Strut, shock or spring failure on the 2002 Honda Civic
1 crash 1 injury 2 of the 15 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 strut, shock or spring failure gets reported
Owners of the 2002 Honda Civic report strut, shock or spring failure at a median of 10,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 10,000 miles and a quarter after 25,000 miles, from 11 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 105,000 miles. It is the 16th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 5,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 35,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 26,115 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
A window that narrow is the signature of a part that fails on its own schedule rather than on how the car is driven — which is usually a design or supplier problem rather than wear and tear.
91% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6,800 miles | 8,218 miles | 9,250 miles | 23,800 miles | 32,915 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, 1 a crash and 1 an injury 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 $500–$2,000 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.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 7 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2003, at a median of 5,000 miles, and latest on the 2004 at 70,000 miles.
By volume the 2001 carries the most reports, with 24; the 2002 has 15. 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.
Problems with right front strut. Dealer was contacted and stated and that they don't have the part on stock and they have a back order. Manufacture was contacted and has stated the same thing as the dealer .also stated that this only happens on the to door coupe ex. Ts no date yet for repairs. *tt
Took my 2002 civic to the dealer for road vibration, audible popping from front end when applying the brakes (includes feeling the "pop" through the brake pedal) clunking and popping when turning the steering wheel, clunking and popping when encountering any bumps. Symptoms are getting progressively worse. Advised by dealer that this is a problem with the civic......may take upwards of three weeks to get parts......may eventually turn into a recall.......meanwhile, contrary to anyone with any type of common sense, honda expects us to keep driving the car. I asked if they would recommend anyone ignoring the symptoms,...they said no!. But still expect me to drive the vehicle. Typical attitude that nothing will be done until someone gets killed! *nlm
I was hearing noises the passenger side of my 2002 honda civic. I took to heritage honda in westminster, md to have them check it out. The dealership informed me the passenger side strut was defective and had to be replaced. It has been six weeks since the original complaint and the strut has not been replaced. I contacted honda motor car in california, they admitted to a problem with the strut, but said it was not a defect or recall. I file a case with honda. This a safety issue and should be addressed. *nlm
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 15 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 strut, shock or spring failure happen on the 2002 Honda Civic?
Across 11 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 10,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 10,000 miles and a quarter after 25,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is strut, shock or spring failure on the 2002 Honda Civic?
15 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