Airbag inflator rupture on the 2012 Honda Civic
5 crashes 2 injuries 7 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 2012 Honda Civic report airbag inflator rupture at a median of 55,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 20,000 miles and a quarter after 80,000 miles, from 12 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 80,000 miles. It is the 9th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 5,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 125,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 120,570 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
A spread this wide points at use rather than design. Towing, climate, service history and city mileage all move a failure like this, so the median is a weak guide to any individual car.
33% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5,485 miles | 21,018 miles | 56,708 miles | 80,986 miles | 126,055 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, 5 a crash and 2 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 $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 2012 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 am very concerned about the takata air bag situation. I question the safety of my car. Fortunately I haven't had an incident or accident however I am concerned that takata and honda have not been forthright & transparent in re: identifying models that are at risk of faulty air bags. I have contacted honda san francisco where I purchased my car as well as honda america. Because my VIN indicates no recall, neither honda san francisco or honda america will address my concern. I've asked honda san francisco to check my car for confirmation that my air bags are takata and if so, for a safety check and/or to disconnect my air bag. They refused to do the safety check or disconnect because they said that my car was not part of the current recall. I ask, what does it take to get this addressed? An accident or death? I would like further action to ensure the safety of all cars with takata air bags. I welcome recommendations for further action. *tr
Takata air bag recall~ among other possible safety recalls. I purchased this vehicle 9/07/2015 as used from lindsay honda, columbus, oh.. Need to know if there are any safety recalls pertaining to this vehicle. Very concerned.. Thank you.. [xxx] 'information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u.s.c. 552(b)(6).' *bf
I don't know what a takata recall is, but per honda's website I have no recalls. I was in an accident on 5/21 around 2pm. I was driving on a straight city road close to getting on the highway going about 25mph. The woman who was driving next to me "didn't see me" as she turned into my lane. She scraped the whole passenger side door then her car lodged into my car near where the door & front part of the car meet on the passenger side. The car hit right neat the side airbag, but none of the airbags went off. That is what I'm worried about. Why did none of the airbags go off?
Also reported on the 2012 Honda Civic
Other steering problem
Other electrical problem
Other body or interior problem
Airbag warning light or occupant sensor fault
Other speed control problem
Other powertrain 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 2012 Honda Civic?
Across 12 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 55,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 20,000 miles and a quarter after 80,000 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 2012 Honda Civic?
20 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.4 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