2006 Honda Ridgeline
Complaints about this year name motor far more often than the other years of this generation — 10% of them, about 24× the usual rate of 0.4%.
First year of a new generation. The Honda Ridgeline was redesigned for 2006. A first year carries problems nobody has found yet, and they are found by the people who buy it — which is worth knowing before you become one of them.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 240 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 78 |
| Involving a crash | 21 |
| Involving a fire | 15 |
| Recalls | 14 |
| EPA combined | 17 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- motor — 19.2% of this year's complaints, against 7.1% across the other years of this generation (2.7×). Owners wrote it as: motor, blower, harness, blower motor.
- radiator — 14.2% of this year's complaints, against 4.4% across the other years of this generation (3.2×). Owners wrote it as: radiator, fluid, transmission fluid, coolant.
- thank — 7.5% of this year's complaints, against 1.4% across the other years of this generation (5.4×). Owners wrote it as: thank, email, xxx information, complaints about.
Words owners used for the same problem are counted together, so a fault written four different ways is measured once. Grouped by which complaints they appear in, not by a list anyone wrote in advance.
Also unusual this year
- out — 18% of complaints, 3× usual
- radiator — 8% of complaints, 20× usual
- stopped — 8% of complaints, 20× usual
What owners wrote
HEATER BLOWER MOTOR STOPPED WORKING,SMELLED HOT, PUT A TEST LITE ON FOR POWER, NO POWER TO RESISTOR, UNPLUGGED RESISTOR, CHECKED BLOWER MOTOR HAD POWER, TRIED TO UNPLUGGED WIRE FROM BLOWER MOTOR, TOOK BLOWER MOTOR OUT TO TRY AND UNPLUG, WIRE WAS BURNED TO PLUG…
WHILE DRIVING VARIOUS SPEEDS, THE CHECK ENGINE INDICATOR ILLUMINATED WITHOUT WARNING. IN ADDITION, A STEEL WASHER CORRODED AND CAUSED TRANSMISSION FLUID TO LEAK INTO THE RADIATOR. THE TRANSMISSION AND RADIATOR WERE REPLACED. THE [VIN] WAS MADE AWARE OF THE FAI…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 19V182000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 19E068000 VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL Fixed free of charge.
- 19V501000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 19V499000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 06V270000 EQUIPMENT
- 17V029000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 15V320000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 14V700000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
Showing 8 of 14. The rest are on NHTSA's site.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Honda Ridgeline was compared against its own history rather than against other cars, which removes popularity and age from the answer — a common car draws more complaints at equal reliability, and an older one has had longer to accumulate them. A year is flagged when it drew at least 2.5× this model's median and at least 50 complaints.
This is a fault record, not a review. Nobody files a federal complaint to say the car was fine, so it shows what tends to go wrong — not whether owners liked it, and not whether it is a good car.
Source: NHTSA complaints, recalls and investigations, retrieved . Look this vehicle up directly on NHTSA's site to check anything here.
Own a 2006 Honda Ridgeline? What happened to yours?
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