NHTSA Owner Complaint Log
This page lists owner-reported complaints filed with NHTSA for the 2025 Honda Ridgeline. Complaints are unverified consumer reports submitted to NHTSA and do not by themselves prove a defect or defect rate.
Over the past several months, the auto idle stop on my 2025 new honda ridgeline has been acting up, not always kicking off timely when lifting my foot off the gas pedal. It also completely failed to restart twice, disabling the car completely while at a traffic light until I could restart it. The first incident was late last year. The most recent one this past Thursday.
Auto idle start stop feature malfunction during a stop. Struggles to restart. Battery is new but still have issue with idle start stop. Multiple events. Almost no restart. Temporary fix is to turn off the feature manually before driving. Vehicle starts normally from off engine. Problem only happens with idle stops.
I recently purchased a certified pre-owned 2025 Honda Ridgeline with 5000 miles, and within just one week of ownership, The carpet under the rear seat is completely soaked with water, clearly indicating an active leak inside the cabin. After looking into it further, I’ve also seen that water intrusion has been reported as a recurring issue with Ridgelines.
Similar to NHTSA Case #11713532 and 11657197. The idle stop system (AIS) does not always restart causing safety risk. I have been stranded multiple times now where the Ridgeline shuts off while waiting to turn on a highway and then will not restart. Today the dash lights would go out as if the battery was completely dead. I just had this in a few weeks ago for the same issue and the dealership replaced the battery. This was only a temporary fix. It is sitting at the dealership now and they are working with Honda. Please help.
Auto high beams are not working
When driving mountain roads I often need to engage the paddle shift to downshift. When I do, the transmission has a lag where it feels like it goes into neutral for a second, the speed increases instead of decreasing, then the gear downshifts, the RPM's go up, but by then, it has defeated the purpose - I have to brake to slow down. Once I do, the lower gear helps me stay off the brakes until the descent is no longer. This is not a new occurrence, rather, it's been operating this way since we purchased the vehicle new.
The auto idle stop system is not operating correctly when at a light or stopped it tends to go into neutral it has done it to me several times leaving me stranded at the light , for about month and now I’m at the dealer
The 2025 Honda Ridgeline has an unsafe, faulty, improperly designed auto headlight system. Oncoming headlight detection is delayed by several seconds, or non-responsove at all. This creates s situation where my vehicle's headlights "automatically" blind oncoming traffic with high beams. This causes frustrated oncoming drivers to turn on their high beams, blinding me. This happens every time I turn on my auto headlight feature. I am a member of the Facebook Group "Honda Ridgeline Owners Club", with 18,000 members. Dozens of members there have confirmed that their later model Ridgelines experience the same safety issue. They claim that this started when Honda redesigned their front-facing detection camera a few years ago. Please look into this, and press for a recall. Honda has created a very unsafe situation with their faulty automatic headlight design.
Driving down the highway and the sunroof shattered for no reason. Was not hit by anything. Dealer says this is not a known problem. My safety would have been put at risk from flying glass if I had not had the sunroof cover closed
Automatic headlight dimming mechanism does not work well. Sometimes they do not dim to oncoming traffic. When they dim, they do not return to high beam even after returning to highway speed and no oncoming traffic.
The contact owns a 2025 Honda Ridgeline. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the automatic high beam headlights were activated, but failed to illuminate as needed; however, the high beam headlights illuminated when there was oncoming traffic, affecting the vision of the oncoming driver. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, who determined that the vehicle was performing as designed. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 500.
When the automatic dimming headlamp is turned on, the headlamps do not perform as expected. When the bright lights finally did turn on, they didn't dim with an approaching vehicle. I reported it to the dealer, and they told me of a fix but that was for turning the headlamps on at dusk not dimming the headlamps
Auto high beams constantly tun on and off due to reflections from road signs. Other times when cars are coming at you, and they should turn off, they stay on blinding the oncoming drivers.
