2023 Honda Civic — Should You Buy One?
Typical asking price: $18,000–$27,000. There are 3 high-severity known issues you need to know before handing over a check.
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Kestrel Take
Seventy-nine percent of this car's 326 complaints are steering. That is the highest single-cluster share we have seen on a modern compact, and it is not a vague complaint: the wheel goes sticky and notchy once the car is warmed up, so small corrections at highway speed take a shove and then overshoot. Honda eventually recalled the steering gearbox for a worm gear spring, and there are four campaigns on this car in all. A 2023 Civic with that campaign closed and a wheel that moves smoothly after half an hour of driving is the good car it was reviewed as — quiet, efficient, genuinely nice to sit in. One that still sticks is a car whose central control you cannot fully trust, and no price makes that a bargain. Drive it warm, on a highway, before you decide anything.
What we checked
Reconciled against public records, 2026-09-25
NHTSA holds 326 owner complaints for the 2023 Honda Civic, and 4 recall campaigns.
A big number here usually means a lot of these were sold, not that it is a bad vehicle — popular models collect more complaints for the same rate of trouble. So the total on its own says little. What is worth reading is the shape of it. 79% of them are about one thing — steering. That much concentration is a genuine pattern rather than background noise, and it is the first thing to check on any example you look at.
4 recall campaigns cover this model year. Recalls are repaired free, for any owner, with no time limit on most safety campaigns — but only if someone books it in. Ask the seller to show it was done, or have any dealer check the VIN; it takes them a couple of minutes and costs nothing.
Counts come from the NHTSA complaint and recall database — free, public, and worth checking yourself.
Known Issues for the 2023 Honda Civic
Ranked by wallet impact. These are documented, recurring problems — not freak accidents. How we decide that.
The defining fault of this year. After twenty to thirty minutes of driving the wheel feels glued straight ahead; a small correction needs real force and then goes too far, so the car wanders between the lane lines and the driver is constantly fighting it. Eight of these reports involved a crash. Recall 24V744 covers a steering gearbox whose worm gear spring was manufactured wrong, and the free remedy is a new spring with grease redistributed or added. Test it the way it fails: half an hour on a highway, then small inputs to hold the lane. If the wheel catches, the campaign has not fixed this car.
Repair cost: $0 with the recall — verify it was performed
Source: NHTSA complaints filed under steering (256); 4 NHTSA recall campaigns on this model year.
Recall 23V704 is the awkward one: it covers 2022-2024 Civic sedans and hatchbacks that had a power steering rack replaced as a service repair, because some of those replacement racks were assembled incorrectly and let the tire rub the lower suspension or tie rod end. A chafed tire can let go at speed. Dealers inspect and replace the rack again, free. So the question for any car whose steering has already been worked on is not only whether the work was done but which campaign it was done under — get the repair order, not a verbal history, and look at the inner shoulder of both front tires.
Repair cost: $0 with the recall — verify it was performed
Source: 4 NHTSA recall campaigns on this model year.
Recall 23V430 covers 2023 Civics whose vehicle stability assist modulator has a ball valve that can leak brake fluid, so the car can move unexpectedly while brake hold is engaged or the pedal can suddenly travel further than it should. Dealers replace the modulator at no cost. Fifteen brake complaints on this year, five of them after a crash. Test it deliberately: stop on a slight incline, let brake hold take over, and watch whether the car stays put. Then look at the fluid reservoir level with a torch.
Repair cost: $0 with the recall — verify it was performed
Source: NHTSA complaints filed under the brakes (15); 4 NHTSA recall campaigns on this model year.
Twenty-four complaints filed under lane departure, and most are the sticky-steering story told by owners who blamed lane keeping for the wheel fighting them — worth knowing before you read the cluster as a separate defect. The rest are real and specific: a front camera that goes inoperative, after which automatic emergency braking and lane keeping are dead until the camera is replaced and calibrated. Switch lane keeping on during the test drive and check the dash icon comes up green rather than an unavailable message.
Repair cost (estimate): $900–$1,600 for a front camera and calibration
Source: NHTSA complaints filed under lane departure (24).
Eighteen electrical complaints, two after a crash. The reports describe a screenful of warnings at once — brake system, low-speed braking, cruise control — and a handful of cars that stalled while driving and had to be coasted off the road; a couple describe the engine restarting itself or doors unlocking on their own at a light. Honda dealers usually start with the 12-volt battery and its sensor, because a weak battery on a stop-start car throws exactly this kind of scattered fault. Ask for the battery test result and the stored codes rather than accepting 'they cleared it'.
Repair cost (estimate): $150–$1,400 for a battery and sensor, or a module replacement if the codes point there
Source: NHTSA complaints filed under electrics and electronics (18).
Recall 24V859 reaches the Civic sedan and hatchback as well as several other Hondas: the driver's seat cushion frame bolts may have left the factory loose, so the seat is not properly secured in a crash. The dealer replaces the frame free. Nothing about it is noticeable on a test drive, which is why it sits open on so many cars. Sit down, plant your feet and try to shift the seat sideways and fore and aft — if it moves independently of the rails, book the recall before you drive the car home.
Repair cost: $0 with the recall — verify it was performed
Source: 4 NHTSA recall campaigns on this model year.
Walk-Away Red Flags
- ✗Steering that feels stuck on centre after half an hour of highway driving
- ✗Having to force the wheel and then correct back on small lane adjustments
- ✗Car creeping forward while brake hold is engaged on an incline
- ✗Chafing or a shaved inner shoulder on a front tire
- ✗A dash message saying lane keeping or emergency braking is unavailable
Good Signs
- ✓Recall 24V744 closed with the worm gear spring and grease listed on the invoice
- ✓Steering that stays smooth and self-centres after a long warm highway run
- ✓Repair order for any steering rack work, showing which campaign it was done under
- ✓Brake hold that holds the car still on a slope with the pedal released
- ✓Lane keeping and emergency braking both showing active on the cluster
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Known issues on this page are based on documented owner reports, NHTSA complaints, class-action records, and manufacturer technical service bulletins. Individual vehicles vary. A pre-purchase inspection by a trusted mechanic is always worth doing.
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