Bulletins
| Bulletin | Bulletin date | Replacement Bulletin | Item no. | Summary | Added |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| POWER TRAIN | |||||
| 704 | 07/16/2004 | 10014105 | Pop, groan or click noise from rear when backing. *sc | 04/28/2005 | |
| 604 | 06/16/2004 | 10014146 | Shift lever won't come out of park after throttle body r&r. *nm | 04/28/2005 | |
| 105 | 05/16/2004 | 10014132 | Shift lever won't come out of park. *sc | 04/28/2005 | |
| 06012004 | 06/01/2004 | 10014181 | Rear differential moans moans with brakes applied at low speed. (4wd) *sc | 04/28/2005 | |
| 1003 | 10/16/2003 | 10004953 | Humming, growling sound from transmission. *tt | 01/21/2004 | |
| POWER TRAIN - AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION | |||||
| SB-06-041 | 07/21/2011 | 10039537 | Honda: the vehicle moves faster than expected with the transmission in gear, foot off the brake, and foot off the throttle. software is causing extra engine torque after a cold start. *rm | 08/02/2011 | |
| SB-06-041 | 07/21/2011 | 10039537 | Ready | 08/02/2011 | |
| 11162004 | 11/16/2004 | 10014512 | Harsh 3-2- and or 2-1 downshift. *eh | 05/04/2005 | |
| 09162004 | 09/16/2004 | 10013844 | Transmission solenoid replacement criteria. *eh | 04/26/2005 | |
| 10012004 | 10/01/2004 | 10013607 | Automatic transmission solenoid replacement criteria. *tt | 04/22/2005 | |
| 04012004 | 04/01/2004 | 10009030 | Repairing atf leaks under warranty. honda. servicenews. april 2004. *tt | 09/08/2004 | |
| 090103 | 09/01/2003 | 10005073 | Automatic transmission (a/t) whine? make sure it's the a/t before replacing it. honda servicenews. *tt | 01/28/2004 | |
| POWER TRAIN - AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION - CONTROL MODULE (TCM, PCM) | |||||
| 060103 | 06/01/2003 | 10002699 | Grade logic control information. *tt | 09/11/2003 | |
| POWER TRAIN - AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION - LEVER AND LINKAGE - COLUMN SHIFT | |||||
| 07012004 | 07/01/2004 | 10014021 | A/t stuck in park after throttle body replacement. *eh | 04/27/2005 | |
| POWER TRAIN - CLUTCH ASSEMBLY | |||||
| 903 | 09/16/2003 | 10005021 | Hard to engage 1st gear, grinds into reverse. tech line summary. *tt | 01/26/2004 | |
| POWER TRAIN - CLUTCH ASSEMBLY - PEDAL/LINKAGE | |||||
| 02002 | 01/11/2005 | 02002 | 629094 | Squeak or twang condition when the clutch pedal is pressed. *tt *mj this bulletin replaces previous bulletin dated 3/16/2004. *tt | 03/27/2002 |
| POWER TRAIN - MANUAL TRANSMISSION | |||||
| 204 | 02/16/2004 | 10014230 | 2nd to 5th or 3rd to 5th gear upshift. *nm | 04/29/2005 | |
| 1003 | 10/01/2003 | 10004970 | Manual transmission hard to shift into 1st gear, grinds into reverse. honda servicenews. *tt | 01/22/2004 | |
Consumer Complaints
| Fail date | miles | occurences | Purchase date |
|---|---|---|---|
| POWER TRAIN - AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION | |||
| 02/06/2011 | 64000 | ||
| Tl-the contact owns a 2003 honda element. while driving approximately 30 mph, the transmission suddenly failed without warning. the vehicle was towed to the residence. the manufacturer issued a voluntary recall pertaining to the transmission. the contact planned to notify the manufacturer to verify whether the vehicle was eligible for the recall repair. the vehicle had not been diagnosed or repaired. the failure mileage was 64,000. js | |||
| 05/12/2009 | 120000 | 1 | |
| My son was driving our 2003 honda element to his internship as he has done many times. as he began up a hill and around a curve that turns sharply to the left, he heard a loud crack. the car veered off of the road slightly to the right, less than an inch dropoff. when he tried to steer the car to the left, the steering wheel would not move the car. as the curve in the road began to end, the car moved quickly to the left but still would not respond to the steering wheel. it ran off the road to the left and went into a ditch about 18 inches deep. then, apparently the right wheel bent up under the car. the wheel broke in two, as did the rotor. the wheel then dug into the pavement and cut a groove into the pavement about 8 feet long. apparently this rapid slowing down of the right side, coupled with the continued movement of the left side of the car, projected the car out of the ditch and caused it to roll over twice and land on its roof. the airbags never deployed. my son was able to disengage the seatbelt and lower himself down onto the roof and get out of the shattered driver side window. he was uninjured except for some small shards of glass in his right hand and forearm. when we looked at the underside of the car, we saw that the right front axle was snapped in two at the transmission. both the wheel and the rotor were broken in half. the car was declared totaled. my concern is that whatever snapped or cracked initially rendered the car unsteerable. i would like an investigation that might perhaps prevent such a thing happening to anyone else. *tr | |||
