Table 1 shows one common exterior lighting related problems of the 2026 Honda Ridgeline.
| Problem Category | Number of Problems |
|---|---|
| Exterior Lighting problems |
Automatic headlights have a delay in turning off the high beams that causes oncoming traffic to be subjected to high beams until they are way too close.
The auto high beam features turns on and off indiscriminately, often going off on a dark section of road or staying on with oncoming traffic. This is dangerous as I lose clear vision of the road or the oncoming driver could be blinded by the light. The dealer admits that the feature, which is listed on the car sticker and in the manual, effectively does not work. Honda will say that it works as designed. In which case it is a faulty design. My Subaru outback has the same feature that works flawlessly, so I do understand what proper operation is. Additionally this and other safety features are suppressed under 45 miles an hour. Typically the safety features are most valuable on single lane roads where the speed is less than 45 mph.
Auto dimming headlights, regardless of any changes settings will only engage the high beams a few seconds at a time regardless of current lighting conditions or light on the road. Even in the total lack of any extension light source the lights will change to high beams and a few seconds later revert to low beams.
The headlights auto-dimming feature on this vehicle does not work properly. While on during night driving, it will constantly switch from high beam to low beam, back and forth, every few seconds creating a strobe effect. The truck reacts to roadside signs as if they were oncoming cars and sometimes fails to dim light when cars are approaching. I have had it switch from low beam back to high when vehicles are quite close which causes the other driver to switch to high also which means neither of us can see well. Truck was purchased new from mike patton Honda, lagrange, GA in December, 2025. I took it in to see if they could correct the problem and was told by the service guys that I was the only person who had ever complained about such a problem. They checked the truck over and said they could find no problems. A quick search online indicated that this problem began occurring with the 2020 Ridgeline and continues to be unchanged up the present. The puzzling aspect of the problem is that I also purchased a new Honda accord about a week later and the auto-dimming feature in the accord works very well with none of the problems that I have in the Ridgeline truck.