it in for a service and asked the dealer to take a look at it. The dealer looked into the problem and said that this is common in every Honda Civic transmission. Reverse does not have a synchronized gear and I will have to live with it. There is nothing they can do about it. Even if they replaced my entire transmission, the problem will still exist. I even got a service tech to drive my car and he experienced the same problem. …
My 2005 Honda Civic hybrid started to exhibit transmission judder when I would accelerate from a stop and slippage whenever I accelerated while moving with approximately 65,000 on the odometer (my car was still under warranty at this time). I took it into the dealer I bought the car from and they changed the transmission fluid and performed no additional work to the transmission. I started to have the same issues at 90,000 miles and did not have time to take the car back to the dealer but made them aware of my car's problem. My warranty has expired since then but I have learned there is a service bulletin issued for my model and year car. Honda offered an extended warranty for this problem up to 105,000 miles. Problem is that I now have 114,000 miles on my car and they will not fix it. …
While accelerating moderately, often while trying to pass another vehicle on the freeway or even while trying to maintain speed up a hill, our 2005 Honda Civic hybrid would slip out of gear and the engine would suddenly rev up to redline RPM (it is an automatic transmission). The service technician could not reproduce this event. After a few months, this started happening quite often -- every day in predictable locations on our driving route. In addition, a judder developed when starting from a stop. This latter issue was identified by Honda and a technical bulletin was put out. The judder made the car nearly undrivable, so we again took the car in. The transmission fluid was replaced and the clutch plates were burnished. The tranmission slippage and engine revving disappeared. …
This car has a defective transmission. Unknown to me, it came that way from the dealer. A couple Honda dealerships acknowledged the problem. It first started slipping around 40,000 miles. I had the transmission fluid changed ahead of schedule and the problem went away. This was when they told me of the class action law suit and the recommended fixes. The transmission initially failed at 54,300 miles. Stevens creek Honda cleaned the transmission with a special detergent and replaced the fluid. They said if the problem came up again before 109,000 miles they would have to ?burnish? The transmission. What I didn't realize is that the detergent cleaning was a ?band-aid? Fix so that the dealership could avoid the more costly fixes they were obligated to perform under the terms of the lawsuit. The car performed normally again. …
Transmission complaints in other Civic years
Frequently asked questions
How common are transmission problems on the 2005 Honda Civic?
NHTSA has 36 complaints about the transmission & drivetrain of the 2005 Honda Civic, 11% of the model year's 316 complaints. The component named most often is automatic transmission (11 mentions).
Is there a recall for 2005 Honda Civic transmission problems?
No. NHTSA lists no transmission & drivetrain recall for the 2005 Honda Civic, though it has 10 recalls for other components. If the problem is widespread, a repair may still be covered by an extended warranty or a manufacturer service bulletin — ask a dealer.
At what mileage do 2005 Honda Civic transmission problems start?
Half of the complaints with a recorded mileage happened before about 57,000 miles, and 26% before 25,000 miles.
Is it dangerous?
Owners linked 3 crashes, 2 fires and 4 injuries to transmission & drivetrain problems on this model year. If you notice symptoms, have the car checked before driving further.
Source: U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) — owner complaints through October 20, 2026, recalls and defect investigations; fuel economy from the EPA. Complaints are unverified reports and are not proof of a defect. How we rate model years.