Factory build sheet

2003 Honda Element EX

Build 5J6YH275-3 · 2.4L 4cyl · Four-wheel drive · Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV)

VIN positions 1 through 8 read 5J6YH275 and position 10 reads 3. Those nine characters define this build. Position 9 and positions 11 through 17 differ on every car.

Every Element whose VIN starts 5J6YH275 and carries 3 in position 10 left the plant with the same engine, transmission, drivetrain and equipment listed below. We know of 285 of them.

  • Decoded Jul 7, 2026
  • 285 known VINs
  • 2 listed for sale now

Factory specification

As filed by Honda with NHTSA for this build. Fields the filing does not record are left out entirely — a missing row means no recorded value, not a missing feature.

Engine

Displacement
2.4 L
Displacement (CI)
144
Cylinders
4
Configuration
In-Line
Engine model
K24A4
Valve train
Dual Overhead Cam (DOHC)
Horsepower
160 hp
Fuel type
Gasoline

Drivetrain

Drive type
Four-wheel drive
Transmission
Manual/Standard
Forward speeds
5
Brake system
Hydraulic

Body & chassis

Body class
Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV)/Multi-Purpose Vehicle (MPV)
NHTSA body type
MULTIPURPOSE PASSENGER VEHICLE (MPV)
Doors
5
Manufacturer
AMERICAN HONDA MOTOR CO., INC.

Weight rating

GVWR class
Class 1C
GVWR
4,001–5,000 lb

Gross vehicle weight rating is the loaded ceiling set by the manufacturer, not the car's own weight.

The same build, other model years

Honda used the VIN pattern 5J6YH275 for 2 model years. Nothing but the year changes between these pages, so the price gap between them is depreciation on an identical car.

How this VIN pattern is read

A 17-character VIN carries two kinds of information: what was built, and which one it is. This page is the first kind — the nine highlighted positions.

Positions Characters What they encode
1–3 5J6 AMERICAN HONDA MOTOR CO., INC. · World manufacturer identifier
4–8 YH275 Model, body style, engine and restraint system
9 × Check digit — computed per vehicle, not part of the build
10 3 Model year — 2003
11 × Assembly plant
12–17 ×××××× Production sequence number, unique to each vehicle

NHTSA safety ratings

Crash-test results are published per model year and body style, so they cover the 2003 Honda Element as a whole rather than this build alone.

Rollover

★★★ ★★ 3 / 5

12 recall campaigns are recorded for the 2003 Element. Recalls are issued per VIN range — check the VIN of the car you are looking at, not the model.

285 vehicles carry this build

Every VIN we have decoded to 5J6YH275-3 shares the specification above.

  • 285 Known VINs
  • 2 Listed for sale now

Cars are filed by a fixed rule based on the VIN, so a car never moves between groups.

Browse all 285 VINs of this build →

Keep going

Where this data comes from

Specification fields are decoded from the manufacturer's filings in the NHTSA vPIC database, keyed on VIN positions 1–8 and 10. We publish the filed values as they stand and leave out anything the filing does not record.

Vehicle counts come from the 285 VINs of this build we have seen in dealer inventory. They are a sample of the road population, not a production figure.