Most common 2010 Honda Element problems
Share of the 30 complaints; one complaint can involve more than one system. "~" is the median mileage when the problem started.
Honda Element complaints by model year
Best Element years: 2011, 2009, 2010. Years to avoid: 2003, 2004. Compare all years →
2010 Honda Element recalls (10)
Air bags › Frontal › Passenger side › Inflator module
Honda (American Honda Motor Co.) is recalling certain 2003-2006 Acura MDX, 2005-2012 RL, 2003-2007 Honda Accord, 2001-2005 Civic, 2003-2005 Civic Hybrid, 2001-2005 Civic GX NGV, 2002-2006 CR-V, 2003-2011 Element, 2007-2008 Fit, 2002-2004 Odyssey, 2003-2008 Pilot, and 2006-2014 Ridgeline vehicles.
Remedy: Honda will notify owners, and dealers will replace the passenger frontal airbag inflator, free of charge. The recall began August 12, 2019. Owners may contact Honda customer service at 1-888-234-2138.
Air bags › Frontal › Driver side › Inflator module
Honda (American Honda Motor Co.) is recalling certain 2003 Acura 3.2CL, 2002-2003 3.2TL, 2003-2006 MDX, 2001-2007 Honda Accord, 2001-2005 Civic, 2003-2005 Civic Hybrid, 2001-2005 Civic GX NGV, 2002-2006 CR-V, 2003-2011 Element, 2002-2004 Odyssey, 2003-2008 Pilot and 2006 Ridgeline vehicles.
Remedy: Honda will notify owners, and dealers will replace the driver frontal air bag inflator, free of charge. The recall began August 12, 2019. Owners may contact Honda customer service at 1-888-234-2138.
Air bags › Frontal › Driver side › Inflator module
Honda (American Honda Motor Co.) is recalling specific 2003 Acura 3.2CL, 2013-2016 ILX, 2013-2014 ILX Hybrid, 2003-2006 MDX, 2007-2016 RDX, 2002-2003 3.2TL, 2004-2006, and 2009-2014 TL, 2010-2013 ZDX and 2001-2007 and 2009 Honda Accord, 2001-2005 Civic, 2003-2005 Civic Hybrid, 2001-2005 Civic GX NGV, 2002-2007 and 2010-2011…
Remedy: Honda will notify owners, and dealers will replace the driver's air bag inflator with an alternate inflator, free of charge. The recall began April 10, 2019. Honda owners may contact customer service at 1-888-234-2138.
Air bags › Frontal › Passenger side › Inflator module
Honda (American Honda Motor Co.) is recalling certain 2014 Honda Ridgeline vehicles nationwide. Honda is also recalling certain 2011-2012 Acura RL, 2011 Honda Element and 2011-2013 Ridgeline vehicles in Arizona, Arkansas, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, Nebraska,…
Remedy: Honda will notify owners, and dealers will replace the passenger frontal air bag inflator, free of charge. The recall began November 6, 2018. Owners may contact Honda customer service at 1-888-234-2138.
Air bags › Frontal › Passenger side › Inflator module
Honda (American Honda Motor Co.) is recalling certain 2010-2012 Acura RL, 2010 Honda Element, and 2010-2013 Honda Ridgeline vehicles ever registered in the states of Alabama, California, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Texas, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands…
Remedy: Honda will notify owners, and dealers will replace the passenger frontal air bag inflator, free of charge. The recall began February 16, 2018. Owners may contact Honda customer service at 1-888-234-2138.
Air bags › Frontal › Passenger side › Inflator module
Honda (American Honda Motor Co.) is recalling certain 2005-2006 Acura MDX and Honda CR-V vehicles, 2005-2011 Honda Element vehicles, 2005-2012 Acura RL vehicles, 2006-2012 Honda Ridgeline vehicles, 2007-2008 Honda Fit vehicles and 2005-2008 Honda Pilot vehicles originally sold, or ever registered, in Alabama, California,…
Remedy: Honda will notify owners, and dealers will replace the front passenger air bag inflator, free of charge. The recall bagan March 2017. Owners may contact Honda customer service at 1-888-234-2138.