Automatic high beams will not work. A safety hazard. A multitude of owners say they are worthless, to give up and use the manual dim/bright feature. Those few who say theirs work say the system is overly sensitive - turning on or off the high beams at random times. Sometimes blinding other drivers, other times not providing enough light when needed. Multiple owners said they have submitted complaint to NHTSA with no assistance, to date.
New 2025 Honda Ridgeline Black Edition with under 4k miles on it. Driving one day (10/30/25), smoke started to bellow out from the sides. Nothing on the dashboard indicated a problem. Everyone jumped out and was safe from injury. The truck went up in flames and literally blew up. We have a video of the incident. The truck was a complete loss, and it was difficult to deal with Honda, so we decided settle with the insurance company. Honda after a while stopped taking my calls and would put me on hold indefinitely if I call in. They were given permission to inspect the vehicle from the insurance agency but to my knowledge have not.
Idle stop feature fails to restart. Could possibly leave stranded. The vehicle is new 2025 with less than 15k miles. Auto start feature worked fine for about 10k miles and then started struggling to restart over several weeks. Turned off the idle stop feature. Then took to a parking lot and tested until I got a failure. Very dangerous feature, poorly designed by Honda. I see online that others are reporting the same issue in previous year models. No warning or service lights to indicate a problem or impending problem. I'll be taking to dealer this week for assessment.
Automatic high beam function: Does not work properly, most road signs turn the high beams off, sometimes the high beams turn back on when another car is approaching. They don't activate at all until you speed reaches 45 mph. This is the same issue I experienced with my 2021 Ridgeline. The only difference is that on the 2021 model the function activated at 35 mph. This feature is basically useless and Honda should not be permitted to advertise this feature until corrected on all affected years.
This is design feedback. When taking curves to the right on 2 lane highways and especially when the oncoming is a truck, and the forward collision warning set on short, the system experiences a spurious event: BRAKE warning and wheel shake. Lane departure is off. Both vehicles in their lanes. Suggest Honda use right curve inputs (camera right curve view) to reduce the radar scan field to avoid these spurious alarms. I've not had this experience with numerous other vehicles by different manufacturers. On a right curve the radar is looking at the oncoming lane. This should be analyzed and corrected.
I bought a new 2025 Honda Ridgeline truck from Hendrick Honda, Easley, SC and within the first 24 hours the instrument display showed an “auto idle stop error” and to get service at the dealer. I took it back to the dealer within two days, and they said they ran diagnostics and couldn’t find nothing wrong. The service advisor said “it will probably just go away as you drive it more.” Well, after a couple thousand miles now, it has not gone away but sporadically reappears while driving. I called the service advisor back and he said I could bring the truck back and they could try a diagnostic test again. I asked him to instead contact Honda automotive as this is a known issue with the Ridgeline then call me back to notify me of the solution. He never called back.
My vehicle has 10,800 miles on it, and it is 1 year old. About 1 month ago, the brakes started feeling spongy, and I also noticed a delay in the brake pad returning to its initial position after it had been depressed. I am concerned that this 1-year-old vehicle has already started having issues with the brakes. This is an ongoing issue.
Forward collision warning alarms when oncoming vehicle is recognized. This happens at least 3 times every time I drive. Only happens on 2 lane roads, not divided streets or highways. Very annoying and distracting.
The auto headlights do not come on and if they do they almost always turn off immediately. The will not come on at speeds under 25 and this is too slow. To cap all of this they randomly come on when cars are driving towards you even though I have tried to disable this feature totally. They are a safety hazard and used to work on older models flawlessly.
The contact owns a 2025 Honda Ridgeline. The contact stated that the engine was consuming an excessive amount of engine oil. No warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was taken to a local dealer, where it was diagnosed however, the dealer found no failure. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 1,300.
Automatic headlight dimming system malfunctioning. Headlights randomly activate to high beams and dim under all low light conditions. The system is unsafe as it blinds oncoming traffic under all conditions and the driver in particular in fog. It continually intermittently cycles up and down between low and high beam while driving. The Honda dealer replaced the system sensor but the problem has continued. The dealer said don’t bring the vehicle back as there was no use in continued troubleshooting or repair. The older Honda year model auto headlight systems worked well. The Honda on-line users forums are filled with similar complaints about this newer headlight system failures. I have submitted a complaint to Honda USA. We need Honda to develop a fix for this system.
