2006 Honda Ridgeline Rtl Crew Cab Pickup 4-door 3.5l on 2040-cars

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Texas teen is 10th Takata airbag victim

A 17-year-old high school senior from Richmond, Texas, died in a 2002 Honda Civic on March 31 after the Takata-supplied airbag inflator ruptured. This is the 10th fatality linked to the faulty parts in the US. Honda and US regulators confirmed that the airbag exploded, according to Reuters. The fatal incident occurred when the Civic's driver rear-ended a Honda CR-V. The teen was wearing a seatbelt and wasn't speeding. "Everybody should have walked away from this," Fort Bend County Sheriff's Deputy Danny Beckwith told Reuters. However, a piece of shrapnel from the inflator cut the driver's carotid artery, and the person died. With this latest fatality, there have been 10 deaths and over 100 injuries in the US from exploding airbag inflators. Nine of the deaths have happened in Honda vehicles. The other was in a Ford Ranger pickup. Investigators at the Independent Testing Coalition placed the cause of the explosions on a combination of the inflator's chemical, design, and the weather. The ammonium nitrate propellant can explode with additional force when exposed to moisture, like in high humidity areas. The part's construction is also part of the problem because it allows this humidity to access the chemical. Takata has recalled roughly 24 million airbags in 19 million vehicles in the US. The latest tally from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration showed that as of March 11, 2016, about 7.5 million inflators have been replaced. All the parts with ammonium nitrate inflators may need replacing someday, which could affect 100 million vehicles. Related Video: Statement from Honda Concerning Confirmed Texas Rupture Statement from American Honda Motor Co., Inc. Re: Confirmed Rupture of Takata Airbag Inflator in Fort Bend County, Texas Statement date: April 6, 2016 During an inspection today, accompanied by representatives of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the Sherriff's Department of Fort Bend County, Texas, and Takata, American Honda confirmed that the Takata driver's airbag inflator ruptured in the crash of a 2002 Honda Civic on March 31, 2016, in Fort Bend County, Texas, resulting in the tragic death of the driver. Our thoughts and deepest sympathies are with the family of the driver during this difficult time. Honda has shared all available vehicle history information collected to date with NHTSA and will continue to cooperate with NHTSA throughout the process of investigating this crash.

Honda getting in on the Daytona Prototype racing action

Racing fans at Sebring are plenty used to seeing Honda powering into the winner's circle, the Japanese motor company having claimed class victories at the endurance race in Florida in 2007, 2009, 2011, 2012 and 2013. Those were all in the LMP2 category, but with the Twelve Hours of Sebring now part of the combined United SportsCar Championship, Honda is branching out into another class: Daytona Prototypes.
The purpose-built racing machinery that were once part of the Grand-Am series are now racing alongside the LMP2 prototypes from the American Le Mans Series under the united championship. So far Ford and Chevy have signed on to power the Daytona Prototypes, and now Honda's joining their ranks as the only manufacturer to field entries in both categories of the championship's Prototype class.
The competition-spec 3.5-liter twin-turbo V6 revealed last month is based on the same J35 engine that powers everything from the Honda Accord to the Acura RLX and MDX. Now it will power the Riley chassis fielded by Starworks Motorsports, competing alongside the pair of Honda Performance Development (HPD) ARX-03b chassis which Extreme Speed Motorsports will campaign under LMP2 regulations, giving Honda a two-pronged, three-car assault on the top class of the new American sports car racing series.

Does the 2017 Honda Ridgeline have street cred?

From a sales standpoint, the gen-one Ridgeline was an utter failure. It had a very narrow appeal, that being the suburban Harry Homeowner crowd. Traditional truckers hated it; no, make that HATED it! They hated it as much for what it was as for what it represented. It was assumed to be soft, a mommy truck; and to their eyes, it was ugly as sin. "Real" truckers would not accept the independent rear suspension, yet seemed ignorant about the fact that our military has been using IRS on severe-duty trucks for years. If IRS is good enough for the combat conditions, using it on a light-duty civilian pickup truck should be a piece of cake, no? I think there's also another issue at play here: classism. I suspect that many truckers didn't like those who were buying these trucks. Ridgeline buyers tend to be college-educated, suburban, and earn enough to have a decent if not better-than-average lifestyle. Many were schoolteachers, accountants, doctors, and lawyers – professionals. In short they weren't blue-collar, hard working, struggling-to-make-a-living truck guys. That didn't sit well with many. It was like their "space" was being invaded, maybe even their lifestyle was being threatened. I can't tell you how many derogatory comments I've read from traditional truckers over the last decade directed against Ridgeline owners. Many centered around a lack of masculinity of Ridgeline owners, or that that they were bought by people who didn't "need" a truck, that a minivan would have been a better choice. Many were owners of big diesel pickups who felt compelled to compare their heavy-duty trucks to this smaller mid-size truck. You get the picture. So here we are with the gen-two Ridgeline. Has Honda rectified its image as a truck maker? Yes and no. Yes in that the truck has shed its polarizing looks. In fact I think it's quite handsome, and will have a vastly broader appeal as such. Yes in the fact that it's been brought up to date mechanically, and the technology is vastly superior to the old model. Yes in fact that it should prove to be more economical than the old truck. Yes in the fact that it's more powerful, and that the AWD is vastly superior to what was offered before. Yes in the fact that it should function better, both as a truck and as a family vehicle. No in the fact that it will still be viewed as a "girlie truck" by many. No in the fact that there is no "macho" trim level available.