2022 Honda Civic: Should You Refinance the Loan or Leave It Alone?

The setup

You bought a 2022 Honda Civic, probably when interest rates were climbing and inventory was tight. Now you're paying more than you'd like each month, and refinancing looks tempting. Lower your rate, shrink the payment, keep the car longer. That's the pitch.

But refinancing extends your relationship with the asset. It locks you in. And before you commit another three or four years to this particular vehicle, you need to know what you're actually signing up for. The NHTSA complaint database tells a story that should make you think twice about going long on this Civic.

What NHTSA data actually shows

As of today, NHTSA has 877 owner complaints on file for the 2022 Civic. Four safety recalls are active. Of those complaints, 34 involved a crash, 3 involved a fire, and 19 reported injuries.

The single worst system is steering, with 728 complaints. That's 83 percent of the entire complaint volume. Forward collision avoidance accounts for 71 complaints, lane departure for 66, vehicle speed control for 42, electrical system for 38, and suspension for 23.

Three of the four open recalls target steering or steering-adjacent systems. Campaign 23V704000 addresses a steering rack and pinion issue where a damaged tire can fail and increase the risk of a crash or injury. Campaign 24V744000 covers a steering problem where difficulty steering can increase the risk of a crash, with remedy involving worm gear spring replacement and grease redistribution. The other two recalls, 24V064000 and 26V332000, both deal with front passenger occupant classification sensors that can cause air bags to deploy unintentionally during a crash, increasing the risk of injury.

Owners describe the steering failures in clear terms. One complaint filed with NHTSA states: "My EPS Gearbox failed and resulted in swelling of the worm wheel when heated. This led to a steering rack assembly failure. All parts can be inspected upon request. At any point, I could've lost control of the steering of my vehicle and hurt myself or other..."

Another reports: "The contact owns a 2022 Honda Civic. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle intermittently experienced increased steering effort, described as sticky steering. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic; however, th..."

A third complaint filed with NHTSA says: "The contact owns a 2022 Honda Civic. The contact stated that while turning in either direction the steering wheel had experienced jerking and sticking. The vehcile was taken to the local dealer who diagnosed that the steering rack needed to be replaced. The..."

The NHTSA crash test results show an overall rating of 5 out of 5 stars, with a frontal score of 4, side score of 5, and rollover score of 5. Rollover probability sits at 9.5 percent. The crash test performance is solid. The real-world complaint record is not.

The math

Refinancing makes sense when you plan to keep the car and the interest savings exceed the administrative costs. Let's work an example with assumptions stated clearly.

Assume you owe $22,000 at 7.5 percent APR with 48 months remaining. Your current payment is roughly $531 per month. You find a refinance offer at 5.5 percent for 48 months. No origination fee, but your state charges $75 for title work.

You save $20 per month and $960 in interest over the life of the loan, minus the $75 fee. Net benefit is $885 if you keep the car for all 48 months.

But here's where the steering complaint count matters. If the vehicle becomes unreliable or unsafe before you finish paying, you're stuck. Refinancing resets the clock on negative equity. Early in a loan, most of your payment goes to interest. If you need to sell or trade in month 18 of a 48-month refinance because the steering rack fails a second time and you've lost confidence, you'll owe more than the car is worth, and you'll have spent four years funneling money into a depreciating asset with a documented safety problem.

The $885 you save by refinancing evaporates if you have to eat even $1,500 in negative equity on an early exit. And 728 steering complaints on a single model year is not normal. That volume suggests systemic risk, not isolated bad luck.

What we recommend

Leave the loan alone. Keep making the current payment, and start setting aside whatever you would have saved each month in a separate account. In the example above, that's $20 per month. In 12 months you'll have $240, enough to cover a trade-in shortfall or a down payment bump when you're ready to move on.

Refinancing is a bet that the vehicle will remain reliable, safe, and worth keeping for the entire term. The 2022 Civic's complaint record does not support that bet. When 83 percent of complaints target one system, and three of four open recalls address that same system or related components, you have a pattern. Patterns don't usually fix themselves as the vehicle ages.

If your current payment is genuinely unaffordable, the right move is not refinancing but downsizing or exiting entirely. Our sell or keep verdict library covers that decision in detail. Refinancing to afford a problematic car just extends the problem.

If you want to lower monthly obligations across your household, look at our refinance verdict page for general guidance, but apply it to a different asset. This particular Civic is not the place to go long.

What would change our mind

If Honda issued a comprehensive fix for the steering complaints and the complaint rate dropped by 80 percent or more over the next 12 months, refinancing would become viable. Right now, the most recent recall campaign is 26V332000, filed this year. The problem is active, not historical.

If you've already had the steering rack replaced under recall, and the repair has held for 18 months or more without recurrence, and you plan to drive the car only another 24 months, the math might work. But even then, you're refinancing a vehicle with a public complaint record that will hurt resale value when you're ready to sell.

If interest rate savings were dramatic, say 7.5 percent down to 2.9 percent, the dollar benefit might outweigh the reliability risk for drivers who need basic transportation and have no other option. But in 2026, rate spreads are not that wide for used car loans, and the 2022 Civic is now a used car.

Bottom line

Refinancing is about extending commitment. The 2022 Honda Civic has 728 steering complaints, four open recalls, and a pattern of failures that owners describe as jerking, sticking, and loss of control. You don't extend commitment to that.

Keep your current loan, keep making the payment, and start planning your exit. If the car serves you reliably for another two years, great. You'll pay it off and move on. If it doesn't, you'll have flexibility and cash set aside to act quickly. Refinancing removes both. The $800 or $900 you might save is not worth the risk of being locked into a vehicle that could strand you or worse. Leave the loan alone.

Safety figures on this page come from the NHTSA public complaint and recall database for the 2022 Honda Civic, retrieved 2026-08-09. Complaint counts reflect reports filed by owners and are not verified defect findings.