Honda is recalling more than 112,000 Ridgeline pickup trucks for gas tank straps that can rust away over time and potentially break loose from the frame, causing a leak or possibly a fire.
The vehicles recalled are from 2006 thru 2014, and they are vehicles that were either purchased or registered in states where salt is used to de-ice roads in the winter.
The list of states where the vehicles are recalled is as follows: 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, Wisconsin, and Washington, D.C.
Honda will notify owners of the recall and inspect the vehicles for signs of rust damage that can cause the gas tank to detach. Depending on the findings of the inspection, Honda will make necessary repairs to ensure safety or potentially offer to purchase the vehicle from the owner if the repairs are not feasible.
Honda has stated that it is not aware of any accidents or injuries due to this condition, but they are aware of at least five U.S. complaints and several more from Canada.
Honda will send recall notification letters via mail, starting on Aug. 1, 2022. Ridgeline owners may also contact Honda directly at 888-234-2138 and reference NHTSA campaign number 22V430. Owners can also go directly to the NHTSA website and check on recalls for their particular vehicles: https://www.nhtsa.gov/recalls.
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Maybe the fuel tank is protesting fuel costs.
Good point; gas is gold now. 22 gallons of it would weigh about 3500 lbs. :)
Oh my God. How horrible. How could they let such a thing happen? I have seen a lot of recalls but this is the worst one by far. Really Honda?. I mean, you do realize the terrible tragedy that could result to you and your family if you lost a fuel tank while you were driving? That could be up to $150 in gasoline lost!!
Or the engineering feat of the gas tank straps eating the frame and it breaking before they buy it back!
That is another reason to get rid of cars with ICE. If even Honda is not able to reliably strap fuel tank to car’s body who can? GM? Lets get rid of ICE and fuel tanks.
Eye Witness News–Honda Ridgeline drivers are being followed by scavengers collecting fuel from dropped gas tanks on the road. One of the scavengers said there is a fortune to be made from reselling fuel from these dropped tanks. Next could $10 a gallon gas be coming to your neighborhood fuel stop and are bicycles the next big thing in transportation with consumers peddling their way to savings.
I was up in Chicago for the AEW show over the weekend. 93 octane was $7.25-$7.50/gal in multiple places. $10/gal in some places is probably right around the corner.
But over the past three weeks, gas prices have gone down around .08/gal. Takes three days to go up $2/gal. Takes three weeks to go down less than a dime a gallon. Mmmm…now what might cause that to happen???
As long as you have two fuel tank straps (and you should), the chances of both of them giving way due to corrosion at exactly the same time are monumentally low. So if you park outside like I do and pay attention to the bottom of your vehicle like no one does (you there, on your phone — are you listening?), you’ll have some advance notice of this before it becomes super serious.
I’d be a lot more concerned about the transmission because you only have one transmission (but I am super-sensitized to Honda transmission issues).
That list of states is an excellent starting point for Places Not To Live.
Not to rub it in, but let’s review: • ToolGuy advised you not to buy a Honda • ToolGuy advised you of places not to live
a) If you took both pieces of advice, you are not affected by this recall. b) If you bought a Honda but you live in say, North Carolina, you are not affected by this recall. c) If you insist on living in Ohio but you avoided Honda, you are not affected by this recall. d) If you ignored both pieces of advice, you need to visit the dealer to partially address the consequences of your poor decisions.
In Summary: Your life would be better if you followed even half my advice!
While Battery Vehicles are no where near ready to replace all ICE vehicles, when is the last time you heard of a Tesla dropping a battery pack due to a rusty strap?
As someone who has kept a Honda product running 230k miles, in Salt Land.
Honda is very good at knowing what bits have to be stainless, and which can be crappy. For example, the whole exhaust system on my MDX is stainless, except for clamps and brackets. Likewise, the heat shields under the hood on the cats are held with cheap fasteners, and when they rust, the heat shields become tuning forks on the front of the engine. The sound is horrible, occurs just out of warranty, and the dealer wants over $600 to replace four bolts per cat…which, to be fair, are in a bad place to fix. The exhaust system has died a few times, always clamps and brackets. The body is rusting in the classic honda locations, rear wheel wells.
Car makers vary. My e46 had bolts which broke cleanly up until it went away after 13 years-no cheap metal, although the recycled plastic bits didn’t last. The one Ford I had had the lowest quality metal, and I dread breaking any bolts on the MDX-at the same age the BMW was a lot easier to work on.
Someone cheaped out in a place they figured no one would ever see. The spread of good/crap metal on the Honda is much wider than any other car…the crappy fasteners are intentional.
It seems to me Honda has a plan for their vehicle owners to upgrade to a new car. Rust is part of that plan. In the early 90’s they used one-sided electrogalvanized steel for their body panels. Other OEMs were using two-sided EG. Interestingly, for Honda, the steel supplier had to brush the zinc off of one-side before the bake. Why would they go through the trouble of one-sided EG? Maybe a car that runs fine but has a little rust doesn’t meet the image of a customer… leading to a new purchase?
Critical items like gas tank straps should last the life of the vehicle. My 30 year old car still has the original tank straps…downstate NY is certainly not as hard on cars as, say Buffalo but still.
I’m a big fan of WoolWax. Only discovered a few years ago, but this should keep my 99 S-10 going ’til I croak.
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