2017 Honda Ridgeline: Edmunds Death Valley Shock Test 

I really appreciate you guys performing this test. While the average consumer would not punish their vehicles by putting all of the stress on the shock absorbers, it was still very interesting to see the results.

This video shows that the engineering behind "Off Road" is just badge engineering. Honda does real engineering.

Man Edmunds you guys really kill it with these complex/expensive/intensive shoots. Really enjoy watching these episodes and know it must be 10x the work that the in office or at the track shoots are.

That ridgeline keeps impressing me

We drove a Subaru Outback with 5 people and a Toyota Highlander with 8 people on this road without any issue. I think independent suspension helps a lot. That's why Tacoma and Titan broke rear shocks not front.

WOW 😳 Extremely eye opening. 👍 Honda!

I always see these truck videos and their run through a puddle off road tests. I always say, bring them out to the southwest and a plain ol off road washboard road for at least 100 miles and see what happens. There it is... lol Sure the Taco is king but the Ridgeline for the casual camper and off roader is awsome. Put some 16 inch wheels, level it out so you can get a good air down on those tires on you have a awsome little truck. Now you can go 50 down those roads all day.

These dirt or washboard roads may not push your truck's suspension to the limit from an articulation perspective but it does work the shocks hard. Great test to see how durable a vehicle's shocks are. Just don't go alone when testing.

I'm impressed with the Ridgeline. Most pickup owners seldom venture off paved or well graded dirt roads, myself included. The Ridgeline looks to be a good daily use vehicle. Where I live I Canada, the AWD system would be beneficial in the varied driving conditions of snow, ice and slush. I am definately interested in checking them out this fall when I shop around for a new truck.

I just wish Honda offered a slightly more rugged version of this, like 2 inches higher, all terrain tires, smaller wheels and better bumpers.

Wow, this was a real "shocker" for me. I just sold my 08 Ridgeline after 13 years to my son. He has been harassing me for several years to sell him the truck. I had a really hard time deciding, just like in 08. Almost got a TACO or Ranger. But in the end I got another RL, a 21 model. But this test of shocks is a real surprise, both in the amount of damage and that the RL had the least. I used to drive on AZ washboard all the time, though probably never for 25 miles straight. But back in the 70s and 80s I would do so even in Ford cars! Because that is all I had. Usually very slow, because it would feel like the car was going to fall apart. Though I would go at pretty high speed in a 4WD S10 blazer, but probably always way less than 25 miles. Also on the very 1st generation Toyota 4 Runner(solid front axle), but I could not go as fast and maintain control as I could on the S10 with independent front suspension. But, I never burned up a shock on any vehicle.(though I probably shortened their life) I figure that for decades there are all kinds of vehicles using this washboard Death Valley road to get to the race track. Are they all destroying their shocks? How are they surviving? Is it just a matter of driving slower? I'm guessing most of the trucks most of the time don't burn up their shocks. So what do they do different? Maybe airing down will help, but I didn't even know to do this with my cars back in the 70s, unless I got stuck in sand. Any opinions on how most trucks don't burn up their shocks?

Definitely not what I expected, especially from the Toyota...

That is just crazy to watch I would love to see a lot of videos tested this way

I was a park ranger at Death Valley National Park from 2010 to 2015. During that time, I regularly patrolled the Racetrack Road in a variety of vehicles, including a 2008 Dodge Ram 2500, a 2010 Dodge Ram 2500, a 2011 Chevy Tahoe (Special Service Package), and a 2014 Toyota Tacoma. Other than an occasional flat tire, I NEVER had any mechanical issues arise on the Racetrack Road or any of the other rougher or more technical roads in the park. This makes me wonder exactly how these drivers were operating their trucks. Maybe they were deliberately torture testing rather than driving more conservatively? I always moderated my speed to the conditions of the road and the ability of the particular patrol vehicle I was driving. Even on a long, seemingly endless washboard road like the Racetrack Road, to the extent possible, I kept the vehicle on the smoother tracks that paralleled the washboards along most of the road. Oh and Edmunds, you might want to contact the Special Park Uses Office at Death Valley (deva_permits@nps.gov) and apply for a commercial filming special use permit after the fact, before the rangers there issue you a summons to court. Just saying... :)

I really appreciate this video as my wife and I are seriously contemplating a 2017 Honda Ridgeline as our next vehicle. I currently drive a 2010 Nissan Xterra Off Road that has proven itself very capable off road, and then I also have my billy goat, a 2003 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon that I have heavily invested in to the point it has much more off road ability than I do. Anyway, it's good to see that the Ridgeline can take the kind of punishment you gave it on those dirt roads. I'd be interested to hear what Honda says about the rear blown shock as they certainly touted them as being much more heavy duty than the Pilot's. Patiently waiting for Part 2. Thanks again guys.

