Honda Civic - Why?
 

Why would a starter fail on a 1998 Honda Civic? Other car's I've had for 20 years lasted until the car rusted through. Was this a common problem for Honda Civic? I'm a bit shocked because I always thought of Honda as being a quality car.

Depends on ussage, your car is almost 10 years old

Well, now you are aware that they build junk as well as the rest of them.

I have a 96 Civic nearing 300,000 km and so far no problems with the starter. You might have installed power hungry electronics in your car that might have caused the failure but then again you won't really know when these things give up.

Most likely, the starter solenoid failed, not the starter. But it's cheaper to replace the entire starter than to have a mechanic take it out, fiddle around on a workbench to replace the solenoid and then re-install the starter motor.Solenoids often fail when the coil winding overheats and burn out. If you have a weak battery for a while, live in a cold climate or start your engine several times a day, then you are probably working your starter longer than average to get the engine to turn over each time. All that will put stress on the solenoid.I would not complain about a starter motor that lasted 'only' 10 years. Any engine accessory (starter, alternator, water pump, etc) hanging off the engine block will have a finite lifetime. Ten years is reasonable.

Honda is a quality car and it depends like said before how much you use it. But a starter is inexpensive, compared to a tranny going on a crappy built car. I'm sure on your other cars that you have owned for 20 years they might have not have had to get a starter changed but something else on them have failed. Change the starter and drive it another 9 years then you might have to worry about the starter again.