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Honda Ridgeline Frame Corrosion May Cause Fuel Leak, 112k Trucks Recalled

Back in 2016, American Honda Motor Co. received the first complaint of rust forming near the fuel tank of a first-generation Ridgeline. Three years later, Honda Canada Inc. launched an investigation into multiple complaints of frame corrosion and loud noises coming from the rear.
Honda Ridgeline 9 photos
Photo: Honda
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The Canadian office began a market survey in July 2019, and the U.S. division followed suit in September 2019. Come November 2021, the number of complaints in the U.S. market increased to five rusty trucks.

Fast forward to May 2022, and Honda realized something. “It was predicted the fuel tank mounting band separation from a corroded rear frame could cause the fuel tank to become unsecured and damaged from undercarriage impact, possibly resulting in a fuel leak.” The automaker determined that a safety-related defect cannot be ruled out, hence the recall of 112k trucks.

112,060 units of the first-generation Ridgeline, to be more precise, unibody pickups that were sold or registered in the salt-belt region of the United States. This callback specifically refers to vehicles from Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, Washington D.C., and Wisconsin. There have been no reports of the aforementioned condition from outside the salt-belt region.

According to the attached report, dealers have three ways of addressing this problem. Attaching a reinforcement brace, cleaning the rear frame, and applying some anti-corrosive wax is the best-case scenario. Repairing the corroded frame comes next. Lastly, the dealer may repurchase the truck.

Dealers have already been informed of these outcomes, but customers will have to wait until August 1st to receive Honda-branded envelopes by first-class mail. Of course, owners who have paid to have the aforementioned repairs completed at their own expense are eligible for reimbursement.

The suspect population of Ridgelines was manufactured between October 7th, 2004, and June 26th, 2014 across the 2006 through 2014 model years.
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 Download: 2006 - 2014 Honda Ridgeline corrosion recall (PDF)

About the author: Mircea Panait
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After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well.
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