The 2003 Honda Element has 10 recalls, the most serious being a Takata airbag defect affecting both the driver and front passenger inflators, which can rupture in a crash and send metal fragments into the cabin, causing serious injury or death.
Both the driver and passenger frontal airbag inflators are covered by this defect, and prior repair attempts in some cases did not fully resolve the issue, which is why multiple recall filings exist for the same underlying problem. There is also a separate passenger airbag concern: on certain vehicles where the front passenger airbag was replaced, it may have been installed incorrectly and could deploy improperly in a crash, raising the risk of injury.
On the structural side, the rear frame can rust severely enough that a rear trailing arm separates from the vehicle while driving, causing loss of control. This recall applies specifically to vehicles registered or originally sold in Canadian provinces with heavy road salt use.
The ignition switch also has a known issue on automatic transmission models: the interlock lever can wear or deform, allowing the driver to remove the key without the gear selector being in Park, which can let the vehicle roll away.
