Like the Toyota Prius, the unibody Ridgeline is one of those cars that fell victim to the mean-spirited, maybe outrage-driven commentary of the mid-2000s. We all sat around the comments sections, lambasting the Ridgeline with the “not a real truck” comments, making fun of its transverse-mounted engine and Honda Pilot/Accord/Odyssey platform. “That thing’s just a minivan with a bed; get you a REAL truck,” we said on message boards as if we had reached the pinnacle of cleverness, with our fingers on the pulse of what every single buyer wanted from a truck.
Meanwhile, actual Ridgeline buyers have been exceedingly happy with them, judging from how high the resale is on first-generation Honda Ridgelines. Even with more than 150,000 miles, it’s not uncommon for a good condition example to fetch in the five-figure range. That’s not cheap for a truck that is now more than fifteen years old at its core. I’ve been passively looking for broken-down Ridgelines to buy, recondition, and sell, but as quickly as a candidate appears on the usual apps, it’s gone.
Look For A Cheap One, And You’ll Find Rust. Lots Of It
However, the handful of trucks that aren’t snapped up by other shrewd flippers are in really, really rough condition. As an Ohioan, I’m no stranger to rust, especially “Honda rust,” a common name for the mostly cosmetic rust and bubbling that often appears on rocker panels and rear wheel arches. The Ridgelines I’ve seen, though, go way beyond Honda Rust, and into serious structurally-compromising rust. Every third Ridgeline I’ve seen for sale has a “bad frame, parts only” caveat in the ad. Even the ones that are somewhat still streetable often have rotten rocker panels, disintegrating wheel arches, and a grodiness that I have not seen on any similar vintage traditional truck. Hell, the Ridgeline shares some of its structural design with the Accord, Odyssey, and Pilot, but I’ve never seen corrosion eat up those cars like it does the Ridgeline.
Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist listings represent just a single datapoint to inform my claim that Ridgelines are rustbuckets, so I went to the internet to figure out if I just had coincidentally found a bad batch of worn-out Honda trucks. Turns out, no — these things have, for a long time, been crumbling like Oreos left in milk for too long.
You’ll Find Plenty Of Rust On Ridgeline Forums
In 2016, a man took to the Ridgeline forum asking if his then nine-year-old, 83,000 mile 2007 Ridgeline RTL should be this rusty. In 2018, another forum member declined to buy a then-12-year-old 2006 Ridgeline with a mere 135,000 miles because of terrible rust. Just typing “Ridgeline Rust” into the Google brings up plenty of Canadian and U.S. rust belt Ridgelines with once-happy owners who are seemingly left with a truck-shaped pile of iron oxide that has a Honda badge on it.
The Ridgeline’s rust issues are fairly well documented; after all, the truck has been recalled for that very recently. We’ve written about it here back in June 2022; Honda recalled Ridgelines in rust belt states explicitly for rusting rear fuel tank and subframe issues. Salt brine used on roads can become trapped between the fuel tank and frame, and could eat away at the straps that secure the fuel tank to the vehicle’s frame, meaning the fuel tank could fall off. It was so bad that NHTSA issued a stop-sale on the affected trucks until Honda came up with an official remedy.
The remedy isn’t easy. If the corrosion is so bad that it’s unfixable, Honda may offer to buy the truck back from the customer. According to NHTSA, Honda received complaints about the Ridgeline’s fuel tank rust issues as early as 2016.
The Recall And Remedy Procedure Are Absurd
The severity of this truck’s ability to corrode cannot be understated. It’s more than just forum posts and classified-listing anecdotes. Honda’s own recall remedy procedure shows some pretty harrowing conditions underneath Ridgelines, confirming that these machines (especially early examples) can be complete rust buckets.
The procedure begins with an inspection, which starts off with the technician lifting the Ridgeline from the spots pointed out above. “If the vehicle’s support points are compromised due to corrosion,” the procedure makes clear “please use best shop practices to lift the vehicle.”
From there, the tech uses a specialized frame inspection tool to attempt to puncture the frame rails. The goal is for the tool to not puncture, indicating that the frame is strong enough to be operated on. If the tool goes through the steel, it’s a fail, the car can’t be worked on, and it’ll likely be eligible for a buyback from Honda.
Yet, if the punch doesn’t go through, then the technician is likely in for probably one of the worst jobs of their career. Aside from washing out any lingering salt via the holes shown above, and applying wax inside the frame rails, the technician will install new tank straps and affix a brace to the unibody. On its face, sure, that sounds simple and easy, but these are rust belt cars; there might not be much metal there to affix to. Parts might disintegrate as they’re removed, and some bolts may break off or just spin in their holes.