1) Brakes spongy hard to stop have to pump like old truck to get good pedal. Dangerous almost rear ended vehicle ahead. Family uses caution to drive. Took to Honda world 8-8-25. Tec and sec mgr said nothing wrong w rakes. Ridgeline has 4181 miles on it Cyst num107536 inv # hocs468892 2)blind spot warning light appears in black background near dash. Had to highlight area around it so easier to find. Should b on mirror. Being blind in l eye it is a distraction to observe light. Also warning light is not very bright. If bright sunlight shines thru opposite or vehicle on the light you cannot see it at all Near collision on that
The auto dimming feature for the headlights is ineffective & dangerous. It goes off & on constantly without oncoming vehicles or headlights & also the bright headlights remain on at times with on coming headlights. This happens with ALL sensitivity setting. The delayed turning off even causes drivers in the other direction to flash their high beams headlights back or even turn their high beams on and leave them on. There is no way to manually dim them when this happens & it happens all the time. Honda appears to ignore this known issue! No adjustments or bulletins on this issue.
Auto Idle Stop (AIS) system, a fuel-saving feature that temporarily shuts off the engine when a vehicle is at a complete stop. Drivers say that in some cases, the engine does not automatically restart, leaving vehicles stranded in traffic. Several complainants reported needing to jump-start their vehicles to get them moving again.
My Honda ridgeline had 7,590 miles when it started failing all the dash board lights turned on the engine decelerated I then tried to accelerate it rapidly accelerated my steering wheel vibrated I could not turn or slow down witch caused for me to crash
As I was driving about 25 a 30 mph, I was in a right hand curve. When a vehicle in the opposite lane approached (still on their side of the road) my vehicle braked automatically for 1-2 seconds. This was unexpected and if there was another vehicle behind me then it is possible they may have rear ended my vehicle. The system has warned in similar instances to brake but did not actually apply the brakes automatically. This also happened when a vehicle in front of me was turning and as I had enough room to get by the vehicle again braked momentarily. This happened while going around 5 to 10 miles an hour and was unexpected and unneeded. I have not talked about this to the dealer but there are many complaints on Honda Ridgeline forums about this issue.
On multiple Honda vehicles there appears to be a problem with their turn signal volume. We own both an Acura with the volume perfect; the Honda Ridgeline is just about audible with the software volume at its maximum. After sending a request for assistance for info or update to Honda on their complaint line I've yet to hear back. Multiple stops at the dealership they have not provided assistance other than to increase the software setting. The volume is so low I am concerned that it's going to cause me to lose track that it's on or more so that I think it's on causing a distraction when changing lanes. After searching the database there does not appear to be anything registered, might get this started.
Collision mitigation brake system vibrates steering wheel,flashes brake, sounds alarm every time a car approaches in opposite lane on curves and often for no traffic at all. It gives so many false alarms I've had to turn it off for safety.
Auto high beam turns off and on on dark country road repeatedly with no other cars or light present . This means I lose highbeams when needed the most for animals in road. Also, the system goes from low beam into high beam when a car approaches in opposite lane blinding them. In short , is dangerous to use this safety feature!
1. Soft / Spongy Brakes. Brake pedal depresses 1/3 - 1/2 way to the floor before the brakes grab. I had one close call hard stop incident, and now I allow extra car lengths for safety. 2. In park, the truck rolls noticeably before the transmission lock engages. I'd estimate 3 degrees. Your foot drags noticeably if on ground. Purchased new the end of May 29, 2025 and noticed these issues immediately. Brought truck back to two different dealerships and was told it drives the same as other Ridgeline trucks twice on 6/13/25 and 7/11/25, and everything is okay once. Informed American Honda and we agreed to take it to the second dealership for a third brake / transmission check on 8/22/25. Dealer said everything is normal. Truck built on same unibody platform as the Honda Pilot, similar structure. Other: I have owned other truck brands and have not had these issues. There are no warning lamps, messages, etc. I have contacted / dealt with dealership management and American Honda, CA. Truck is available for inspection. I am told it drives like other Ridgeline trucks, I own two other Honda cars, and their brakes are responsive. I have no transmission roll with my other vehicles.
