2016 Honda Civic: stuck in gear or won't shift

Filed Jul 23, 2026 · Fuel system · 100,000 miles · CT

The contact owns a 2016 Honda Civic. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle went into LIMP Mode. There was no warning light illuminated. The contact pulled over to the side of the road; however, after the vehicle was restarted the vehicle operated normally. The failure was a persistent failure. The contact referenced the federal safety agency Campaign Number: 23V858000 (Fuel System, Gasoline); as the cause of the failure; however, the VIN was not included in the recall repair. The vehicle was taken to a dealer but was not diagnosed. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 100,000.

Filed Apr 25, 2026 · Engine · MI

I was driving my vehicle on the highway and I experienced a loss of power / limp mode and my car started decelerating very quickly and I pulled off and parked because I got super scared of driving and when I tried to start my vehicle back up it would not turn back on. I found a recall describing the exact scenario I went through and it is not listed for my vin “ [XXX] ” but says it’s for the exact make of my vehicle, a 2016 Honda Civic Sedan 2.0 Naturally aspirated. The recall is called “Piston misset recall.” Please help me nagivate this I have no clue what to do and feel like this should be warranted. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

Filed Aug 9, 2023 · Transmission · CA

My Honda Civic with manual transmission, suddenly would not go into gear and lost power (engine still running). Fortunately, I was able to coast to the opposite side of the road across oncoming traffic, since there was no right shoulder. After a tow home, I discovered that the manual clutch slave cylinder was detached from the engine block (photo attached) and of the 2 connecting bolts (photo attached), one was sheared and the other was intact but unconnected. The last service to the vehicle was with Manly Honda service in Santa Rosa, CA replacing the AC condenser and compressor. I called them to see if they had not secured the 2 bolts after completing the AC service. The service manager said that they would not have removed this clutch slave cylinder in the AC service. I advised the service manager that if the clutch cylinder had not been removed by them, then it could be a safety hazard issue that should be reported to Honda Motors. After some online research, I have discovered that this problem has been experiened by other Honda Civic owners.

Filed Jul 31, 2023 · Acceleration, Driver assistance · AZ

While driving on the freeway at 70-80mph the car begins to lose acceleration, stutters and faults all fault codes on the car. Car then begins to brake itself to a stop all while on a freeway at a high rate of speed. I have to pull over to the side of the freeway, crossing up to 5 lanes of high speed traffic all while my car is braking itself to a stop. I have narrowly missed 5 accidents in the 7 times this has occurred. Each time while in the left or carpool lanes of traffic while passing other vehicles at a high rate of speed. I have to bring the car to a complete stop on the side of the road, turn the car off to disengage the braking system, turn the car on, all fault codes remain, car stays in limp mode or safe mode, I limp to the dealer and drop it off. 2 Honda dealers in 2 different states can’t figure out what’s wrong with it. Replaced multiple replays and other components and I am now about $3800 in repairs and the car is not fixed. This has been happening since March when the first occurrence happened. Second and 3rd in Washington while visiting family in June and as of today, the 7th time occurred this morning while taking the car back to the dealer to have it looked at because it faulted on Saturday evening. Codes cleared when I started the car this morning and happened again as I was driving to the dealer. Each time the dealers have the car for a week. Say this fixed it, test drive it have no issues return it to me to have it happen within days of being returned. I’m terrified to drive the car at high speed even when I do get it back as “fix”🤞🏻. I feel like my issues and security is being constantly over looked by Honda. Arrowhead Honda in Arizona currently has the car for yet again more “repairs”.

Filed Oct 7, 2022 · WA

Although my car runs fine and the Check Engine Light (or any other warning light) did not illuminate, my car suddenly went into Limp Mode. I was on the I-90 East Freeway out of Seattle, just heading into a tunnel plus a bridge. Everyone was going about 65 (as was I), and suddenly I'm cut down to about 20 mph with no shoulder to turn onto. I'm surprised I didn't cause a huge pile-up - as cars curved toward the tunnel and into relative darkness, they had to suddenly slam on their breaks. I guess it would be one thing if Limp Mode engaged because my engine was about to blow up. But my mechanic found no error codes, nothing wrong. I am reading similar stories all over the Internet and never have I once seen a case in which an engine had a catastrophic problem that justified Limp Mode. Is Honda waiting around for a fatality before they'll issue a recall? They came very close to having one on the day this happened to me, and there have surely been many other near-misses. I'm afraid to drive on the freeway now!

Filed Apr 25, 2019 · Brakes, Driver assistance · 75,000 miles · OH

While driving my 2016 honda ex-t dashboard lights started lighting up -emmision, eps, brake hold, etc the car immediately went into" limp mode" while traveling at 70 on the highway. I am told this caused a turbo problem and the turbo will have to be replaced. While researching on the internet this seems to be a common and reoccurring problem that is not being addressed. Since it is a common problem it seems with out honda addressing the problem this will occur again with a new turbo. I am unsure if the multiple warning lights for problems that did not exist caused the turbo problems but it seems likely. Since when these lights come on the car is designed to go into limp mode. This needs to be addressed. Luckily I am an experienced driver and was able to handle the automatic drastic decline with out breaking while driving and coming to an almost complete stop. Had the highway been busy this certainly would of resulted in an accident.

Filed Jul 26, 2017 · Driver assistance, Engine · 9,870 miles · CA

Engine eaten by rats 2 times; engine harness destroyed first time; car hasn't been the same since this; found more rat droppings in the engine; car shakes so bad the rear view mirror is hard to see out of car is not stable on any road; alignment has been done 4 times on vehicle still not aligned; have taken to dealer multiple times they tell me its the road; car does not shift properly; when turn on car it shakes for about 5 minutes until warmed up. I don't feel safe in this vehicle.

Filed Jul 21, 2017 · Brakes, Electrical · 22,000 miles · MD

On two occasions, my civic has "locked up". Upon starting the vehicle, all of the warning light illuminate and the car won't go into gear. I was stuck where I was and had to get the car moving so I forcefully engaged the vehicle by inserting the key into the shift knob area. When driving the car, all of the warning lights were still on and the steering wheel was difficult to move, the vehicle was very hard to maneuver, the brakes did not work well, and the problem persisted. I eventually disconnected the battery and "reset" the computer that way. The problem went away for a few months, then came back again same exact way. The next time, I did the same thing, disconnected the battery and it reset. I do not know if this problem is with the electrical system, transmission, braking, or whatever. All I know is it was very dangerous to drive after I was finally able to engage the transmission. One other point to make, I already had the "parking brake recall" software update completed by honda. The dealership said they did not have a recall for this type of problem and all they could do would be restart the car until they were able to recreate the problem. I did no think this was a good use of time (theirs or mine) so I am hoping for a recall soon!