The 2005 Honda Element has 9 recalls, the most serious being defective Takata airbag inflators on both the driver and passenger sides that can rupture and send metal fragments into the cabin, causing serious injury or death.
All of the top recalls center on the frontal airbags. The driver-side inflator can explode during deployment, scattering sharp metal fragments toward the driver and other occupants. The passenger-side inflator carries the same rupture risk, with the added concern that long-term exposure to heat and humidity can degrade the propellant and cause the bag to deploy with excessive force. There is also a separate concern covering certain vehicles where a replacement passenger airbag may have been installed incorrectly, which can cause it to deploy improperly in a crash. On the electrical side, the trailer hitch wiring harness on some vehicles has an incorrectly wired connector that can cause the trailer's brake lights and turn signals to work incorrectly, or blow a fuse and knock out those lights entirely without warning.