Here are some useful links related to the E on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) web site.

Complaints
2003 Honda Element (http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/problems/complain/results.cfm?start=1&SearchType=DrillDown&type=1&year=2003&make=HONDA&model=ELEMENT&vehtype=UNK&component_id=0)
2004 Honda Element (http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/problems/complain/results.cfm?start=1&SearchType=DrillDown&type=1&year=2004&make=HONDA&model=ELEMENT&vehtype=UNK&component_id=0)

Technical Service Bulletins (TSB)
2003 Honda Element (http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/problems/tsb/results.cfm?start=1&SearchType=DrillDown&type=VEHICLE&year=2003&make=HONDA&model=ELEMENT&vehtype=UNK&typenum=1&component_id=0)
2004 Honda Element (http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/problems/tsb/results.cfm?start=1&SearchType=DrillDown&type=VEHICLE&year=2004&make=HONDA&model=ELEMENT&vehtype=UNK&typenum=1&component_id=0)

For the TSBs, only a 1 line summary is available for free. It can be hard to judge the significance of the TSB just from this summary. You have to pay a fee to get the full text, either from NHTSA or from commercial source. Earlier TSBs have been posted on one or more of the Element forums.

paulj

Okay, maybey they're just interesting then. :roll: One thing these links do is eliminate the need to "drill down" to what we're really interested in ... the info about the E.

interesting looking at the complaints for the 2004s

57 complaints, 50 of them windshield
one car caught fire (electrical)
2 auto transmission probs
1 cruise
1 ac due to impact on the condensor
2 seat/pillar rattle

and one 45mph front end collision where the airbags didn't deploy (this worries me more than all the rest combined)

2003 element nhtsa complaints as of this posting...
211 total
170 windshield

those numbers would be even more interesting to me if they were in depth reports (pics,etc...) so you could differentiate. i think the truly sad thing is that most peoples' (legitimate)complaints aren't about the design or engineering of the e, but more with the service departments and the practice of "secret warranties". if i understand the e's "windshield issue" correctly, the basis of it is/was a manufacturing defect, which is easily fixable under warranty by an honest service department. imho, most of those windshield complaints wouldn't even have been made if the service departments hadn't played games in order to increase their bottom line. once again imho, it's amazing to me how many 03 owners are saying they're on windshield#3 or #4 (one guy even claims 6 in less than a year) and then adding, "but i still love my element"(the guy on windshield#6 did seem to be starting to get a little perturbed).