Bought my vehicle used as second owner at 60k miles. After putting on 70 miles I am now having to put on my fourth set of front brakes and rotors which is inexcusable. The rear brakes seem to hold up alright except for a rear caliper that went on me (replaced once but then again for 2x total due to a caliper failure). I am searching Honda Element User group solutions on Facebook. My mechanic claims to have used quality rotors and brake pads? This is ridiculous for someone who drives mostly highway mileage.

Purchased car with 48000 km, love it very reliable except for the issue at hand. A standard set of brake pads last me on average 90000 km+. Since acquiring the Element ( used mostly for highway driving ) I am now on my third set of rear pads and rotors and they are finished, have to change them again, found posts on Element owners site, several complaints to which reply's stating that problem is known and some series of Honda's in 2008 were affected by this problem ( outside of the known issue regarding the Accord rear brakes which Honda agreed to settle Class action lawsuit filed ), the replies seem to be posted by professional mechanics who probably work for Honda dealerships or specialized Honda garages. Just annoyed that this issue seems to be known, all Honda recommends is to have brakes cleaned every year but this does not address the issue or correct problem of premature rear brake wear. This time I will replace the pads, rotors, calipers and hoses, don't wanna wind up with a fifth rear brake job to do. I note or technical bulletin by NHSTA or TSB would have been helpful to address the problem earlier.

Update from Aug 20, 2018: Let's put if this way, since purchasing my E approx 5-6 years ago I have had to replace the brake pads ( front and rear ) every single year and this on only 20 000km per year average, have tried all the different vendors and quality, the ''premium'' brakes i.e. high end Raybestos and Akebono only give an extra 2000-3000km of driving. Have had to replace the rotors 4 times now.

I believe the nature of the issue also has to do with the recall by Honda for the VSA modulators, very pissed off with Honda brought in my E for the recall, the specified work required is 4-6 hours according to Honda, 30 minutes after dropping of the truck at the dealer I get a call stating the work is done..turns out Honda only did a ''cheap fix" which did nothing to improve the issue however Honda records show my vehicle as ''recall completed". In my books it's pretty simple, it's way more important to have proper working brakes than a faulty airbag ( which is also on recall ) however seems like Honda have a different opinion maybe someone somewhere figured that if you total your car because of bad brakes but make it out alive it may help sell more Honda's...