Airbag inflator rupture on the 2002 Honda Civic
3 crashes 1 fire 5 injuries 1 death 10 of the 20 reports for this failure mention a crash, a fire, an injury or a death. Those are the owner's words on the complaint form, not a verified finding, and one report can mention more than one.
When airbag inflator rupture gets reported
Owners of the 2002 Honda Civic report airbag inflator rupture at a median of 95,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 80,000 miles and a quarter after 170,000 miles, from 13 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 80,000 miles. It is the 10th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 60,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 200,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 144,353 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
When the reports scatter this far, the mileage is telling you about how these cars were driven more than about the part itself.
8% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 58,047 miles | 79,000 miles | 93,000 miles | 168,000 miles | 202,400 miles |
Read the 10th percentile as “one report in ten arrived this early”. Exact figures are shown in this table because it is the table of record; everywhere else on the site they are rounded to the precision the sample can carry.
What a percentile can and cannot tell you here
These five numbers describe the readings owners gave, in order. The median is the middle one: half the reports arrived below it. The 10th and 90th are the edges of the bulk of the distribution, and the distance between them is the part worth reading. A tight spread — say 70,000 to 95,000 miles — points at something that wears out on a schedule, and the schedule is knowable. A wide one, 20,000 to 190,000, points at a fault that hits some cars and never troubles others, which means the mileage on the listing in front of you tells you very little about your odds.
What these figures are not is a survival curve. Every reading here comes from a car whose owner filed a complaint, so the sample contains only failures: it cannot say what share of the fleet made it past 150,000 miles untouched, because those owners had nothing to report. Nor is the mileage the moment of failure — it is the odometer reading as recalled at the time of filing, which may be weeks later and is sometimes rounded to the nearest ten thousand by the person typing it.
Percentiles are shown at all only once 8 readings exist for the vehicle and mode. Below that the middle of a handful of numbers is noise wearing a decimal point, so the figures are withheld rather than dressed up.
What happens, and what it costs
Of these reports, 3 a crash, 1 a fire, 5 an injury and 1 a fatality are mentioned. Owners write their own complaints and the agency does not verify them, so read this as what the reports say happened rather than as a confirmed count.
Putting it right typically runs $0–$0 at an independent US shop. That range is an editorial estimate held in this site's failure-mode catalogue, not a figure from NHTSA, and it is a repair cost rather than a diagnosis cost.
This mode is classified as critical, which means a failure can leave the car unable to stop, steer, or stay out of the way of traffic. It is weighted accordingly in the risk score.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 20 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2016, at a median of 2,000 miles, and latest on the 1999 at 220,000 miles.
By volume the 2008 carries the most reports, with 64; the 2002 has 20. A mode that appears across most years of a model is usually a design choice rather than a bad batch.
If one year stands out to the left, that is the year to avoid; if the whole line sits at a similar mileage, this is wear rather than a defect in one production run.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
What owners wrote
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.
I was proceeding to make a left turn after stopping and looking at an all-way stop. A ford truck coming the opposite direction ran the stop and crashed into my car in the right-front. The airbags deployed and I was stunned by the impact. My left ear and face were severely lacerated by fragments of the airbag inflator (which were found and photo-documented), resulting in 29 stitches and permanent scaring. Shortly after the accident, honda sent me a recall notice regarding the airbag inflator: this was the first time I was made aware of the fact that the airbag inflator was known to produce shrapnel and had caused fatalities. Despite having owned the car since 2003 and having it serviced at dealerships several times over the years, I had not received any prior information regarding the lethal airbag defect. Honda has been irresponsible and apathetic regarding my situation and the problem in general. I could have easily been injured worse or killed by the fragments, yet the company seems to not take the problem seriously. I will absolutely never own another honda, will forbid my family and loved ones from owning a honda. *tr
This car has a recalled takata airbag. I first contacted the dealership in october and have been waiting for the passenger side replacement airbag for 4 months and honda has not released any parts. Is there any way you can help us? This is a first car for my teenage son and we are obviously very concerned that although this accident might be rare, the outcome would be devastating. *tr
I contacted my local honda dealer in order to make an appointment to get takata air bags replaced. I was previously informed by honda that my car was included in the takata air bag recall and I did a search of your website using my VIN number and confirmed that my car was part of the recall. When I spoke with the local honda dealership, they said I had to have some paperwork that would have been sent by honda in order to have the air bags replaced. When I told them I no longer have the paperwork, they stated that there is nothing they can do and they will not replace the airbags. I am afraid to drive the car but I need it to get to work. Can you help resolve this? The honda dealer contact information: chapman honda 4646 e. 22nd st tucson, az.85711 520-445-4024
Also reported on the 2002 Honda Civic
Airbag warning light or occupant sensor fault
Other powertrain problem
Complete transmission failure
Seat belt or retractor failure
Airbag failed to deploy in a crash
Other engine problem
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 20 is a floor and not a count of affected cars. Mileages are typed in by owners and cluster on round numbers. And the mode itself is assigned by software reading the complaint text, which is reliable in bulk and fallible one report at a time.
Questions this page answers
At what mileage does airbag inflator rupture happen on the 2002 Honda Civic?
Across 13 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 95,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 80,000 miles and a quarter after 170,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is airbag inflator rupture on the 2002 Honda Civic?
20 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.1 per 1,000 vehicles. Complaints are voluntary, so this is a floor rather than a count of affected cars.
What this is and is not. These are the mileages at which owners chose to complain to a federal agency, which is not the same as the mileage at which the part fails on every car. It skews toward failures that happened outside warranty, cost real money, or frightened someone. It is still the only public dataset that carries failure mileage at all, and the shape of a few hundred readings is informative even when a single one is not. Methodology · JSON · this failure on other cars
Source Owner complaints and recall records published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, model years 1996–2027 Figures rebuilt Published by AtWhatMileage How every figure is computed