Car accident statute of limitations in Hawaii

If a car crash hurt you or damaged your vehicle in Hawaii, you have two years from the date of the crash to file a lawsuit. That's the deadline set by Haw. Rev. Stat. Section 657-7, and it's unusually tidy compared to a lot of states: Hawaii uses the same two-year window for both personal injury and property damage claims, so you're not tracking two separate clocks for one crash.¹

That said, "two years" isn't always as simple as counting from the day of impact. Hawaii law recognizes a handful of situations where the clock starts later, pauses, or runs on an entirely different schedule. Getting the date wrong by even a few weeks can mean a case that would otherwise be worth pursuing gets thrown out before anyone looks at the facts. Here's what actually applies if your crash happened in Hawaii.

When the two-year clock starts running

Section 657-7 says the claim must be filed within two years "after the cause of action accrued."¹ For a typical car accident, that's the day of the crash. Hawaii courts also apply a discovery rule: the clock can start when the injured person discovers, or reasonably should have discovered, the negligent act, the injury, and the connection between the two, rather than the literal moment the crash happened.

That distinction rarely changes anything for something as obvious as a car accident. You know you were hit, and you generally know the day it happened. Where it can matter is an injury that doesn't show up as serious until weeks later, or a case where it takes time to identify who was actually driving the other vehicle. Even then, Hawaii courts hold injured people to a short fuse on "should have known," so don't count on the discovery rule to buy meaningful extra time.

Minors, incapacity, and paused clocks

If the injured person was under 18, legally insane, or imprisoned on a criminal charge when the crash happened, Haw. Rev. Stat. Section 657-13 pauses the two-year clock. The statute lets that person file at any time while the disability exists, or within the normal two-year period once the disability ends.² In practice, a child injured in a Hawaii crash generally has until their 20th birthday, two years past turning 18, to sue in their own name, even though a parent could have brought a claim on the child's behalf earlier.

Wrongful death runs on its own two-year clock

If a crash victim dies from their injuries, Haw. Rev. Stat. Section 663-3 gives the family a separate wrongful death claim, and its two-year deadline runs from the date of death, not the date of the crash.³ That distinction matters when someone survives an accident for weeks or months before dying of their injuries: the estate's original injury claim and the family's wrongful death claim can end up on two different two-year clocks. Eligible claimants include the surviving spouse or reciprocal beneficiary, children, parents, and anyone who depended on the deceased, with the estate's representative separately entitled to recover funeral and last-illness expenses.³

Suing a government driver or agency

Crashes involving a county bus, a state highway crew truck, or any other government vehicle come with an extra step that has nothing to do with the two-year filing deadline itself, but that can sink a claim just as fast. If a county vehicle or employee is involved, Haw. Rev. Stat. Section 46-72 requires written notice to the county within two years of the injury, stating fully when, where, and how the crash happened, the extent of the injuries or damage, and the amount claimed.⁴ Miss that notice and the county can get the case dismissed even if the lawsuit itself is filed well within two years.

Claims against a state driver or agency, a Department of Transportation crew, for instance, fall under the State Tort Liability Act, and the deadline there tracks the ordinary rule: two years after the claim accrues, filed in circuit court.⁵ Nothing in that statute imposes a separate pre-suit notice requirement the way Section 46-72 does for counties, but state and county defendants both carry procedural wrinkles a private driver doesn't, so it's worth identifying early whether a government vehicle was involved.

The no-fault system runs its own deadline

Hawaii is a no-fault state, so your own auto insurer pays your medical bills and lost wages through personal injury protection (PIP) coverage regardless of who caused the crash, and you can only sue for pain and suffering once you clear a specific threshold: death, a significant permanent loss of function, permanent serious disfigurement, or PIP benefits paid or payable that reach $5,000.⁶ None of that changes the underlying two-year deadline in Section 657-7 to sue the other driver. It just means the practical question of whether you even have a pain-and-suffering claim can take a while to resolve.

PIP itself runs on a separate clock. Haw. Rev. Stat. Section 431:10C-315 bars a suit against your own insurer over PIP benefits later than the later of two years from the crash or two years after the last PIP payment your insurer made.⁷ If your insurer keeps paying medical bills on and off for a year and a half after the crash, that second deadline can push your window to sue over a denied or shorted PIP payment past the two-year mark from the crash itself. Insurers also have to pay or deny a PIP claim in writing within 30 days of receiving reasonable proof of loss, with 1.5% monthly interest tacked onto anything paid late.⁸

Fault, evidence, and why two years goes fast

Hawaii is a modified comparative negligence state: you can still recover if you're 50% or less at fault, but you're barred once your share of fault passes the other driver's.⁹ That rule doesn't move the filing deadline, but it's a reason not to sit on a claim. Fault fights get decided on evidence, skid marks and witness statements, that gets harder to pin down the longer you wait. Pulling the official report early is a good first step; here's how to get a copy of your Hawaii crash report. If your vehicle was totaled or lost resale value even after a clean repair, a diminished value claim is worth understanding on its own terms, separate from the injury deadline above.

Two years sounds like a long time right after a crash. It isn't, once you factor in the time it takes to finish medical treatment, sort out PIP, and figure out who else might be liable. If you're not sure which clock applies to your situation, especially with a minor, a death, or a government vehicle involved, an attorney can sort out the deadline that actually controls your case before it becomes the reason you don't have one.

This is general information, not legal advice.

Sources

1. Haw. Rev. Stat. Section 657-7, Hawaii State Legislature: https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol13_Ch0601-0676/HRS0657/HRS_0657-0007.htm

2. Haw. Rev. Stat. Section 657-13, Hawaii State Legislature: https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol13_Ch0601-0676/HRS0657/HRS_0657-0013.htm

3. Haw. Rev. Stat. Section 663-3, Hawaii State Legislature: https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol13_Ch0601-0676/HRS0663/HRS_0663-0003.htm

4. Haw. Rev. Stat. Section 46-72, Hawaii State Legislature: https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol02_Ch0046-0115/HRS0046/HRS_0046-0072.htm

5. Haw. Rev. Stat. Section 662-4, Hawaii State Legislature: https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/vol13_ch0601-0676/HRS0662/HRS_0662-0004.htm

6. Haw. Rev. Stat. Section 431:10C-306, Hawaii State Legislature: https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol09_Ch0431-0435H/HRS0431/HRS_0431-0010C-0306.htm

7. Haw. Rev. Stat. Section 431:10C-315, Hawaii State Legislature: https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol09_Ch0431-0435H/HRS0431/HRS_0431-0010C-0315.htm

8. Haw. Rev. Stat. Section 431:10C-304, Hawaii State Legislature: https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol09_Ch0431-0435H/HRS0431/HRS_0431-0010C-0304.htm

9. Haw. Rev. Stat. Section 663-31, Hawaii State Legislature: https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol13_Ch0601-0676/HRS0663/HRS_0663-0031.htm