2003 HONDA ELEMENT — Complaint #559166
Open-data reference.
NHTSA Complaint about ELECTRICAL SYSTEM:IGNITION:SWITCH filed October 18, 2005
NHTSA complaint #559166 (ODI reference 10140182) concerns a 2003 HONDA ELEMENT and was filed on October 18, 2005. The owner reports the failure occurred on September 10, 2005. The vehicle had 39,842 miles on the odometer at the time of the incident. The report was geocoded to New York 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: yes, fire: no, injuries: 1, fatalities: 0. A complaint that flags a crash, fire, or fatality is escalated on NHTSA's internal review queue and factors more heavily into any Preliminary Evaluation decision on this make and model. 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
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 I FINALLY MANAGED TO FREE MY FOOT AND ROLL AWAY. I FRACTURED A FINGER, TORE LIGAMENTS IN THAT AND ANOTHER, INJURED MY RIGHT KNEE AND ANKLE, SCRAPED MY RIGHT ARM, AND BRUISED MY UPPER THIGH. THE CAR CONTINUED TO ROLL OVER SOME LARGE ROCKS, ACROSS THE ROAD, AND INTO THE CORN FIELD. THE KEY SHOULD NOT HAVE COME OUT OF THE IGNITION WHEN THE CAR WAS NOT IN PARK. AFTER GETTING NO SATISFACTION FROM HONDA AMERICA, MY LOCAL DEALER FINALLY AGREED TO FIX THE PROBLEM BY REPLACING THE ENTIRE KEY INTERLOCK SYSTEM. *NM
Complaint Details
| NHTSA Complaint ID | 559166 |
| ODI Number | 10140182 |
| Date Filed | October 18, 2005 |
| Failure Date | September 10, 2005 |
| VIN | 5J6YH28563L |
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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
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.