Left to warm up, she returned to her Ridgeline’s front on fire.
A Minnesota Honda Ridgeline owner is without her truck after a fire consumed the engine and front end. According to neighbor Peter Zorawski on a Facebook post from earlier yesterday (Dec. 6,2020) he was awoken to sounds of his neighbor pounding on his door. When he went to see what the trouble was about, he was met with the sight of his neighbor’s 2018 Honda Ridgeline slowly burning. With his neighbor’s purse and smartphone still inside, he snapped some photos for her, sharing them along with his Facebook post.
Check out those photos below.
According to Zorawski, this Ridgeline is practically brand new. With only 19,000 miles on the odometer and 100 percent stock, this Ridgeline owner did nothing to her truck that would cause a fire.
With no fire extinguisher readily at hand and no proper means to deal with a fire this magnitude, there’s little we can gather with the naked eye to determine an exact cause since it’s all burnt. Presumably an insurance agent will throughly investigate the area for a possible cause but, at this time, it’s a fire of unknown origin.
Service Bulletin and safety recall 19-013 deals with all 2017-2019 Honda Ridgelines and a potential crack or leak in the fuel pump forming after coming in contact with cleaning detergents (more commonly called car wash soaps.)
According to Honda, corrective actions including inspecting the fuel pump feed line connector or top surface of the fuel pump if it’s cracked. But, seeing how this fire originated in the engine, it’s hard to connect this recall with Zorawski’s neighbor’s Ridgeline.
First gen Honda Ridgelines had a history of HVAC Motor fans and faulty wiring causing a smell of plastic and smoke which could lead to a fire but, by this second generation Honda Ridgeline, that design flaw’s been dealt with.
We’re not aware of any repair history on this Ridgeline but a hastily done repair to the fuel system resulting in a leaking fuel line and a strong enough battery arc could be cause enough for spark leading to a fire if not fixed correctly.
Perhaps this Ridgeline is unfortunately case number one that might lead to a proper NHTSA investigation, or it’s just an anomaly.
As car owners, we should always have some type of chemical fire extinguisher within arms reach, at the very least, in our homes so, in the event of a fire, car or otherwise, we can fight it before the fire department snuffs it out for good.
I will update this post if there are further updates from the unfortunate Ridgeline owner.
Hello,
I have a 2019 Ridgeline RTL-E with 17,500 miles on it that basically did the same thing. I was just backing into my parking space when I noticed a bit of smoke coming from under the hood. When I open it there were flames, low, between the firewall and back of the engine block. I immediately called 911 and ran to get a fire extinguisher from my place of business, by the time I got back flames had engulfed the front and it was too late to save the vehicle. The insurance company has been great and I will be getting a new Ridgeline as soon as one can be located. I am sure this is not an endemic problem with the vehicle and the cause is being looked into by the insurance company and of course they have been in contact with Honda.