2003 Honda Element — reported problems

What owners report: issue areas

Owner complaints are classified by the system they concern: 482 classifications in all. One complaint can concern several systems, so these add up to more than the number of complaints.

• Visibility (glass, wipers, mirrors)225 (46.7%)
• Air bags (restraint system)49 (10.2%)Official recall records for this system: 40, covering model years 2003–2011.
• Electrical system35 (7.3%)Official recall records for this system: 3, covering model years 2003–2011.
• Body & structure32 (6.6%)Official recall records for this system: 1, covering model years 2003–2011.
• Doors, latches & locks27 (5.6%)
• Suspension25 (5.2%)Official recall records for this system: 1, covering model years 2008.

Other / uncategorized: 16 classifications (3.3%) were not assigned to a specific system by the source. They are counted but not treated as an issue area.

These are counts of records held by CarFaultIQ, not a failure rate. More records can simply mean more vehicles were sold or more owners reported. No vehicles-in-service figure exists in this data, so no reliability or risk score can be derived from it.

What the records are about, by source

Each source is kept separate: owner complaints, recalls, manufacturer communications and investigations are different kinds of record and are never added together. All model years.

• Owner complaints (2,558 records, model years 2003–2011) are most frequently classified under: visibility (glass, wipers, mirrors), air bags (restraint system) and suspension.
• Safety recalls (124 records, model years 2003–2011) are most frequently classified under: air bags (restraint system), equipment & accessories and electrical system.
• Transport Canada recalls (67 records, model years 2003–2011) are most frequently classified under: air bags (restraint system), powertrain (transmission & drivetrain) and brakes.
• Manufacturer communications (903 records, model years 2003–2011) are most frequently classified under: air bags (restraint system), engine and equipment & accessories.
• Investigations (36 records, model years 2003–2011) are most frequently classified under: air bags (restraint system), electrical system and brakes.

"Most frequently classified under" reports how the records are filed by the source. It is not a finding about causes, and a record can be filed under more than one system. Read the individual records

Mileage reported when the issue occurred

• 281reports included a mileage
• 52,618average of those mileages

This is the mileage owners recorded at the time they reported, not an expected failure mileage and not a prediction for any individual vehicle. The lowest and highest figures on record are not shown: they are unverified odometer entries that include zeros and implausibly high readings, so they would not describe a real range. A median is not shown either, because the stored figures are group totals and a median cannot be recovered from them.

Evidence by model year

Records held per model year. Select a year to narrow this page to it.

1. 2003 619 records for 2003 619
2. 2004 439 records for 2004 439
3. 2005 250 records for 2005 250
4. 2006 190 records for 2006 190
5. 2007 185 records for 2007 185
6. 2008 182 records for 2008 182
7. 2009 96 records for 2009 96
8. 2010 101 records for 2010 101
9. 2011 71 records for 2011 71

Counts are not adjusted for how many vehicles were sold in each year, so a taller year is not necessarily a worse year.

Reports mentioning outcomes

• 28mention a crash
• 4mention a fire
• 23mention an injury

These are counts of records whose report mentioned the outcome. They are not a severity rating and not a safety assessment of this vehicle.

Official records held

• Safety recalls NHTSA 12
• Manufacturer communications NHTSA 172
• Investigations NHTSA 4
• Transport Canada recalls Transport Canada 8
• Owner complaints NHTSA 423

Explore the underlying evidence records

Diagnostic codes found in evidence for this vehicle

These codes appear by explicit identifier in official records matched to this exact model and year.

• P0420 in 4 records
• P1298 in 2 records
• P2646 in 1 record
• P2651 in 1 record
• P2A00 in 1 record

A code appearing in a record means the code was named in that document. It is not a diagnosis of this vehicle, not a fault this vehicle has, and not an indication of urgency. Diagnosis requires reading live data from the vehicle.