Short answer: the Honda Ridgeline is the longest-keeping truck in its class — and it carries one of the shortest factory warranties. Every Ridgeline leaves the lot with a 3-year or 36,000-mile basic warranty and a 5-year or 60,000-mile powertrain warranty. Those are the shortest clocks in the midsize pickup segment, and they run out on a truck owners routinely keep for 150,000 miles and well beyond. Do the fleet math. The second-generation Ridgeline launched as a 2017 model, so every 2017, 2018, and 2019 truck is now past both factory terms on time alone, and the 2020 and 2021 trucks follow through 2026 — while Ridgeline sales have climbed to a record 52,001 in 2023, 45,421 in 2024, and 48,448 in 2025, with 678,589 trucks on record in the United States. That means the largest Ridgeline fleet Honda has ever built is arriving at the end of factory cover right now, on trucks with most of their working life still ahead of them. An extended warranty for a Honda Ridgeline — correctly called a vehicle service contract — picks up covered mechanical and electrical repairs after the factory warranty ends. At Empire Auto Protect, plans start at $69/month, coverage is honored in all 50 states, and you can cancel at any time. This guide covers what Ridgeline owners actually face: the two short factory clocks, the single V6 and two transmissions underneath, the timing-belt service that is maintenance and never a claim, the fuel-pump and camera-harness recalls that are Honda’s free fix first, the repairs owners actually pay for, and how to judge the cost honestly.

Want your exact number first? Get a free quote online — priced from your Ridgeline’s year, mileage, and trim, with no payment required to see it. Or call 1-888-345-0084 — Empire is open 24/7, with humans answering around the clock and a human-supervised AI agent after hours. Empire is built as a technology platform, so covered claims move through a digital process designed for same-day approval — service approved in minutes, not days of phone tag — with integrity and respect in every interaction.

What “extended warranty” means on a Honda Ridgeline

Only Honda can extend Honda’s factory warranty. What third-party providers sell — including Empire — is a vehicle service contract (VSC): a contract that helps pay for covered mechanical and electrical repairs after the factory warranty expires. “Extended warranty” is the everyday name shoppers use for the same product, which is why this guide uses both terms.

• A vehicle service contract is not insurance. Empire’s plans are service contracts, not insurance policies.
• Coverage is honored in all 50 states at licensed repair facilities, following the contract’s claim process, including authorization before a covered repair.
• Your contract’s covered-parts list is the truth. Compare lists, not labels — that rule protects you with every provider, including us. On a Ridgeline, read the transmission and torque-converter sections first, then the all-wheel-drive system, the engine, and the electrical sections, because those are where this truck’s out-of-warranty money goes.

If you own any Honda, start with our general Honda extended warranty page and our Honda extended warranty guide. This page goes deeper on the Ridgeline alone. For the Honda vehicles that share the Ridgeline’s platform and V6, see our Honda Pilot extended warranty guide and our Honda Passport extended warranty guide.

Honda Ridgeline factory warranty: short clocks on a long-life truck

Honda’s factory warranty is simple, consistent — and short. There is no long headline term and no original-owner fine print to decode; there are just two early deadlines.

Basic limited warranty: 3 years or 36,000 miles. This is the bumper-to-bumper term covering most components — the in-bed trunk and dual-action tailgate hardware, the displays and infotainment, the driver-assistance electronics, the climate system, and the all-wheel-drive controls beyond their powertrain core. A truck that tows, hauls, and commutes can use 36,000 miles in about two and a half years.

Powertrain limited warranty: 5 years or 60,000 miles. This covers the engine, transmission, and drive components. Roadside assistance runs 3 years or 36,000 miles, and rust perforation coverage runs 5 years with unlimited miles. Unlike some rivals, Honda’s powertrain term does not shrink for a second owner — it simply ends, for everyone, at 5 years or 60,000 miles from the original in-service date.

