FaultScore

Honda Civic vs Chevrolet Malibu

Both cars' complete complaint records, side by side.

Read the totals carefully. NHTSA publishes no sales figures, so the car that sold more collects more complaints regardless of quality. The rows worth weighing are the proportions — the share of complaints that involved harm, and which part dominates.

Measure Honda Civic Chevrolet Malibu
Complaints on file 20,273 29,413
Model years covered 1979–2026 1964–2025
Worst model year 2001 2010
Best model year 1994 2022
Crashes reported 2,375 1,224
Fires reported 247 234
Injuries reported 1,473 743
Deaths reported 37 38
Most complained-about part Airbags Steering
Share of complaints involving harm 20.4% 7.6%

Honda Civic by year

Complaints filed with NHTSA, by model year. Bar colour is the FaultScore grade: A B C D F ungraded

What breaks

Airbags 2,926 14.4%
Steering 2,536 12.5%
Engine & Cooling 1,881 9.3%
Electrical System 1,562 7.7%
Other & Unspecified 1,343 6.6%
Brakes 1,072 5.3%

Chevrolet Malibu by year

Complaints filed with NHTSA, by model year. Bar colour is the FaultScore grade: A B C D F ungraded

What breaks

Steering 5,713 19.4%
Electrical System 4,816 16.4%
Engine & Cooling 3,161 10.7%
Brakes 2,824 9.6%
Lights 2,060 7.0%
Other & Unspecified 1,290 4.4%