Driving down washboard dirt road in a 80 - 100 heat can be brutal, it looks smooth and easy but it takes a toll on the shocks and other equipment. It would have been interesting to take a thermal reading of the shocks before, during and after the drive.

My wife and I were crazy (or dumb) enough to drive to race track playa on our rental Toyota Camry, we made it back and forth without a flat tire, but it was probably the most stressful drive I've ever done, definitely need to have the right vehicle and tires for it, the rocks on that road are very pointy and sharp.

The fox racing shocks on the trd pro would be perfectly suited for high speed desert running. The bilsteins are made for low speed off roading. Still a bit disappointed though.

118k, 2007 Ridgeline. Lots of roads like this in MT, tens of thousands of miles on gravel, washboard. Still on original shocks. Did replace bushings recently.

Very good review, good job guys!

So much for bilstiens shocks....

I will buy a ridgeline soon. Such a versatile truck.

Im impressed. No, not in the ridgeline, that you somehow wrecked so many shocks. I spend about 500 miles a year on roads like this and I've never seen a blown shock. I've got foam core shocks that get hot...but have never leaked or melted the rock guards. The other trucks I travel with never seem to have problems either - The Frontier with bilsteins have never leaked. And the Tacoma and other FZJ80 with OME gas charged shocked have never shown excessive heat or leaking. To be honest...I've never seen a shock fail like this. Again...Im impressed.

Just had a great visit to Dinosaur National Monument in my 2020 Ridgeline. It did great!

Is a cell phone a real phone? It doesn’t hang on the wall and doesn’t have a cord!

Most people don’t realize how punishing washboard roads are. They’ll make a vehicle show its age like no other. I’ve owned the 17 Tacoma and I own a 2020 Ridgeline. Both are fantastic trucks.

Just got to reference and link this video on a TFL video today, when they were complaining about the way washboard was beating up an old SUV. I am now on my 2021 Ridgeline, having traded my 17, and it still is keeping up with my dad's Z71 everywhere he goes (I did upgrade to Falken Wildpeak AT Trail tires). Funny that the "off road" package full size has the same 8" of minimum ground clearance (and same body to ground clearance) as the Honda, the same approach angle, and slightly worse breakover and departure angles (thanks to the longer wheelbase and longer rear overhang).

damn, that was a cool test. just goes to show how much temperature changes things. this might be a good test for a Raptor since it's more high speed, i offroad a lot but i'm going so slow it's not too hard on the truck.

That Toyota Tacoma really disappointed me. Even with off-road packages, the Nissan and Toyota failed. Good work Honda Ridgeline this was a big surprise.

I did this road last year in a brand new 2017 Ridgeline. Three people plus camping gear. Not overloaded by any means. Both rear shocks blew out on the drive back from the racetrack. Dealer replaced them at no cost to me. Now it’s one year later and I need new rear shocks. Looking for options (shocks that is). Still love my Ridgeline. Perfect car truck.

I drove my Subaru Outback to the Death Valley for four times and never check the shocks, springs, and the sub frame at all. And each time I do my oil change at the dealer they never mention any problems on my car. I thought truck especially those call themselves OFF ROADER could have done better, but now you guys really change my mind. It just another advertising technique after all.

Good review on truck OEM shocks, but not trucks. I have worked in Angola Africa for ~5 years and over 2 years in Kazakhstan (temperature range from -40F to 125F) and in both countries extreme environment, the Toyota Hilux performs excellent.

How fast were you going before discovering the shock issues? In the 2005 story, Phil Reed said he settled at 10-15 mph. You never say how fast you were going in this video, but it looks a bit faster than 15 mph.

I would buy the Ridgeline, slap some A/T tires and high-end shocks and call it good. I think this would handle everything I would need.

I'm actually very shocked by this, no pun intended. I was on vacation in Wyoming and drove on plenty of dirt roads fully loaded in a 2008 SUV. I'm now wondering if my shocks are toast. Probably.....

Wow, that Toyota shock is amazing in the way it self destructed.

Best review and reviews so far thank you

At the 6:32 mark. there's a 3-way split screen. Except, two of the frames contain the Tacoma. Leaf springs and solid axle is a dead giveaway. Not only that, but the under-bed spare as well. Ridgeline is independent front & rear suspension, and the spare is stored inside the compartment underneath the bed.

Yes, the Ridgeline really is a great truck. I still love the first gen look far than this redesign, but Honda continues to make a great product.

you guys have the best job in the world.

Thank you all for this.

The Nissan was carrying stuff . You could have divided up the loads on all 3 trucks

The Honda ridgeline is gaining more popularity. Pretty good truck.