Now set those clocks against the fleet, because this is where the Ridgeline’s story turns. The Ridgeline is a two-generation truck: the first generation ran from 2006 to 2014, Honda paused the nameplate, and the current second generation arrived as a 2017 model. Every first-generation truck is long past factory cover, and every second-generation truck from 2017 through 2021 is now past its powertrain term on time, with the 2022 trucks crossing through 2027 or at 60,000 miles. At the same time, this is the most popular the Ridgeline has ever been — its three best sales years on record are 2023, 2025, and 2024, in that order — so tens of thousands of nearly new trucks will join the out-of-warranty fleet every year through the end of the decade, each with 90,000 or more miles of working life still in front of it. A Ridgeline is bought to be kept; its factory warranty is not built for how long it is kept. That mismatch is the whole case for planning the hand-off instead of discovering it on a repair invoice.

To see where the Ridgeline sits brand by brand, our factory warranty expiration guide lines up the factory terms across manufacturers in one place.

One V6, two transmissions, standard all-wheel drive: the Ridgeline hardware story

The Ridgeline is the only unibody pickup in its class — built more like a Honda Pilot with a bed than like a body-on-frame truck — and every second-generation truck carries the same core hardware, with one important split in the middle.

3.5-liter V6: 280 horsepower on every second-generation truck. The current Ridgeline pairs Honda’s 3.5-liter V6 (280 horsepower and 262 lb-ft of torque) with standard all-wheel drive through Honda’s i-VTM4 torque-vectoring system, for up to 5,000 pounds of towing and up to 1,583 pounds of payload. It is a proven, naturally aspirated design with no turbocharger and no hybrid hardware — and proven does not mean cheap to repair when it does fail out of warranty.

The transmission split: 6-speed (2017–2019) versus 9-speed (2020 and newer). Early second-generation trucks use a Honda 6-speed automatic; from 2020 the Ridgeline moved to a 9-speed automatic, which remains standard today. The distinction matters for one honest reason: the 6-speed trucks are the ones with the documented torque-converter history. Honda addressed certain torque-converter failures on 2017–2019 trucks with a warranty extension — 8 years or 150,000 miles for the specific converter condition — and where that extension covers your truck and your condition, it is Honda’s bill first. Read the next sections carefully: an extension for one defined condition is not a warranty on the whole transmission, and it has now expired on time for the earliest trucks it covered. The 9-speed trucks carry no equivalent headline issue — and no extension either. On either transmission, a full replacement is this truck’s catastrophic bill, and it sits in every Ridgeline Honda has built in the last decade.

Then there is the Ridgeline-only hardware: the dual-action tailgate that swings and drops, the lockable in-bed trunk, and the wiring that runs through that tailgate every time it moves. That harness is the subject of two recalls — Honda’s free fix first, below — and a reminder that on this truck even the bed is electrical.

The timing belt is maintenance — budget for it, never claim it

Unlike most modern engines, the Ridgeline’s 3.5-liter V6 uses a timing belt, not a timing chain. Honda’s Maintenance Minder calls for its replacement — sub-code 4, together with spark plugs and inspections — at around 105,000 miles or 7 years, with a shorter interval under severe conditions. With the water pump and tensioner done at the same time, owners typically budget roughly $1,000–$1,500 for the service.

Be clear about what this is: scheduled maintenance, not a covered failure — under any provider’s contract, including ours. No honest guide should let you believe a service contract pays for a timing-belt service. What makes the belt worth a section of its own is the consequence of skipping it: this is an interference engine, so a belt that fails in service can damage the engine itself, turning a planned four-figure service into an unplanned engine bill. Do the belt on time, keep the receipt — a documented belt service is also exactly the maintenance record that keeps a truck cleanly eligible for coverage — and let the contract carry the failures, not the schedule.

The fuel-pump and camera-harness recalls are Honda’s free fix first

Two large recalls touch the modern Ridgeline fleet, and both are performed free by Honda at any mileage.

Fuel pump — NHTSA campaign 23V858. In December 2023 Honda recalled 2,490,460 vehicles, including certain 2013–2023 Ridgelines, because the in-tank fuel pump may fail and stall the engine. Dealers replace the fuel pump module free of charge.

