1998 Honda Civic electrical system problems

Owners reported electrical system problems in 96 complaints for the 1998 Honda Civic, 19% of the complaints on file. It is the 2nd most reported problem area for this model year.

Complaints: 96 19% of this year's complaints
Typical mileage: 134,000 miles 37 complaints with mileage
Crashes and fires: 2 and 2
Injuries and deaths: 1 and 0

Source: NHTSA owner complaints

When electrical system problems show up

Based on 37 complaints that include mileage. 16% were reported before 60,000 miles. The amber marker shows the median: half of these complaints happened before that mileage.

View the numbers

Mileage	Complaints
0k to 20k miles	3
20k to 40k miles	1
40k to 60k miles	2
60k to 80k miles	2
80k to 100k miles	3
100k to 120k miles	5
120k to 140k miles	6
140k to 160k miles	4
160k to 180k miles	4
180k to 200k miles	3
200k+ miles	4

What the data shows

Of the 37 electrical system complaints that report mileage, the median is about 134,000 miles, and 16% were reported before 60,000 miles.

These complaints mention 2 crashes, 2 fires, 1 injury.

What owners wrote

While driving flames shot up from right floorboard, fire quickly spread to left floorboard, vehicle burned totally.

March 2001 FireInjury

In compliance with NHTSA campaign id number 02v120000, a technician in the service department of an authorized dealer replaced the ignition switch in 2003. However, due to worn contacts, now this switch causes the engine to stall without warning and thereby increases the risk of a collision.

Reported at 171,000 miles, March 2012

Electrical system problems in other years

Electrical system problems across all Honda models