This is a brand new 2025 Ridgeline with only 900 miles. The Collision Mitigation Breaking System and the Lane Keeping Assist System does not work properly on my vehicle. The dealer where I bought the vehicle (Dick Brooks Honda in Greer) has insisted there's nothing wrong with the vehicle on two occasions. However, I took the vehicle to another dealer; the master technician said there might be something wrong with the radar system in my vehicle and to take it back to the original dealer. The original dealer won't even acknowledge what the other service department said about the radar system. Honda is just parroting what the original dealer is saying. I have a brand new vehicle that is not safe to drive and nobody is helping me. I have captured video on a GoPro of some incidents when this occurs. These systems go off for no apparent reason. When I manually turn off the CMBS, there's a persistent warning message that appears on the infotainment screen entitled, CMBS Problem. That message says: "The Collision Mitigation Braking System has a problem. Restart your vehicle. If the indicator remains on, have your vehicle checked by a dealer." The CMBS is malfunctioning, but how do I know if the system is off when I turn it off when this message appears? The dealer where I bought the vehicle from says "this is normal", but I know that is not true because I have looked at other 2025 Ridgelines and this message does not appear.
On several occasions, while driving at night, the Auto dimming headlights would not dim. Last evening, on 2 different occasions , on a rural road, no road signs, mailboxs . nothing that would cause a issues, the headlights would not go from high beam to regular (or Low beam.) 2 different times , vehicles coming at us, the lights would not dim. Time was apx 9pm , not a cloud in the sky. I had all so noticed while driving on a interstate , the same thing would happen, the lights would not dim,, drive maybe 50' or 5-10 seconds later. they would dim. There seems to be no rime or reason of if or when they will dim. We had 18 and 22 Outback and they worked perfectly , where the Ridgeline has malfunctions. Asking the dealer they have not heard of anything wrong .. I have not had them to check , but have heard from other owners of the Ridgeline and they are complaining about the same thing. Uptill either the 22's or 23 models the auto dimming worked perfectly .. Then Honda changed either the location of the sensor or changed the software.
Dog walked on neutral button while truck was in motion, causing moving vehicle to unsafely go into neutral. Same thing can happen with a child or passenger who accidentally pushes the fully exposed button.
Engine "Stop/Start" turned off when trying to make a turn. When it did the steering would not move. Also when "Stop/Start" turns off it was dangerous when turning. I email Honda and they called me back. They could have it disabled but it would cost $80 and I would have to buy the part and they would install it. This is a new truck bought last month.
Unsafe auto high beams. They do not come on over 45mph. They have a mind of their own and seem to always come on and off at the wrong time. Also is dangerous to the oncoming vehicles that become impaired due to the high beams coming on when another vehicle is approaching. Especially most dangerous when you are on a 2 lane highway. Also the adaptive cruise control is inconsistent and seems to be very laggy and brakes way too hard.
honda placed panels in the cargo area that are toxic and have a high voc. I have been unable to park the car in the garage because of the toxic odor. The other issue is the air in the brake lines, which makes stopping the truck difficult. the truck is heavy and it just keeps moving when the brakes are applied. I went to dealer and they refused to bleed the brakes.it is absurd!!! the panels are a health concern; can these panels cause cancer; this is a safety issue as well. I hope you take this matter seriously. I will be sending this information to the U.S. attorney general. we have to be certain that this panel is not harmful . it is like someone standing in front of you and blowing their cigarette smoke in your face.please look into this matter. the cargo area is under the bed.
