Honda has a clear winner in the newly redesigned 2017 Honda Ridgeline, and you’ll find many who agree that it’s the best in class.
Accolades
The new Ridgeline is the North American Truck of the Year for the second time in its short history. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety awarded it a Top Safety Pick+ rating when equipped with LED headlights and front crash protection. This award helped it win the Truck of the Year for 2017.
Auto123.com made the 2017 Ridgeline their pickup of the year, as well. Auto123.com likes its smooth lines, car-like drive and the technology upgrades Honda added to the 2017 model.
Car and Driver put the Ridgeline on its 10 Best Trucks and SUV list. The folks at Kelley Blue Book gave the Ridgeline the award for the 2017 Best Resale Value. U.S. News & World Report gave it a 9.1 out of 10 score for first place in their Compact Pickup Truck list.
With all these awards under its belt, it’s no wonder that the Ridgeline has earned favourable reviews from publications like Consumer Reports, CNet and Motortrend.
The Technology
Many of the awards revolved around the high-tech features that make up the Ridgeline.
Within the safety system, Honda has put its most innovative packages. They created the Collision Mitigation Braking System ™ (CMBS™) that assists you when you’re under pressure. The Forward Collision Warning system senses objects in front of you and uses the CMBS™ to brake on your behalf if your reaction is too slow.
Technology keeps you in your lane. Between the Lane Departure Warning and the Lane Keeping Assist, you always stay between the lines. The system can alert you to a drift over the centre lane or can steer you back into your lane by applying torque to the steering. The key to this system is in your turn signal. As long as you signal your intentions, the lane technology does not interfere.
Honda also offers the Road Departure Mitigation system in the Ridgeline. It works with the steering and brake systems to keep you from drifting off the road.
When you have the cruise control engaged, the Adaptive Cruise Control system helps you keep a set speed and a safe following distance. If it determines that you are coming up too quickly upon another car, it will slow you down until you are once again at a safe following distance.
HondaLink™ is an emergency system that will bring you help when you need it by detecting a deployed air bag.
Why it’s the Number One Truck
In addition to the safety features, here are some of the other reasons that the Ridgeline beat out the competition:
Tailgate parties are at their finest with a Truck-bed Audio System that lets you enjoy your favourite music while waiting for the game to start.
It has a Dual Action Tailgate that lets you drop the gate like normal or swing it open like a door. This makes loading the bed easier for some cargo.There is a storage compartment under the bed that lets you lock up your valuables in a secure place. The in-bed trunk system is an ingenious Honda feature.
The entire bed has been extended and widened and is protected by being UV-stabilised and is scratch-resistant. This might be part of the reason that the Ridgeline won the Best Resale Value award.
As you can see, the 2017 Honda Ridgeline has earned its awards, and you need to stop by and see all the other features that we didn’t have room to list here. Test drive today.