Owners of dirty Honda Ridgelines are being told to not wash their trucks as part of a recall of more than 100,000 2017-2019 model year trucks.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration issued a recall for 106,683 of the vehicles because they could catch fire after being washed. The acid from car wash soaps could cause the line in the fuel pump feed to crack.
If fuel leaks from the line, that significantly increases the odds the truck will catch fire. The problem was uncovered in January, but the recall won’t begin until March 7.
Truck owners should the vehicles into their nearest dealership in early March to have the pumps and, if necessary, pump cover, replaced free of charge.
(Recalls and incentives hammer Honda’s earnings. Click Here for the story.)
It’s the second large recall Honda’s issued in recent days due to a fuel pump issue.
Last week, Honda recalled 437,000 vehicles in the U.S. to fix a fuel-pump issue plaguing six-cylinder engines, causing stalling or limiting acceleration. According to the automaker, a software update should resolve the problem; however, in some instances the fuel pump will need to be replaced.
(Click Here to see how Honda is partnering with GM on autonomous vehicles.)
This could, in hot weather, cause the engine to stall or limit the acceleration of the vehicle. The vehicles affected in this action include: 2016-2018 Acura MDXs, 2015-2019 Acura TLX V6s and 2015-2017 Honda Accord V6s.
Honda said it received no reports of crashes or injuries because of the issue, and like the above action, will begin fixing the problem in early March. The company said in its last earnings call that recalls – largely related to the Takata airbag scandal – played a major role in its earnings falling 71% during its fiscal third quarter.
(To see more about Honda’s plans to debut urban EV concept in Geneva, Click Here.)
The third-largest of the Japanese automakers reported a profit of 168 billion yen for the quarter ending Dec. 31, or $1.5 billion. That was down from 570.3 billion yen a year earlier and fell well below analysts’ consensus forecast according to polling by Refinitiv.
I imagine Honda won’t be the only company affected by this issue. All OEMs need to learn about this mysterious soap. This should be a good forum to collect info.