Model Reports 4 min read Updated 18 Oct 2026

Honda Civic 2002: reliability & common MOT faults

In 2025, 54 in every 100 first MOTs on a 2002 Honda Civic were passes. Most common reason for a fail: Individual sidelight or tail light (front).

Summary

The 2002 Honda Civic follows the pattern of the model years either side.

At a glance

How 5,292 first tests went in 2025.

Passed first time
54 in every 100
Did not pass first time
46 in every 1002,417 failed first-attempt tests
The typical car
23 yearsabout 105,755 miles
First tests counted
5,292

What failed most often

  1. Individual sidelight or tail light (front)15 in every 100 failed tests
  2. Suspension mounting area (rear)13 in every 100 failed tests
  3. Headlight aim10 in every 100 failed tests

How we count this. Data: UK MOT open data, 2025. Only Class 4 cars on their first MOT of the year are counted. A car that fails and is fixed at the test station still counts as a fail in the first-attempt rate. These are raw results, not adjusted for age, mileage, or peer mix. The MOT does not test engine or gearbox internals.

Note:

These are patterns across 2002 Honda Civic vehicles in 2025, not a prediction that any one car will have them. Faults are grouped by part of the car. They come from MOT defect codes, not manufacturer bulletins, recalls or a diagnosis of any one car.

Lamps and electrical

One fault: headlight levelling device, 4.0 times as often as on similar cars.

Figures below are measured across the 2,404 of 2,417 failed first attempts (99.5%) that recorded an odometer reading in 2025. Mileage is needed to compare like with like.

We only list faults with at least 20 failures and a rate of about 2.0 times that of similar cars, which keeps one-off results out of the list.

Headlight levelling device

Failed on 66 first tests4.0 times as often as similar carsLikely evidence

What it means

A headlamp levelling device that is inoperative is graded Major, and so is a manual levelling device that cannot be operated from the driver's seat. Vehicles with high intensity discharge or LED dipped beam headlamps may have a self-levelling system, and if fitted it must work. Where it is not easy to tell, testers give the benefit of the doubt, and motor caravans are not checked.

Data: UK MOT open data, 2025. Compared with cars of the same age and mileage.

Suspension

Three faults. The strongest is the shock absorbers (front): 3.1 times as often as on similar cars.

Shock absorbers (front)

Failed on 119 first tests3.1 times as often as similar carsLikely evidence

What it means

Slight seepage that leaves a film of fluid on a shock absorber does not fail it. Severe leakage, or damage so that it does not function, is Major. A shock absorber missing or likely to become detached is graded Dangerous, though a missing one is only rejected if shock absorbers were fitted as standard.

Suspension arm pins and bushes (front)

Failed on 240 first tests2.8 times as often as similar carsPossible evidence

What it means

Pins and bushes on suspension arms fail as Major when they are excessively worn. They are graded Dangerous when likely to become detached. DVSA uses the same wording for a suspension joint.

Also noted as an advisory

Testers also noted it as an advisory, worn but not yet failing, on 422 first tests, 2.6 times as often as on similar cars.

Suspension arm ball joint dust cover (front)

Failed on 137 first tests2.5 times as often as similar carsPossible evidence

What it means

Whether a suspension arm ball joint dust cover still keeps dirt out decides its grade. Severely deteriorated is Minor, while missing, or no longer preventing the ingress of dirt, is Major.

Data: UK MOT open data, 2025. Compared with cars of the same age and mileage. Advisories count notes recorded on failed first tests only.

Brakes

One fault: brake performance (roller test, front), 2.2 times as often as on similar cars.

Brake performance (roller test, front)

Failed on 117 first tests2.2 times as often as similar carsPossible evidence

What it means

A wheel with no recorded braking effort on the roller test is graded Dangerous. Inadequate effort, a brake grabbing severely, abnormal lag and excessive fluctuation in effort are each Major. So is significant brake effort recorded with no brake applied, which indicates a binding brake.