| 09/19/2007 | 81000 | 1 | 06/24/2003 |
| I purchased a 2003 honda element in june 2003 of which had many mechanical and electrical problems/failures. the most significant of these failures proved to be with the drive train mechanism specifically cv boots and steering function. loud noises developed when turning which grew louder over time as well as a grinding sound and vibration from underneath approx. at mid-ale location. the automatic transmission began to slip out of reverse while moving into neutral at will. these issues culminated in my steering ceasing to operate as though frozen while i was making a slow left hand turn causing the vehicle to crash into a tree along side of a major street and intersection. the driverside air-bag did deploy and the vehicle was completely in-operable and had to be flat bed towed due to the severity of front-end damage. i completed and maintained all scheduled maintenance stop requirements and yet suffered catastrophic drive train failure at only 82,000 miles. my research on this make/model failures proved to be numerous in number as reported on verifiable/reputable websites. one of which was honda's own - technical service bulletin's site! *tr | |||
| 09/09/2005 | 1 | ||
| 2003 element rolled backwards while vehicle was in reverse and keys in his hands. *ts ***no answer required*** *jb | |||
| 10/22/2005 | 45000 | 2 | 07/30/2003 |
| On the morning of october 22, 2005 i started my 2003 honda element which was parked in my driveway. i quickly remembered that i wanted an item out of the garage and stepped out of the vehicle. i had not touched the automatic gear shift and the e/r brake was on. the vehicle immediately went into reverse, down the driveway, across the street, the open door struck the neighbors mail box, vehicle proceeded up the neighbors drive way striking their parked vehicle, pushing it 2 fee up their driveway. then the vehicle suddenly went into drive, came back down the neighbors driveway, across the street, up my driveway, into my garage striking items in the rear of the garage before stopping. i reached in to shut the car off then ran into the house. when my husband came out to the garage and got into the vehicle he said that the car was in park and the e/r break was on. there was no damage to the neighbors vehicle and approx $3500 damage to the honda element. i believe the transmission/gear box failed and the e/b failed resulting in injury and damage. vehicle is being repaired at body shop and i have notified honda and will have them check out when repairs completed. *nm | |||
| POWER TRAIN - AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION - CONTROL MODULE (TCM, PCM) | |||
| 04/03/2005 | 3 | 02/01/2003 | |
| This is the third throttle body assembly installed into car since purchase. the first one was defective and replaced with a new model. the second was replaced due to electrical failures, and the last one was replaced due to the dvd/nav system installed which was causing electrical interference to the throttle body, causing it to fail. the symptom started with the shift not unlocking when brakes were applied. then it will not shift gears, causing the car to run at 4500 rpms. then vehicle hit a bump in road, and it shifted to better highway speed. dealer stated that he could not get trouble codes from computer until all dvd/nav was disconected. they replaced throttle body assembly, and told us not to hook dvd/nav system up unless it had its own fuseable link line from battery, and not to use wire harness to connect.*ak | |||
| POWER TRAIN - AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION - PARK/NEUTRAL START SWITCH | |||
| 01/01/2004 | 1 | 02/03/2003 | |
| Able to remove ignition key when transmission in gear.*ak | |||
| POWER TRAIN - TRANSFER CASE (4-WHEEL DRIVE) | |||
| 01/13/2004 | 1 | ||
| While driving 30 mph and making a left turn in the snow 4-wheel drive mechanism kicked in automatically, vehicle spun out and hit a vender yard post.*ak | |||
| 07/18/2003 | |||
| Four wheel drive does not engage when front wheels slip or spin. the left rear wheel turned one rotation on one incident. that is the only movement i've seen from the rear wheels. *nlm | |||