Show 4 more recalls
Air bags › Frontal › Passenger side › Inflator module
Honda (American Honda Motor Co.) is recalling certain model year 2003-2006 Acura MDX, 2005-2011 Acura RL, 2005-2006 Honda CR-V, 2003-2011 Element, 2007-2008 Fit, 2003-2008 Pilot, 2002-2004 Odyssey, and 2006-2011 Ridgeline vehicles originally sold, or that have ever been registered, in Alabama, California, Florida, Georgia,…
Remedy: Honda will notify owners, and dealers will replace the passenger frontal air bag inflator, free of charge. The recall began June 27, 2016. Owners may contact Honda customer service at 1-888-234-2138.
Air bags › Frontal › Driver side › Inflator module
Honda (American Honda Motor Co.) is recalling certain model year 2001-2007 Accord, 2001-2005 Civic, 2001-2004 Honda Civic GX, 2003-2005 Honda Civic Hybrid, 2002-2006 CR-V, 2003-2011 Element, 2002-2004 Odyssey, 2003-2008 Pilot, 2006 Ridgeline, 2003 Acura 3.2CL, 2003-2006 Acura MDX, and 2002-2003 Acura 3.2TL vehicles.
Remedy: Honda will notify owners, and dealers will replace the driver frontal air bag inflator, free of charge. The recall began on July 1, 2015. Owners may contact Honda customer service at 1-888-234-2138.
Electrical system › Wiring
Honda is recalling certain model year 2007 through 2011 Element passenger vehicles equipped with an accessory trailer hitch wiring harness. The wire that supplies power to the trailer turn signal lights was inadvertently switched with the stop lamp wire.
Remedy: Honda will notify owners, and dealers will repair the vehicles free of charge. The safety recall began on September 20, 2012. Owners may contact Honda at 1-800-999-1009.
Power train › Automatic transmission › Gear position indication (PRNDL)
Honda is recalling certain model year 2010 element automatic transmission vehicles manufactured from April 1, 2010 through June 25, 2010. During assembly process, the cable that connects the shift lever to the transmission was not set correctly at the shift lever bracket.
Remedy: Honda has contacted some owners by phone and arranged to, have, or has had, their vehicles repaired free of charge. All other owners will be notified by mail. Dealers will correctly set the shift cable bushing.
NHTSA defect investigations
Federal safety investigators have looked into 3 possible defects involving the 2010 Honda Element:
Air Bag Inflator Rupture
The Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) opened PE14-016 in June 2014 based on six inflator rupture incidents involving consumer owned vehicles produced by five vehicle manufacturers.All six vehicles were operated in Florida or Puerto Rico at the time of the rupture and for the majority of their service life, and were equipped with inflators produced by Takata, a tier-one supplier of automotive air bag…
Desiccated Air Bag Inflator Rupture
From 2000 through 2017, Takata produced millions of air bag inflators using two types of phase-stabilized ammonium nitrate ("PSAN") propellant -- propellant 2004 and propellant 2004L. After prolonged exposure to high temperature cycles and humidity, inflators using propellant 2004 can degrade, causing the propellant to burn too quickly when ignited.
Air Bag Inflator Rupture
The Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) opened PE14-016 in June 2014 based on six inflator rupture incidents involving consumer owned vehicles produced by five vehicle manufacturers.All six vehicles were operated in Florida or Puerto Rico at the time of the rupture and for the majority of their service life, and were equipped with inflators produced by Takata, a tier-one supplier of automotive air bag…
What 2010 Honda Element owners say
Air bags
Tl* Takata recall. The contact owned a 2010 Honda Element. While driving approximately 20 MPH, a second vehicle crashed into the front driver's side of the contact's vehicle. The side curtain air bags failed to deploy. The driver and rear driver side occupant sustained multiple lacerations to the face and neck. The contact indicated that the injuries were caused by debris from the air bag deploying. The vehicle was destroyed and towed. A police report was filed. The cause of the failure was not determined. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The VIN was unknown. The failure mileage was 84,000.
I received "Takata recall" a notice from auto airbag settlement, settlement administrator po box 3207 portland, or 97208-3207 as a current owner and I will try to contact the administrator. Also I will call the Honda company about this vehicle. Right now the light indicating defective airbag is always on and I am deeply concerned which I just discovered that this car has a manufacturer recall number s53 and NHTSA recall number 12v-436 recall status recall incomplete.