Also noted as an advisory

Testers also noted it as an advisory, worn but not yet failing, on 135 first tests, 2.5 times as often as on similar cars.

Data: UK MOT open data, 2025. Compared with cars of the same age and mileage. Advisories count notes recorded on failed first tests only.

Advisories

Other things testers noted as worn or close to failing, more often than on similar cars.

An advisory is a note from the tester about something that has not failed yet. It is an early warning, not a fail. Advisories for the faults above are shown with those faults.

Anti-roll bar linkage ball joints (rear)

Noted on 89 first tests6.0 times as often as similar carsLikely evidence

Brake performance (plate test, front)

Noted on 40 first tests3.8 times as often as similar carsPossible evidence

Anti-roll bar linkage ball joints (front)

Noted on 101 first tests2.5 times as often as similar carsElevated evidence

Headlight (front)

Noted on 134 first tests2.4 times as often as similar carsElevated evidence

Anti-roll bar ball joint (front)

Noted on 22 first tests2.3 times as often as similar carsElevated evidence

Individual direction indicators (front)

Noted on 76 first tests2.3 times as often as similar carsElevated evidence

Data: UK MOT open data, 2025. Counts cover advisories recorded on failed first tests only, compared with cars of the same age and mileage.

MOT pass rates

How first tests ended, and how the pass rates are counted.

Passed first time
54in every 100
Passed on the first test.
Fixed at the station
10in every 100
Failed, then fixed at the test station the same day.
Failed
36in every 100
Did not pass, and were not fixed at the test station.

First-attempt pass 54.3% of 5,292 first tests (2025): only cars that passed first time count. Official-style pass 63.8%: cars fixed at the test station also count as a pass. The 10 fixed and the 36 not fixed make the 46 in every 100 that did not pass first time.

Same model, other years

Passed first time in every 100, all tested in 2025.

406080100199520022005201020152020Older carsNewer cars
406080100200220102020Newer cars

Newer cars are younger, so look for a jump rather than the climb. A year earlier (2024), when these cars were a year younger, 53 in every 100 passed first time.

YearPassed first timeFirst tests
199578 in every 100325
199663 in every 100482
199759 in every 100755
199861 in every 100857
199962 in every 1001,141
200064 in every 1001,362
200155 in every 1003,589
2002 This car54 in every 1005,292
200353 in every 1006,068
200456 in every 1008,557
200556 in every 10010,433
200653 in every 10011,109
200753 in every 10018,127
200853 in every 10017,412
200954 in every 10016,721
201054 in every 10015,256
201157 in every 10010,444
201269 in every 10012,469
201371 in every 10014,653
201476 in every 10013,892
201579 in every 10014,533
201681 in every 10015,631
201783 in every 10013,989
201885 in every 10012,976
201986 in every 10012,034
202087 in every 1005,301
202188 in every 1004,738
202294 in every 1001,381

If you are buying one

What this year's MOT record means for the decision in front of you.

Mileage matters most on a 2002 Civic.

Of 2002 Civic vehicles with under 75,000 miles, 63 in every 100 passed their 2025 MOT first time. With 141,000 miles or more, 51 in every 100 did.

Under 75,0001,061 tests
63
75,000–96,0001,028 tests
56
96,000–116,000 Typical car1,039 tests
51
116,000–141,0001,084 tests
51
141,000 and over1,053 tests
51

What to check at your mileage

How often each fault turned up on a failed first test, by the car's mileage. Read it as: what is likely to need looking at on a car like the one in front of you.

Under 75,00096,000–116,000141,000 and over
Individual sidelight or tail light (front)5.67.17.2
Suspension mounting area (rear)2.06.27.7
Headlight aim3.44.26.0
Suspension arm pins and bushes (front)4.64.63.6
Brake light3.75.65.1

Faults per 100 first tests, by the car's mileage at the test.

When a car fails

19in every 100

of failed cars had one item to fix.