The automatic headlight dimmer feature at times doesn’t dim soon enough or at all for oncoming traffic. It will change to dim back to bright or the other way bright to dim for no apparent reason. On very dark roads they do not change to bright at all. It’s been to the dealer 3 times. On first visit they reported no error codes. On the next visit they said sensitivity was adjusted and said road tested. The did not put any miles on the vehicle and when question about the said road test I was told they tested it in a dark wash bay. The vehicle has only 5017 miles when I first reported but has done it since purchased. The dealer says it doesn’t have a problem and Honda America will not get involved.
My auto idle start has failed on approximately four occasions, initially on 01/29/25, and on three subsequent occasions. As I went to move forward through the intersection, the auto idle start initially engaged then immediately stopped and the vehicle wouldn't immediately restart. On the other three occasions, the vehicle did restart after stopping. On two occasions, there have been dash messages -- once "Auto High Beam Error" and another time Brake System Problem." The message disappears quickly. Other times there is no message. At other times, there intermittently seems to be some hesitation on auto idle start. I have taken it to the dealer on 02/10/2025 and 02/20/2025 (Hilton Head Honda) and on 12/23/25 (Stokes Honda of Hilton Head). The dealers, in each of three services, were unable to recreate the problem and unable to offer a repair.
The automatic high beam feature in late model Honda Ridgelines presents significant safety concerns. There are two primary issues: 1. Activation Speed and Sensitivity: The auto high beams only engage when the vehicle reaches speeds above 40 mph, which is higher than many competitors. Furthermore, the system frequently toggles between high and low beams, particularly when encountering yellow road signs, leading to potential distractions for the driver and reduced visibility in critical situations. 2. Inconsistent Performance: There are instances where the high beams fail to deactivate when approaching vehicles are detected, especially on curves. This inconsistency can create dangerous conditions by blinding other drivers, which is particularly concerning at night when visibility is crucial. In contrast, my experience with the automatic high beams in a 2020 Honda CR-V has been flawless, highlighting a disparity in performance between models. The Honda Ridgeline Owners Forum reflects widespread dissatisfaction with this feature, with numerous posts detailing similar grievances from other owners. Despite raising these concerns with a Toyota service dealer, I was met with indifference; the supervisor stated there was nothing they could do and suggested I report the issue instead. Given these factors, it is clear that the automatic high beam system in the Ridgeline is not only ineffective but could potentially lead to hazardous driving conditions.
While driving with the Adaptive Cruise Control and the Road Departure Mitigation System engaged, then fails and disengages. The warning system indicates a problem that should be reported to the Dealer. This has happened on multiple occasions and was repaired by the dealer when the car had 254 miles by replacing the tailgate upper wiring harness and the Brake/Cruise Control switch. The part number replaced was 36750-TY0-J11 35350 SW. Since that repair, the problem has resurfaced at 4385 miles multiple times. After stopping and restarting the car multiple times, the systems apparently resets itself, but the problem reoccurs multiple times after that. I have no confidence that the system is consistently reliable. The problem initially occurred on Jan 17 2025 and again Sept 19, 2025
While turning left on a snowcovered road, my passenger airbags deployed when I slid into the curb. The only damage was to my rear passenger wheel. The force to the vehicle should not have been hard enough for the airbags to deploy. No warning lights prior to the accident.
Multiple instances of emission system warning/stop start failure warning alerts.Warning lights will randomly go off then back on. Replaced sensor and it failed within a month. Truck has under 21000 miles.