Those twin tube rear shocks on the Hondas are no jokes... I do off road with my MDX and those suckers have been pretty darn reliable when it comes to these types of terrains, Granted I travel at a slower pace than this but in no way shape or form my MDX is marketed as an Off Road "Capable" vehicle it simply have GREAT OEM SHOCKS..

im actually shocked that the off road package on tacoma and titan did not hold up. that is like false advertising to a point. Honda showed that their team did their homework and the others cut corners for profit. wish they would take other trucks out to show their true craftmanship.

Great video. Would love to see more comparison videos like these. Thanks for the video

Interesting. I have the exact same Tacoma and due to my job spend a lot of time on gravel roads for long distances. 8,000 to 9,000 miles a year and running some where around 30 to 40 MPH depending on location. I have never seen a shock have those problems unless there is a lot of miles on the shocks.

You cannot deny Honda quality

wow just wow..... looks like all auto makers and aftermarket part makers need to take a run down that road to test their shocks lol

Good job Honda. Shocks are part of the reason I opted for the Z71 package on my Chevy Colorado. For the Z71 they put Nitrogen shocks in instead of hydraulic. Aka no overheating issues. The ZR2 Is hydraulic... but with lots of surface area (super massive actually) and fancy valvework that opens to let the fluid flow... decreasing heat on both accounts.

I remember my brother test driving a Nissan pick up many years back (1990-95?). Anyway, we pulled out on the street and it started to rain. As soon as my brother turned on the wipers, one of them flew off! I see with the trim flying off this Nissan that their quality hasn't improved much in all this time.

Nice review! Would be great to see how some other trucks in the segment compare.

The original shocks on my 2000 Ford E150 Cargo Van handled the washboard roads of Death Valley just fine when I traveled there in 2014. West Side Road at 45mph was very rough but the old van didn't break a thing. Queen of Sheba Mine Road wasn't bad either but I took it easy on that road since the 35-gallon fuel tank hangs a bit low...

Honda reliability at it's best.

“ItS a pILot WiTh A BeD” Yeah... and?

Surprising that the Tacoma didn't do that good. Is there any plans to do the same test with an F-150, Ram, or GM truck?

most trucks come with trash suspension out of the factory though. I blew my trd off road shocks pretty quickly. I also have a trd sport and those were way better in my opinion. now both of my trucks have bilstein 6112s and 5160s in the rear. I off road a lot and I can fly through stuff no problem and have so much more control over turns and everything. also putting weight in the rear is so much better. I personally would recommend every truck owner to upgrade their suspension.

Yes we've learned the Bilstein shocks are not a great as believed. I have to say I'm amazing the Bilstein shocks blew out! But I'm also dismayed the drivers had to damage the trucks before lowering the air pressure in the tires! That's the very first thing I would have done! I've ran dirt roads and beaches all over but not Death Valley, I've never had any problems with the suspension on any of my Chevy Silverado's Avalanche or Colorado with the Z71 packages and Rancho shocks! The heat there had a huge part in the failures of the shocks!

The road to the playa is brutal. Some of the gnarliest washboard I've ever driven on.

too bad you didn't include the canyon/colorado...i really like seeing explosions!

im genuinely shocked on how the ridgeline performed :o

very surprising very cool

Drove the Dempster Highway in 2015 in a a 2013 tacoma. 750 km on washboard one way. 750 km washboard the other way. stock shocks.. still driving my taco on the same shocks. np. every experience is different.

I just now am seeing this video for the first time. Since this video aired nearly 3 years ago, has Toyota, Honda or Nissan commented? I am shocked (pun intended) and am interested to see if these issues were recalled or addressed in later year models.

I wanna go to the Racetrack in my Legacy but I just replaced tires and suspension and I dont wanna do it again rn lol

Thank you, Dan, this was very interesting and educational. I was in Death Valley in February and decided not to take the rental Nissan sedan :-) to Racetrack Playa, and now I'm glad I didn't! (Who reads the fine print about off-pavement driving in those car rental contracts anyway?) I was really surprised that the road blew the shocks on the Tacoma TRD, which is a vehicle that I was thinking about buying. Maybe there should be temperature sensors on shocks like there are pressure sensors on tires!

would like to see how the Tacoma TRD Pro does since it has the FOX 2.5 internal bypass shocks, that the TRD Offroad doesn't have

I would like to see the new chevy Colorado on that road just to see how it performs. I think y’all have found a great road to test trucks on

Interesting that both Toyota and Nissan equipped with bilsteins shock absorbers had failures.

If you go fast over bumps, jutted roads for long stretches, almost all trucks will have shock trouble, especially in the rear where shocks usually arent as good as the front.

