2018 Honda Ridgeline owner complaints

Our 2018 Honda Ridgeline broke a connecting rod, that quickly punched through the engine block. My entire family was left stranded on the side of I-79, at night, in the mountains of West Virginia, in subfreezing temperatures, with no power or heat. It took an hour for a tow truck to reach us (we were in the middle of nowhere) and another hour to get it towed to the nearest Honda dealership. The only warning we had was a slight rattle for about 10 minutes, followed by a POW, immediate and complete loss of engine power, and all the dashboard lights came on simultaneously. The dealership (Urse Honda in Bridgeport WV) confirmed the hole in the side of the engine block, and let me take pictures of the broken rod cap. Ironically, the month before the catastrophic failure, on 11/9/2023 Honda i

The Honda Ridgeline 2018 has an issue that it burns its transmission fluid really fast to the point that the Truck's transmission starts to judder. This causes the truck to have issues accelerating or changing gears. This happened to me in a 70 MPH highway, when the problem starts you see the RPM gauge fluctuating a lot and the Truck has issues accelerating. This problem was present on the 2017 version of the truck and Honda issued a service bulletin (https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/2018/MC-10139548-9999.pdf) but this bulletin does not cover any other version of the truck when the same exact problem is still happening. I went to the dealership and they confirmed that the Transmission Judder was there. When you go online other owners of the truck are complaining about the same exac

While driving the vehicle to the dealership to have them inspect the vehicle for a knocking noise coming from the engine at startup, the engine stalled. The engine locked up and had to be towed approximately 10 miles to the dealership. Upon inspection by the dealership after pulling the oil pan and inspecting for evidence of rod bearing failure, it was confirmed by the shop manager that there was indeed evidence of this in the oil pan.

Service engine light came on and mechanic stated the failed rod bearings have made the vehicle undriveable.

My check engine light came on and within minutes there was a loud noise, smoke and my vehicle lost power. I was on Hwy 20 returning to Boise, ID from Bend, OR. Luckily this occurred just as I had cell service since I was without cell service just before this occurred. This happened in the evening on Nov 2, 2025. I had just had it serviced for regularly needed maintenance as recommended by Honda. 10/20/2025 I spent $2274.28 on service at the Honda dealership. Service included transmission service, oil change, strut service, replace front struts, wheel alignment, and resurfaced front rotors. I've had all my regular maintenance handled timely and at the dealership. I was 75 miles from the dealership and had to spend $521 to have it towed to the dealership. My truck lost power so

THE BACKUP CAMERA stopped working. When I did an internet search, "my backup camera does not work", many posts came up. In the tailgate wiring harness, one wire in the bundled wire broke, that wire supplys the camera video. It is a good safety feature to prevent hitting something or someone. Honda will not voluntarily repair it. My tailgate is rarely used. I think the door swing alternate way to open the gate is what cause the stress on the wire and it to fail. My car ar 3 years old just went out of warranty when it failed. About 3 months after the warranty expired. I called the local Honda parts departement, he said they changed the design of the wiring harness in 2019. It is was a known design flaw.

The contact owns a 2018 Honda Ridgeline. The contact stated that while driving approximately 50-55 MPH on I-40 Westbound to I-25 and making a turn in a construction zone, the passenger’s side air bag deployed without warning or impact to the vehicle. There were no reported injuries. The air bag control message was displayed after the failure. Two days later, the system indicators produced a failure with the road departure mitigation, collision mitigation, trailer stability control field assist, vehicle stability control, power steering, air bag system, and adaptive cruise control. The brake system warning light was illuminated after the parking brake was released. The local dealer was not contacted. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not notified. The failure m

The backup camera has stopped working, at least the imaging part. This makes backing up riskier, especially in parking lots, driveways or where pedestrians may be behind me. I have not been to the dealership yet as it failed today but this seems a common complaint for Ridgeline owners online. I have not had others inspect this problem yet. There was no warning, yesterday worked fine, today it doesn't work. I took a picture of the broken wiring harness at the corner of the tailgate, looks same as what I found online. Truck is a 2018 model with between 70 and 80K miles.