I want to bring to your attention what I consider a safety concern with the 2025 Honda Ridgeline Black Editition that I just purchased and an important feature that does not function properly. My concern is the the Auto High Beam Headlight feature. This is one of the features for which I choice to purchase this particular pickup truck. The issue/problem is as follows. The auto high beam feature is very slow to respond and extremely inconsistent as to when and why the headlights switch from low beam to high beam and vice versa. For example, I have experienced while driving a two lane very dark windy road with no street lights; the auto high beam feature is very slow to respond and once it does, it will switch very back to low beam if it detects reflections from traffic signs, reflectors in the center of the road, and or such things as porch lights. I have witnessed the high beam feature switching to low beam when going up or down a hill in the road and/or while going around a corner with no on-coming cars. This can be very unsafe because when you are depending on high beams to see around a corner and suddenly the bright lights switch to low beams is it extremely detracting and difficult to see around the corner when going the speed limit 55 miles per hour. I have witness the high beam feature turning back on while approaching an on coming car and or being very slow switch to low beam while approaching an oncoming car. I feel that this could be dangerous by blinding an on-coming driver. One of the most important safety features on my new Honda Ridgeline is for all purposes unsafe and nu-usable. I have not yet brought this to the dealer's attention because I suspect that they will tell me nothing can be done to fix these problems. I however, intend to do so. I have read on-line that this is a very common problem/complaint with later model Honda Ridgelines and other owners have noted that there is currently no fix for this safety issue. Thank you
Transmission delays shifting. Shifts are delayed while driving, slamming into next gear. In addition, when starting vehicle and moving from park to drive gear (forward or reverse) there can be up to a 9 second delay for the transmission to shift into gear. This even allows for the gas peddle to be depressed without any response.
The 2020 et seq Honda Ridgeline includes a flawed and wholly unsafe Automatic High Beam function. This has been well documented for years by owners across various mediums. The issue was not previously present (2017-2019) but appears to align with camera and/or software related changes. It remains unaddressed. I'm providing additional context below. I just traded my 2017 Ridgeline RTL-E for a 2025 Black Edition. I never previously understood the complaints about the auto high beam, as my prior truck worked very well. I never had a "false negative" (failing to turn off for an oncoming car), "false positives" were always for reflective signs or similar directly in line of sight, and the response was virtually instantaneous (both on and off). While I knew about the horrible post-2020 adjustment to only activate above 45 mph (the exact opposite use case for me, whereas I disengage on highway and engage on lower speed, unlit back roads), I was not expecting the dramatic decline in performance. It is now wholly unusable and unsafe, even when the speed criterion is met. The response is incredibly slow (5+ seconds when it turns back on at all), it frequently fails to turn off the high beams for approaching vehicles even on flat, straight roads, it constantly turns itself off for every minor light/reflection (and sometimes won't come back on for miles), etc. Beyond being an unusable advertised vehicle feature on higher trims, it presents an unacceptable safety risk for both the Ridgeline driver and other drivers on the road. No idea why they elected to ruin this previously well-functioning feature. It was a big safety aid living in rural areas and one of my favorite features on my old truck. Having owned/driven other Honda vehicles (beyond the previous Ridgeline), this system grossly underperforms compared to that of their other vehicles.
I purchased a 2025 Honda Ridgeline and noticed that the turn signal is hardly audible. If you have the radio on or the windows rolled down, you will not hear the warning tone. In the infotainment system there is an adjustment that allows you to raise the volume of the warning indicator and even at the highest volume you can barely hear it. I also found that I am not alone and that this ia a common problem with some Honda models. Every other car I have ever owned made a mechanical or audio tone to warn that the signal light is active. This makes the driver behind you question whether you are taking a turn or not, should they pass you or not? I took it to the service department, and they could not tell me how to increase the volume. I had them go to another 2025 Honda Ridgeline and it had the same problem. I think that it is supposed to work with the infotainment system but even with their settings the issue persisted. Even the blind spot detection is inaudible. I think this is negligence on behalf of Honda. You can search on "Honda turn signal inaudible".
The contact owns a 2025 Honda Ridgeline. The contact stated that the high beam lights turn on and off while driving 45 MPH or above at night. The contact stated that the headlights were flashing oncoming drivers. The contact had to deactivate the feature. Additionally, while driving on two occasions using the adaptive cruise control, the vehicle was braking hard. The contact was concerned about being rear-ended. There were no warning lights illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer, where it was diagnosed that the vertical mounting of the radar sensor was slightly off. The dealer leveled the system. The vehicle was repaired, but the failure recurred. The manufacturer was contacted and opened a case. The approximate failure mileage was 99.
Data synced from NHTSA on May 4, 2026