Interested how Colorado and Colorado ZR2 would perform also

I don't think this review shows much beyond demonstrating that IFS/IRS suspension is typically a lot better than solid axle suspension at absorbing bumps at higher speeds. IRS in the Ridgeline basically gave the Ridgeline's rear shocks an easier time of it compared to the Tacoma and Titan (with solid rear axles). As a result, the Ridgeline's rear shocks lasted longer.

Well played, Honda. Well played.

Very insightful testing. Thank you! Despite me never going off-road this solidifies the Ridgeline in my top 3. I do however, have concerns over the Honda V6 long term reliability vs. Toyota. Will you be doing a long term review?

I don’t understand how all those shocks are getting blown out by that. I drive a 2007 Toyota Highlander hybrid down that road a couple times a year and the struts are original. No leaks.

I wonder if the manufacturers pay attention to these videos. Unacceptable that the Nissan and Toyota off road trucks could not handle the dirt road in the Death Valley , even if it’s 110 degrees.

It's true that due to less un-sprung weight of independent suspension, the suspension components doesn't get as much of the "shock" as those without independent suspension! I would still never discredit trucks with leaf spring, live axle suspension because of this outcome. Just drive them at a more sensible speed on such roads or upgrade your shocks to beefier ones if you must drive fast over such roads.

This was a setup. Why didn't they show the shocks prior to driving these rigs down this road.

Corrugations will tear everything up I don't care how well you build it.

LOL, At times you can hear the road bumps in your voice. Ive driven Apache Trail in the Superstition Mountains near Phoenix Arizona and it was 5 mph at times because it was gonna vibrate the car apart goin any faster. There were several parts from cars that virbated off along the road. The scenery was worth it though

Good video and thanks for the work. Ill wait for part 2. But realistically the only thing that failed was shocks. I would love to see a true torture test on these trucks to see which one breaks down and becomes undrivable. Thats what matters when your far out. I know its easier said than done. But it would be awesome if each manufacturer pony'd up a truck for the sake of testing. Toyota especially markets their tacoma as being nothing but tough all the way around. I have a second gen tacoma and it is tough for sure.

Look at all the wonderful imports. Broken pieces everywhere LOL

How fast were you going? I drive on corrugated dirt roads here in Wyoming constantly and never had a problem on my 05 Mariner or my 13 Pro 4X Frontier, and our forest service roads are in waaay worse conditions than those. It never gets that hot here however. But I don't do 65 mph on them either.

very entertaining video. thx.

Wonder if the shock issue is because of the off road pkg shocks are a high pressure nitrogen filled

You can change a complete shock but you can’t fix the incredible amount of rattle noise inside of those trucks jajaja

On January 2019, My son took his 2019 brand new Tacoma Off road alone this wash board to the Race track, and went over to the other side of the road. We had the same issue with the rear shot of his Tacoma just like the one here. I guess Tacoma need to beef up its off road package. We took his truck to Toyota, and they said it's impossible for the rear shot to be in that shape. The Toyota dealer refused to fix it. We mentioned this video clip to Dealer, and told them that we took this truck on the same washed board road, and there was evident that Tacoma off road package failed. The dealer told us that they need contact Toyota before they can do anything. Within a week the dealer called my son to bring his truck in as it is still under Toyota's Warrantee, and Toyota finally agreed to replace a new rear shot on his truck. I am not a Honda guy, but Honda must do something right with the Ridgeline to survive the punishment of this washed board road.

speechless, please bring f150 to this test

Welcome the Colorado ZR2 with Multimatic shocks.

You checked these trucks before heading out right?

My god?!? What do people normally drive on that road? Tanks?

this is UNACCEPTABLE... not that everyone will drive on a washboard. BUT... this points out the WEAKEST links. this is the reason why ppl need to waste $$$ to change the shocks periodically. next time you should bring a Colorado ZR2 with you...

Ive taken my 2006 Ridgeline (when brand new) out there twice, and blew (melted) my shocks too! Second time, I blew the dampers in the in dash CD changer. Took my Brand new Quigley Ford Van out there and blew a shock. That Racetrack road is a money maker!! lol. At least now I know its not just me and my vehicles.

Very interesting! That's a real life road anyone can drive down for some adventurers. Very punishing on the vehicles but if you're going to claim your off road prowess, better get your shit together. I'm disappointed in the off road packages.

The Tacoma's bed was moving around quite a bit.

Does anyone know how something like an F150 would do on this?

Crazy both Nissan and Toyota shocks failed. I blame bilstein.

Take the ridgeline and drive up a steep hill for awhile in 4wd. Watch your dash for the hot transmission oil warning to come on. It will.

Love my Honda 2017 RTLT great truck 👍

Why doesn’t Honda make V8’s?