2003 HONDA ELEMENT — Complaint #1686196
Open-data reference.
NHTSA Complaint about ELECTRICAL SYSTEM:IGNITION:SWITCH filed August 20, 2020
NHTSA complaint #1686196 (ODI reference 11349432) concerns a 2003 HONDA ELEMENT and was filed on August 20, 2020. The owner reports the failure occurred on February 1, 2020. The report was geocoded to California based on the filer's self-reported location. The affected component is categorized as electrical system:ignition:switch, one of NHTSA's standardized taxonomy codes used to group defect patterns across make, model, and year.
The filer flagged the following severity indicators: crash: no, fire: no, injuries: 0, fatalities: 0. No crash, fire, or fatality was associated with this report, which places it in the early-warning stream rather than the priority-review stream. Because a VIN was supplied, this complaint is tied to a specific vehicle and not just a model-year cohort.
Individual complaints are consumer-submitted and unverified by NHTSA engineers — the agency's role at this stage is to collect, index, and make them searchable. What matters for federal action is the pattern: when many owners of the same HONDA ELEMENT cohort independently describe similar electrical system:ignition:switch failures, defect investigators have grounds to open a PE and request manufacturer data. Related filings for the same vehicle and component appear below, and the detail page for the full 2003 HONDA ELEMENT shows the complete component-level complaint distribution alongside any active investigations or recalls.
Complaint Description
2003 HONDA ELEMENT. CONSUMER WRITES IN REGARDS TO PASSENGER SIDE AIRBAG AND IGNITION SWITCH SAFETY RECALL. *LD THE CONSUMER STATED THE VEHICLE WAS IMPROPERLY REPAIRED DURING THE RECALL REPAIR PROCESS. *JS THE CONSUMER STATED THE MANUFACTURER WAS CONTACTED BUT, DID NOT OFFER ANY ASSISTANCE.*JS *JS
Complaint Details
| NHTSA Complaint ID | 1686196 |
| ODI Number | 11349432 |
| Date Filed | August 20, 2020 |
| Failure Date | February 1, 2020 |
| VIN | 5J6YH285X3L |
Similar ELECTRICAL SYSTEM:IGNITION:SWITCH Complaints for 2003 HONDA ELEMENT
WHILE DRIVING WEST ON INTERSTATE 10 NEAR BROOKSHIRE TX I REACHED INTO THE TRAY ON THE RIGHT DRIVER SIDE (IN DASH NEXT TO STEERING COLUMN) AND APPARENTLY BRUSHED THE REMOTE (HANGING ON THE KEY RING) A
CAR WAS PARKED, ENGINE TURNED OFF, AND KEY REMOVED FROM THE IGNITION. AS I STEPPED OUT THE CAR BEGAN TO ROLL, MY RIGHT LEG BECAME CAUGHT IN THE CAR, I WAS DRAGGED ABOUT 80 FEET DOWN MY DRIVEWAY UNTIL
Source: NHTSA Vehicle Complaints Database. Component taxonomy and severity codes are standardized by NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation.
Read our methodology — how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.