Suspension
My name is [redacted] and I am the owner of this vehicle. On [redacted] 2024, my daughter was driving this vehicle at approximately 30 miles per hour when the drivers side rear trailing arm separated from the frame and caused the tire/wheel to destabilize and hung crooked from the side of the rear of the vehicle. It appears that the frame around the trailing arm mount rusted completely away. My daughter lost control and luckily was able to maneuver the vehicle to the side of the road. Evidently, there is a recall from Honda in Canada for this issue, but not in the U.S. This is very dangerous and my daughter is very lucky that the catastrophic failure didn't happen when she was on the highway.
We have had to repair the front suspension parts the entire front suspension and steering component on our 2010 honda element ex and from the very first time we drove it. It never drove right. It would jerk you out of a curve we took it back to the dealer twice and they kept telling us it was because we were not used to driver assist system. Well since then 5 times we have had the front end steering and suspension replaced thousands of dollars! Why has there not been a recall? and from friends responses it's not just the Element, it's Honda Civic and Honda Accord also, the parts are made too short. Honda even has a extension kit but you can't buy it! Why has there been NO recall?
Brakes
Brakes very spongy, going almost down to floor, causing a dangerous increase in stopping distance on the highway my mechanic bled the system several times to no avail. Then changed the master cylinder. Still spongy, then the mechanic checked for Honda service bulletins regarding this problem. He found a service bulletin that addresses a similar problem on 2007-2008 elements (https://www.skidmore.edu/~pdwyer/e/files/campaign_and_recall_bulletins/a10-017.pdf). There is also a NHTSA recall regarding this problem (NHTSA campaign number: 10V098000 ). I think the problem with my 2010 Honda Element May be similar to that of the 2007-2008 year models and require a similar recall and fix. I feel this should be investigated because the loss of braking power ability put myself and family in a very dangerous situation.
Tl* the contact owns a 2010 Honda Element. While driving at approximately 40 MPH, the brake pedal was depressed and extended to the floorboard. The failure recurred numerous times. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic where it was diagnosed that the vsa module control unit needed to be repaired. The vehicle was repaired, but the failure persisted. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 46,400. Updated 02/05/16; updated 04/23/18
2010 Honda Element engines & fuel economy
| Engine | Transmission | Drive | MPG city / hwy / combined |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2.4L 4-cyl | 5-speed automatic | FWD | 20 / 25 / 22 |
| 2.4L 4-cyl | 5-speed automatic | AWD | 19 / 24 / 21 |
| 2.4L 4-cyl | 5-speed manual | FWD | 18 / 23 / 20 |
| 2.4L 4-cyl | 5-speed manual | AWD | 18 / 23 / 20 |
EPA ratings. Class: SUV.
Frequently asked questions
Is the 2010 Honda Element a good car?
Based on 30 owner complaints filed with NHTSA, the 2010 Element rates better than average: 68% fewer complaints than a typical year of the Element at the same age. It is one of the best Element years by this measure. Complaint counts don't account for sales volume or individual maintenance, so have any used car inspected before buying.
What is the most common problem with the 2010 Honda Element?
The air bags — 7 complaints, 23% of all complaints for this model year. Next are the suspension (6) and brakes (5).
How many recalls does the 2010 Honda Element have?
There are 10 recalls for the 2010 Honda Element, the most recent from June 27, 2019 (inflator module). Recall repairs are free at any authorized dealer — check whether yours has been done with the VIN recall check.
What are the best and worst years of the Honda Element?
The best years by complaints, compared at the same age, are 2011, 2009 and 2010. Years to avoid or approach with caution: 2003 and 2004. See the full Honda Element years comparison.
At what mileage do 2010 Honda Element problems happen?
The median mileage reported in complaints is about 46,000 miles; 63% of problems with a recorded mileage started before 50,000 miles.
Source: U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) — owner complaints through October 20, 2026, recalls and defect investigations; fuel economy from the EPA. Complaints are unverified reports and are not proof of a defect. How we rate model years.