62in every 100

of failed cars had three or more items to fix.

11in every 100

of all first tests had a defect the tester marked dangerous (unsafe to drive away).

Every figure here is a first-attempt MOT rate from DVSA open data for this model line, for cars of this model year tested in 2025. Each mileage band holds a fifth of the tests. MOTs do not test engine or gearbox internals, so this is a pre-purchase checklist, not a full reliability score.

FAQs

Short answers about how to read this model-year guide.

The 2002 Honda Civic follows the pattern of the model years either side. Its main cause of failure was Individual sidelight or tail light (front), about 15 in every 100 failed tests. In 2025, 54.3% of 5,292 first MOTs on the 2002 Honda Civic passed first time (PRS: items fixed at the station the same day, counted as a fail). The official-style rate including PRS is 63.8%. Among 2,417 failed first-attempt MOT tests (test year 2025), Headlight levelling device appears more often than on similar cars (2.7% of those tests; 66 observed failures; about 4.0× more often than similar cars). There is no single reliability score here; this is a pre-purchase checklist built from DVSA open data, not a guarantee for any individual car.
Ranked by how often they were actually recorded, the items that most often failed a 2002 Honda Civic at the first attempt were Individual sidelight or tail light (front) (14.9%), Suspension mounting area (rear) (12.7%) and Headlight aim (10.1%), each as a share of the year's failed first attempts. That is what goes wrong most often on the car. The common faults table shows a different measure: faults that are unusual compared with similar cars.
Among failed first-attempt tests we highlight patterns that appear more often than on similar cars. Top example: Headlight levelling device (2.7% of those tests; 66 observed failures; about 4.0× more often than similar cars). These are statistical signals, not a diagnosis of any individual car.
Headlight levelling device shows up more often than on similar cars (2.7% of those tests; 66 observed failures; about 4.0× more often than similar cars). That does not prove a design fault. Age, mileage, and how the car was used still matter. Treat it as a pre-purchase checkpoint, not a manufacturer service bulletin.
Common MOT problem areas for the 2002 Honda Civic include Headlight levelling device, Shock absorbers (front), Suspension arm pins and bushes (front). These are the faults that stand out compared with similar cars, not a complete list of what can go wrong on any individual car.
Advisories flag issues noted at the test and are not a fail rate. We show advisory patterns that appear more often than on similar cars among failed first-attempt tests, separate from common failure rows. Use them as early-warning checks, not as a pass/fail score.
This page highlights MOT failure patterns for the 2002 Honda Civic (registration year) using UK DVSA open data for the selected test year. Patterns are compared with cars of a similar age and mileage. It is a buyer checklist from MOT defect statistics, not a full service history or manufacturer service-bulletin list.
No. MOT tests do not cover engine internals, gearboxes, or many electronic modules. Patterns here come from MOT defect statistics only and should not be read as engine or gearbox reliability scores.

About this data

How this page is built and what it can (and can't) say.

These figures come from UK MOT open data for this model year. We surface common failure patterns against similar cars, not a full reliability score, and not a pass/fail verdict on any individual vehicle.

2024 2025

What we include

UK Class 4 cars only. Normal MOT tests (not retests); first test per vehicle per calendar year; results pass, PRS, or fail.

Same-day repairs

PRS means the car failed items that were fixed at the test station and then passed the same day. We count PRS as a first-attempt fail in headline rates so same-day repairs do not hide problems.

How we compare

We compare this model year with other Class 4 cars of similar age and mileage in the same test year. This model family is left out of the peer group so the car is not measured against itself.

What this does not cover

  • MOTs do not cover engine internals, gearboxes, or many electronics; this is not a full reliability score.
  • Common faults come from MOT defect stats, not manufacturer TSBs or recalls.
  • Age and mileage matching reduces, but does not remove, differences in how cars were used and maintained.
  • If the data for a car is too thin to say anything useful, we say so rather than guess.

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

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