[racerc2000]

well element was originaly designed to hold 5 125lb asians and a nice cooler of beer thats where the weight limit came from.

but that aside the reasons behind its weight limit is the same as my old explorer i had when i was young. just a note. if you pack out your truck. dont try to do a normal U turn from a stop take it slow. it would prolly be diffrent in an element and break when you do 3 wheel motion with a drive wheel off the ground.

but yea 4.0 v6 +rwd +6 girls in the back seat and another 2 in the passenger seat makes for quite the imbalance when doing a U turn and being a 5spd with 285/50 15s instead of the stock 235/75s prolly just added to it but it was quick lol

 

[John Gaquin]

well element was originaly designed to hold 5 125lb asians and a nice cooler of beer thats where the weight limit came from.

The Element was designed from the get-go in the US, by engineers who happened to be employed by Honda. Design specs were not predicated on carrying little asian people.

 

[Tim Vance]

well element was originaly designed to hold 5 125lb asians and a nice cooler of beer thats where the weight limit came from.

but that aside the reasons behind its weight limit is the same as my old explorer i had when i was young. just a note. if you pack out your truck. dont try to do a normal U turn from a stop take it slow. it would prolly be diffrent in an element and break when you do 3 wheel motion with a drive wheel off the ground.

but yea 4.0 v6 +rwd +6 girls in the back seat and another 2 in the passenger seat makes for quite the imbalance when doing a U turn and being a 5spd with 285/50 15s instead of the stock 235/75s prolly just added to it but it was quick lol

Marksberg? is that you?
Or maybe one of your kids lives in NY???

ROFL
sorry...I couldn't resist...lol

 

[thewright1]

I found this in the 2010 owners manual. I don't recall seeing it in any earlier versions:

I love how in the diagram, the more people that is added, the less luggage they include. I was extremely shocked to see the weight capacity though, that's one of those things that are easily overlooked because who stops to ask about that? You just assume a car can carry as much as it can fit. I RARELY have a car full of people but now i have to start picking the friends that I drive with. =) Whatever though, I won't hesitate to put 3 other passengers int he car. I'm still gonna do what I usually do. I have a warranty so if things start falling off, I'll just take it to the dealer.

 

[thewright1]

I found this in the 2010 owners manual. I don't recall seeing it in any earlier versions:

And another thing, I love how the picture has 3 people weighing 150 pounds each. I don't think I know 3 people that weight 150 pounds.

 

[nismstuey]

I believe the weight limit is caused by the OEM tires weight limits not the car itself since if you add up all there values and subtract the car weight you get 675. So buy a set of upgrade tires with a higher weight rating and you should be good. I have put 1000-1100 lbs in my car and nothing happened it was slower than usual, but i added 1000lbs so thats to be expected

 

[paulj]

OEM tire load rating at max pressure is about 1700lb, x4 that is 6800 lb, well above the door sticker 4450 GVW (which includes the 675). If you do put an extra ton in the E, raise tire pressures close to the side max (cold)!

 

[Shari]

Having bought a used E... and it was the cleanest at that Dealers Lot....
So far have had the back struts and the right front strut replaced... only thing this dealers service (one I now use) can think of to cause this in a car that is under 30,000 miles.. is the previous person...way over loaded this E.

I agree, that the load weight carrying ability is way low.
Have been told by one of Honda's marketing weasels, the E was to be marketed to the Surfers and to carry a couple of young men and their surf boards. Before they started marketing towards the Dog owners. Couple of normal Americans, couple of big dogs and the E is over the limit. Silly on Honda's part.

 

[Tim Vance]

Having bought a used E... and it was the cleanest at that Dealers Lot....
So far have had the back struts and the right front strut replaced... only thing this dealers service (one I now use) can think of to cause this in a car that is under 30,000 miles.. is the previous person...way over loaded this E.

