1.7

hardly worth mentioning
Crashes / Fires:
0 / 0
Injuries / Deaths:
0 / 0
Average Mileage:
95,681 miles

About These NHTSA Complaints:

The NHTSA is the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints can be spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem. See the Back button — blue bar at the very top of the page — to explore more.

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problem #7

Oct 102017

Element

  • 223,000 miles
Turned on vehicle and put it in first gear and was good and semiconductors then notice got stuck in gear and wouldn't come out. Standard transmission

- San Antonio, TX, USA

problem #6

Apr 052018

Element

  • miles
Sometimes the automatic transmission slams hard when shifting from first gear into second gear causing the vehicle to lunge. Also when the vehicle is first started and placed in gear it will take off and go 20mph with out depressing excelerator. When engine runs about 10 minutes it will operate as it should. This vehicle had a transmission recall eariler and wonder if the problems were truly resolved or not even though the vehicle was serviced.

- Livingston, MT, USA

problem #5

Nov 222015

Element

  • 169,000 miles
The car will stall when in motion and turning the steering wheel to make a turn. The car will stall at a stop sign, the car will stall and brake, fuel and brake lights wil come on but battery is fine and lights stay on. This is been an ongoing problem Honda will not honor the recall for the 2005 stalling auto transimission they have replaced the aic, the throttle, the cruise control, O2 sensor. The problem is going over a year since 2014 now worse.

- Behtel, CT, USA

problem #4

Feb 152015

Element

  • Automatic transmission
  • 127,000 miles
The contact owns a 2005 Honda Element. When the vehicle was parked on an incline, it independently rolled backwards without warning. As a result, the vehicle failed to shift out of the park position. The contact stated that the ignition key failed to start the vehicle without warning. The contact also stated that the ignition key failed to lock the front driver and passenger side doors. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failures. The failure mileage was 127,000. Updated 7/14/15

- Philadelphia, PA, USA

problem #3

Oct 012014

Element 4-cyl

  • 150,768 miles
Car keeps stalling. In 2011 car noted to be recalled never revived notice car doing exactly what recalls says parts replaced so far by dealer O2 sensor PCV valve and bearing I had to pay for.

- Bethel, CT, USA

problem #2

Dec 012011

Element 4-cyl

  • miles
2005 Honda Element (2 wd) has no heat at all while A/C system is working fine.. come to find out, Honda released an original tsb of 07-076, and since then replaced it with tsb 08-097 which was "failed heater core". it seems the manufacturer used wrong coolant and so it cloggs up heater core. My car has been in local dealer for 5 days and they tried to blame on everything outside of the heater core and also changed everything except heater core, and still no heat. Finally, they acknowledged the heater core is plugged up and it has to be changed out; however; they now tell me that my VIN number does not fit into their tsb and therefore, they won't honor the tsb. Called Honda America and spoke to 1st level, 2nd, and up to 3rd which [xxx] and eventhough this is a common manufacturer defect (also cannot be introduce failure by the consumer), they still won't honor the repairs. Tsb calls for 10 hrs and parts which could run into thousands for common identified and confirmed by Honda. It's absolutely absorb that they used wrong products and now causing problems down the road which they are making consumer to pay them for repairs. This clogged heater core not only gives no heat but also could causing car over-heating problem which can damage the engine and transmission at the same time. Information redacted pursuant to the Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).

- Houston, TX, USA

problem #1

Jun 022010

Element

  • miles
Hello and thank you for this forum, just bought my daughter an 05 Honda Element for her graduation, with a little over 100K miles. She loves it, and thought we were getting a straight deal from the sellers, but not the case. When we drove the car, unfortunatly, after buying, we noticed a rumbling noise in the car, so drove to an empty parking lot to try and figure out the source. We nailed it to the rear end by one driving and one walking outside the car. Took to my mechanic the next day and was immediatly diagnosed with the 4WD rear differential being the source. He called his transmission contact who immediatly confirmed that the problem is very common for the Honda 4WD and that there needs to be a recall because his business has fixed many of these 'unsafe' gear boxes that transer power to the rear wheels. Being a concerned father, I'm not going to wait for the right thing to be done by Honda, because my daughter and any cars on the road around her, need to be as safe as possible. Your attention to this matter would be greatly appreciated by myself and the other 431 posts I briefly scanned through regarding this defect with the Honda CR-V and the Element. Thank you

- Charleston, SC, USA