2022 Honda Ridgeline: What to check before buying

Automatic high beams behave erratically. They stay bright for oncoming traffic, drop to low beam for road signs and reflections, flicker on and off, and often fail to come back on. Many drivers turn the feature off. Dealers often cannot duplicate the problem, and even replacing the windshield light sensor and the camera has not fixed it. A smaller group of reports describes condensation inside the headlight assembly, with one out-of-warranty replacement quoted at $1,655.86. Add-on courtesy lights that fail early also appear.

A flashing check engine light and sudden limp mode are the main pattern. It usually hits when accelerating from a stop after an hour or more of highway driving in freezing weather. Speed drops to roughly 30 to 40 mph, misfire codes sometimes appear, and a restart clears it, often with no stored code. Other reports describe brief power cuts at highway speed with the tachometer falling to zero. Two engines failed with bearing damage near 50,150 and 74,859 miles. One crash involved sudden full-throttle acceleration, and one parked truck burned from under the hood.

The wireless phone charger fails most often. It charges for a few seconds, stops, and blinks, whatever the phone or case, and dealers have declined repairs. Other reports describe idle-stop failing to restart the engine at a light and clusters of warning lights with weak acceleration that dealers could not reproduce. Several complaints are about recalls: parts not yet available for a recall campaign, and an alarm fault after a recall visit that led to a $1500 keyless control unit bill. One truck caught fire after cascading warnings and a power shutdown at 50 mph.

Power drops out without warning. The auto idle-stop system sometimes fails to restart at lights, at times showing a battery warning and a "Shift to Park" message. Some trucks also lose power while coasting at 50 to 75 mph, and drivers report the steering and brake pedal stiffening until the engine catches. The push-button shifter can miss a selection, letting the truck roll forward when reverse was pressed, or stay stuck in first gear. Cold-weather limp mode also appears here, and one owner notes Honda's service bulletin is not covered once out of warranty.

The automatic emergency braking system brakes hard with nothing ahead. Reports describe it in turn lanes, on downhill stretches, on curves, and on two-lane roads with oncoming traffic, with following cars forced to swerve. One driver was cut by the seatbelt during a sudden stop. False "BRAKE" warnings with steering wheel shaking are common even when the truck does not brake. Adaptive cruise surges toward the car ahead and then brakes sharply. One early radar fault left a truck at the dealer for weeks waiting on a replacement unit.

Reports here are few and varied. In one, the steering wheel shakes hard and pulls left or right when slowing from 45 mph or more, starting around 8,000 miles, and the dealer found nothing wrong. A heated steering wheel overheated until the leather bubbled and the rim was too hot to hold, then a replacement part was delayed for months. One fire-related report began with the truck refusing to shift into reverse under several warning lights. A battery was replaced, and smoke appeared days later.

False automatic braking is the main safety concern. Drivers describe the dash flashing "BRAKE" and the steering wheel shaking on curves, and one crash-related report describes hard braking at highway speed with no traffic nearby. On the mechanical side, front brakes start screeching around 25,000 miles from rotor hot spots, and the coated rotors cannot be resurfaced. One report notes a very stiff brake pedal on cold starts below 40 degrees.

A strong raw-fuel smell, sometimes mixed with exhaust, enters the cabin, usually after refueling or after a long drive followed by idling. It seems to come from the passenger side of the engine bay, with no visible leak. Other reports cover a check engine light traced to a failed fuel sensor before 18k miles, an EVAP warning for a very large leak, and rodents chewing through a fuel vent line, which the dealer called unsafe to drive.