The backup camera intermittently works. When put in reverse, sometimes I’ll have a black screen with grid lines, other times just a blank screen. Yes, it is available for inspection. I cannot see persons and property when backing up. I am afraid, in reverse, of running over persons shorter than the vehicle that only the backup camera would pick up. This has not been reproduced or confirmed by a dealer or service station. The vehicle has not been inspected by another entity. There has been no warning lights or messages from the vehicle about the issue. I purchased the vehicle in October 2022 and the issue started two weeks after purchase.

Initially the car would not turn on. We were able to start it but then the engine would not turn off. Shop indicated that the Body Control Module is faulty. Honda of Olathe has the component that malfunctioned as of today 11/1/2024. My understanding is that this system controls door locks, windows, lights, turn signal, horn, etc. Malfunction of some of these systems may put my safety or the safety of others at risk. There was a warning message indicating "Keyless Start System Problem".

Water collects behind capless fuel filler flapper and in cold temperatures, an ice plug forms behind flapper. Ice plug prevents opening flapper to insert gas nozzle and and inability to refuel vehicle.

Rear camera is not working due to frayed and/or disconnected wires. It is a terrible design that that normal tailgate use pinches the wires and eventually they become damaged, severing the connection and disabling the rear camera. It is well known and documented problem by dealers and consumers, that has yet to be recalled. It is a safety issue that needs to be recognized and resolved by Honda.

Rear safety camera does not work and can be inspected. Cannot see via camera when backing up. Has not yet been inspected by anyone but myself and no outside party has yet been contacted. There were no warning signs other than black screen when in reverse. Broken wires can be visibly seen at driver's side tailgate hinge point. Appears to be flawed design that does not allow for sharp bending of wires on repeated usage of tailgate.

The fuel pump recall was issued in December 2023 and it still hasn't been repaired. It is almost a year later and when I have tried to contact the dealer and the company about the status of the recall, I don't get a response.

Excessive hood vibration/fluttering at varying speeds (30-70 MPH)

The hood flops in the wind, like a 2 foot long piece of aluminum foil. It's because the glue holding the composite skin to the metal frame has come loose. I'm sure over time, the stress from the wind will cause the composite material to break completely from the hood. Honda dealer wanted Honda to repair it, but Honda will only pay 60%, leaving me with a 1100.00 bill. Not acceptable, since it's a manufacturing defect. I now have a brick and a tie down holding it in place, and you know that's really safe. Since we only drove it in town for the first 2 1/2 years (bought it new off the showroom floor) we didn't know it had a problem. Wasn't until we drove it on I-90 at 80mph, that it had a floppy in the wind problem, it just got worse from then on. Honda dealer in Scottsbluff NE was

My hood is subtly bouncing at speeds over 55mph. I see that many Pilots, Ridgelines, etc. had recalls about the hood latch. I searched to see if my car was on the recall list for that after experiencing the hood bouncing, but it was not; however, it is concerning. I have not had my truck inspected yet, as I just bought it. There are no lights, messages etc. Should I be concerned or take it in?

The contact owns a 2018 Honda Ridgeline. The contact stated that while stopped behind a truck that had attempted to make a left turn, the vehicle began to reverse and tapped his vehicle. There was no visible damage to the vehicle and a police report was not filed. Then a few days after the incident, the contact merged onto the highway at 30 MPH and attempted to apply the brakes however, the brake pedal failed operate as needed. The contact stated that the Forward Collision Automatic Emergency Braking System failed to operate as needed and the contact crashed into the vehicle in front of him without warning. The air bags deployed upon impact. There were no injuries reported and no medical attention was required. A police report was filed. Due to the accident, the vehicle was initially towed

The contact owns a 2018 Honda Ridgeline. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 23V858000 (Fuel System, Gasoline); however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The dealer was made aware of the issue and confirmed that parts were not yet available. The manufacturer was made aware of the issue and confirmed that parts were not yet available. The contact had not experienced a failure. Parts distribution disconnect.

The problem revolves around the rear-view camera failing through the normal use of the vehicle. The issue affects 2017-2018 Ridelines, a number of whose owners complain that the screen goes black when they try to reverse. The complaints suggest that the wiring harness going from the main body of the vehicle into the tailgate, where the camera is located, suffers severe damage caused by the normal opening and closing of the tailgate. In my case I've confirmed this is true. Backup cam suddenly stopped working. Inspected wiring to backup cam at back where tailgate is and confirmed wiring is severed.