I agree, that the load weight carrying ability is way low.
Have been told by one of Honda's marketing weasels, the E was to be marketed to the Surfers and to carry a couple of young men and their surf boards. Before they started marketing towards the Dog owners. Couple of normal Americans, couple of big dogs and the E is over the limit. Silly on Honda's part.

I wouldn't read too much into that...even normal wear and tear on a set of struts will cause them to 'go' after 7 years...and sitting can cause rubber seals to break down - they like to move, and stay lubricated...

For what it's worth, I was told my left rear shock was 'leaking' and needed to be replaced by a dealer wienie when I had less than 60k miles on it...4 years ago. But they wouldn't warranty it, and I can't find anything wrong with it - it still passes the bounce test - even had it checked when we replaced the front struts last year, and was told it's fine....(and we tow way over the 'posted' weight limit...)

 

[Shari]

They shouldn't go south on a two year old car, when I bought it..it had 26,000 miles on it. Basically that is way, way early to need new struts.
If this is normal, then Honda has a major problem in their design.

I was lucky in finding a good "honest" local dealer close to me. They replaced my back struts and the front right one with no issues. It was that bad.

But then again.. that big dealer in Portland.. I doubt they would of been honest about it and won't of done anything.

Only reason I haven't gone back to a Toyota, is because how honest that local dealer has been.
Makes me wish I bought the E from them, am quite sure I won't be having any of these problems.

 

[Saprophyte]

I'm quoting MikeQBF here because as a mechanical engineer, I think his comment is entirely credible. That being said, I have done no analysis of the stresses carried by the body of my beloved Element. But I do know that engineers at Honda are serious about the work they do and I think that the specifications they set for their cars (and the Element is a car, not a truck) are based on extensive and serious consideration of the fatigue life the components of the vehicle. It's no accident that many Accords with the same engine as the Element have driven for over 1,000,000 miles.

Recalling some structural engineering classes from a zillion years ago, his question got me to thinking that the weight capacity issue with the E may simply be one of too much unsupported structure. That extra-wide pillarless door opening leaves a lot of area in the vertical plane without visible means of support. Too much weight, and I'll bet that you will experience measurable distortion in the body structure, especially diagonally across the side door frames.

:shock:

This sent my head spinning about the reported problems with 1) the windshield cracks and 2) the back side doors not latching, or rattling and clunking, or other problems indicating adjustment or alignment problems.

In other words, I think people are "bending" their E's, with linear flexing in the vertical plane on each side, plus torsional flexing. It's the torsional flex that's going to crack windshields, and the linear flex is going to mess with the doors. Neither should be happening, but in my non-professional engineering opinion, both would be no surprise at all... at least not to me.
.

That being said, I'd add that there are always safety factors included into the design of every part of the vehicle. I think Honda achieves extreme reliability in part by being very conservative in what they claim their vehicles can do. The low limit on cargo is probably a very safe margin away from a number which was obtained by very thorough engineering.

So yes, it's low, but that's partly CYA and partly plain old physics.

 

[Kyea]

I know this is an old thread, and perhaps its been answered elsewhere. But for anyone that happens upon this, I'll share. Disclaimer I don't even own an E yet. I learned this tonight talking with a previous owner. Its not about if the E CAN take more weight, likely you'll get away with it. But you'll be killing it via internal bleeding, aka it's not visible damage, you wont knkw till its too late. Again, my basic understanding is, because if the suicide door design, structurally, the frame/base has much less support than mid-beam modles. Hence why little cars can carry more. No middle "support beam" means less structural weight bearing support. So if you overload it, it 'splays' out, and be something of a reverse pigeon tow for the rear wheels. So looking from behind, the top of the wheels would be angled inward, compared to the bottom. Easy to miss if you don't know to look for it, but apparently unavoidable once you see it. The tires will wear much faster, and you cant fix the damage. Can you over load and have it work, without popping pieces ? Technically yes. Anyway, I came here hopping to see if anyone has already posted this. I can't verify it, but it makes sense. Take any 4 corner supported raised platform, and overload the center point, and eventually it will sag, or the support points will shift. Hope that makes sense.