What Makes the Honda Civic Such a Safe Car?

Whether you’re familiar with the Honda Civic or just starting to learn about it, there’s a good chance you’ve heard people say it’s an incredibly safe car. Most vehicles on the road these days are decked out with a lot of great safety features and technology, but some models are packed with a wide range of comprehensive tools—the Civic is one such vehicle. If you’re interested in a Honda Civic for sale, then you might’ve heard that it’s a very safe vehicle and that could be part of why you’re drawn to it. But what makes the Civic such a safe car? Let’s take a look at what the 2025 Civic offers to help protect you and your loved ones on the road, along with how testing has shown it’s an incredibly safe choice.

We’ll get into a lot of great specific safety features in a moment, but one thing we should mention first is how the Honda Civic is designed. It’s easy to get focused on advanced safety technology and overlook the fact that the best way to stay safe while driving is to remain in control. The Civic has been designed and engineered to provide a reliable drive that keeps you in control while you’re behind the wheel. Its standard engine is powerful enough to make it fun to drive without going overboard or packing too much muscle into a daily driver like this.

There are numerous extra features like Hill Start Assist, which keeps you from rolling backwards when you start moving at an incline, to help you avoid unexpected issues. The MacPherson strut front suspension not only helps keep you comfortable but also assists with remaining in control on rough or damaged roads, while the tight turning diameter and other aspects of the Civic make it easy to maneuver and avoid fender-benders or hitting curbs. All of these things come together to create a car that wants to be driven and keeps you in control.

When it comes to making a modern, safe vehicle, great engineering is only part of the equation—technology has gone far beyond what we relied on a decade or so ago. Honda has impressive driver assistance technology; you can see it in the Honda Sensing suite of features that comes standard on every Civic. This includes a Collision Mitigation Braking System with a Forward Collision Warning to alert you to a potential crash and help you avoid it with enhanced steering and braking. You’ll also get a Road Departure Mitigation System on the Civic, including a Lane Departure Warning, which will let you know if you’re about to drift from your lane and help you avoid wandering into other vehicles.

Honda Sensing also includes Adaptive Cruise Control with Low-Speed Follow that lets you set a safe speed and it will slow or speed back up based on traffic around you. A Lane Keeping Assist system is included with Traffic Jam Assist, which helps you stay centered in your lane more easily, along with Traffic Sign Recognition to help you stay aware of speed limits and traffic signs as you drive. You’ll also find Auto High-Beam Headlights that can switch off automatically to avoid blinding oncoming traffic, plus a Driver Attention Monitor to alert you if you seem to be distracted or getting drowsy. These standard features are an important part of why this is such a safe car, but more options are also available.

We love the standard features found on every Civic, but it’s just as important to recognize that you can take things even further with the advanced features available on certain models. Choosing the Sport, rather than the standard LX, will get you a Blind Spot Information System designed to warn you when someone is lurking in your blind spot while you drive. The Sport also comes with a Rear Cross Traffic Monitor that alerts you if someone is about to cross behind you while you’re in reverse. These kinds of enhanced features make it easier to stay safe while driving on the freeway and maneuvering in parking lots—they even help to protect others around you while you drive.

Other available options include Low-Speed Braking Control, which enhances braking to avoid striking a person or object when driving at low speeds. This is perfect for getting through crowded parking lots—particularly during the holidays and other busy times of year—safely and in one piece. Front and Rear Parking Sensors are also available to further enhance your skills while maneuvering in tight places or getting into and out of tricky parking spots. When all of these systems come together, you get an incredibly safe car that is constantly looking out for you. Of course, you don’t have to take our word for it—the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) agree with us.

One of the two main car testing organizations in the US, the NHTSA, is an organization dedicated to finding ways to keep drivers safer. As part of this, they test vehicles to see how safe they are and rate them accordingly; this testing includes different crash situations and seeing how well the safety systems on vehicles work. The result is that the 2025 Honda Civic has earned a five-star overall safety rating from the NHTSA, which is the highest rating possible.^[a] 

The other car testing organization here in the US, the IIHS, is a private company that is sponsored by insurance companies to promote safe driving. Insurance companies have a very real, financial reason to keep drivers safer on the road, so this makes sense. The IIHS is incredibly thorough in its testing and how it provides ratings for each test; they include numerous crash tests along with crash avoidance testing to see how well features like the Civic’s Collision Mitigation Braking System work. They also test seat belt positions and effectiveness and how easy it is to safely install car seats in different vehicles. The 2024 Honda Civic earned a Top Safety Pick+ title by the IIHS, once again demonstrating its comprehensive features.^[b] 

At this point, you can see why so many people choose the Honda Civic when looking for a car that is fun to drive and incredibly safe. There are a lot of things to look at and consider when you’re shopping for a car; so many different things that it can easily get quite overwhelming. At the end of the day, however, no amount of horsepower, big interior screens, or number of speakers matters if your vehicle doesn’t help you stay safer on the road. Honda understands this, which is why they offer a wide range of standard safety and driver-assistance features. It’s a great compact sedan to take you where you need to go and help ensure you get home safely every day. If safety is at the top of your list for must-have features in your next sedan, you’ll want to check out the Honda Civic. Contact us to schedule a test drive at Ralph Honda today.