The image directly above shows wax application in a hole normally used to hold up the fuel tank. Honda recommends that technicians hold up the fuel tank with a jackstand, then install a new crossbar that squishes the fuel tank straps against the body:
Unsurprisingly, Honda has a repair procedure if parts break or bolts spin in their holes. It involves things that most midwestern wrenchers are pretty familiar with like torching, cutting, and using loads of penetrating oil. I’ll bet that it still won’t be enough to make this job easy.
Procedure C Is A Job From Hell
Heck, just look at the state of the frame in the official pictures that Honda uses to illustrate to technicians how to do the job. There are several alternative procedures to do if the truck’s frame is that crusty, and all of them look like hell on earth.
Repair procedure C is particularly gnarly. It looks like the front half of the whole rear subframe mounting points love to disintegrate. The fix first involves “Using an air chisel or air saw, [to] remove a portion of the body panel as indicated in green [two images above] to allow access to the bolt top end and its frame collar.”
After shoving vice grips through the hole you just chiseled into the body, you’re then told to remove the rusty subframe bolt. At that point, the repair appears to involve a brace that marries the remaining bits of the old rear subframe to the remaining bits of the truck’s granulated unibody.
I suppose it’s probably safe, Honda is very strict on how this repair is applied. There can’t be any deep cutting into the unibody structure, which would unequivocally compromise crash strength. But I question: If the truck needs specialized braces, is the rest of the truck worth saving?
Probably not. Here’s a video of a NY-area Honda technician implementing that same repair. Although it technically passed the punch test, the rest of the frame was in terrible shape, to the point where it qualified for a manufacturer buyback, even after the work was done.
The Ridgeline’s Platform-Mate Has A Similar Problem
This fix doesn’t even seem to be all that unprecedented for Honda. Although I’ve never seen too many failed rear subframes personally, Honda had somewhat similar issues with the First generation Pilot. Like the Ridgeline, the fix involved welding in new Honda-provided braces to the rear subframe. The repair procedure for the Pilot includes the images below alongside the text “Cut the frame along the scored cut lines using a cutoff wheel being careful not to cut into the frame insert mounting holes” and “Install the cast frame insert and hand-tighten the frame insert mounting bolts in order.” Yes, you read that right: Cut the frame on a unibody vehicle; how is this procedure even worth doing?
Despite the terrifying rust issues, I still like the Ridgeline, and I am in search of a not-unsafe one as a cheap tow and haul pig. If you’re looking for a first-generation Honda Ridgeline, just do me a favor, look closely, and be careful, okay?
Image Credit: screenshots from Honda/NHTSA
Does Honda offer fair prices for a buyback? Whats to stop you from buying a POS Ridgeline just to take it to Honda and fail the test. I’ve got a spotless ’08, would I be better off getting the inspection/recall done ASAP or waiting a few more years and potentially saving the buyback option in 5-10 years?
My ’08 w/ 39k miles is in pristine condition, I drove to NY to pick up in March. Yes NY. The owner never drove it in the rain, let alone snow. He must have known something. The bottom looks like he crawled underneath and cleaned it with WD-40 every week.
All this tells me is that Ridgeline fans are certifiable. 😛
Has Honda done anything to address this issue on newer models?
I love my 2013 Ridgeline, built in Alabama, lives in Alabama. Its in great shape. I’ve never lived in the rustbelt, and don’t ever plan to. Don’t know how y’all go through winter after winter of that crap.
Hard pass on the relentless heat and suffocating humidity of a southern summer
This sounds rough! And does this mean the Plymouth Volare is no longer the worst rust-prone offender from the factory?
I think it’s important to acknowledge that most of the recall cars are 17-13 years old. Now that may not seem that old but that’s a lot of winters in ohio. Secondly I have a 2011 Ridgeline that has seen 12 montana winters and it has zero rust. Thirdly, my other cars are a 1970 Datsun 240Z and a 2006 Mazda3, so for some reason I keep buying cars that are rust pron.
Tbf we have no rust to speak of here in Idaho, including with intense winters. I can’t imagine Montana is much different.
I’ve decided that snow and winter isn’t what rusts out cars, and salt isn’t all of it either. It’s humidity and rain and general dampness. Salt and snow starts the rust in the winter, and then the cars rot throughout the rest of the year because it’s so damp.
Hey Kevin, I have a really nice 2006 Ridgeline here in LA.. only thing is I’m not selling yet because I can’t get the new SUV I want without $20k of dealer markups…