Rearview camera tailgate harness — NHTSA campaigns 24V321 and 22V867. Honda recalled 187,290 Ridgelines from 2020–2024 (24V321) because the rearview camera’s tailgate wire harness may fatigue and break, blanking the camera image; an earlier campaign (22V867) covered 2017–2019 trucks for the same harness design. Dealers replace the harness free of charge in both campaigns.

The rule for every recall is the same: a recall repair is performed free by the manufacturer at any mileage, and it is never a service-contract claim. If your Ridgeline has open recalls, book them with a Honda dealer first, free, before you spend a dollar on anything else. A service contract covers the non-recall failures that arrive after the factory warranty ends — a worn transmission at 110,000 miles is a different event from the recall’s fuel-pump condition, and the distinction matters: recall condition first, dealer, free; later mechanical failure, contract conversation. A truck that is already stalling or already showing transmission symptoms is a diagnosis-first vehicle, not a clean enrollment — coverage is for failures that happen after you enroll, which is exactly why healthy trucks are the ones to protect.

Most common Honda Ridgeline repairs owners pay for out of warranty

As the fleet crosses the 5-year/60,000-mile powertrain line, the Ridgeline’s out-of-warranty bills concentrate where a hard-working unibody truck wears. The ranges below are typical independent-shop ranges for context — market figures, not Empire quotes — and your truck’s actual repair depends on the diagnosis.

• Automatic transmission replacement — typically $3,500–$5,500. Fitted to every Ridgeline and the catastrophic bill in this truck’s life, on both the 6-speed and the 9-speed; torque-converter work alone typically runs $1,500–$2,500 where a converter-only repair is possible.
• All-wheel-drive components — typically $800–$2,000 across rear-differential, transfer, and actuator repairs on a truck where AWD hardware works on every drive, not just in bad weather.
• Air-conditioning compressor — typically $1,100–$1,800. A crew-cab truck that works in summer gets fixed, at summer prices.
• Fuel system, alternator, starters, sensors, and electrical repairs — typically $500–$1,200 per visit across a display- and sensor-dense modern truck, adding smaller bills across a long life — with recall-covered fuel-pump and camera-harness conditions completed free at a dealer first, as above.
• Timing-belt service — typically $1,000–$1,500, listed here for honesty, not as a claim. This is scheduled maintenance with the water pump and tensioner; no contract pays for it, and skipping it risks the engine itself.

Notice the shape of the list: one very large bill that applies to every Ridgeline (the transmission), a working all-wheel-drive system underneath it, and a long tail of four-figure repairs arriving in exactly the years the factory warranty no longer pays for them. That is the textbook profile for spreading the risk with a contract instead of self-insuring it. For the wider pricing picture, see our vehicle service contract cost guide and our extended car warranty cost guide.

What an Empire plan covers on a Honda Ridgeline

Empire Auto Protect sells vehicle service contracts at several coverage levels, and the right level depends on which Ridgeline you own. Powertrain-focused coverage protects the engine, transmission, and drivetrain — the Ridgeline’s catastrophic-bill zone — while broader stated-component and exclusionary-style plans extend to the all-wheel-drive system, air conditioning, electrical system, steering, and suspension, subject to the contract’s covered-parts list. Every plan is priced from your truck’s year, mileage, and trim.

• Plans from $69/month, with the exact price set by your Ridgeline’s year, mileage, coverage level, deductible, and term.
• Honored in all 50 states at licensed repair facilities — your own shop included — following the contract’s authorization process.
• Open 24/7. Humans answer around the clock, with a human-supervised AI agent also answering after hours — because a truck that fails on a Sunday tow cannot wait for Monday office hours.
• Cancel at any time. Empire’s model is monthly and straightforward: customers pay monthly and can cancel for any reason; refunds cover only the unused portion after cancellation, never time the policy was in effect.
• A technology platform, not a mailer. Covered claims move through a digital process designed for same-day approval, with direct, fast handling — service approved in minutes where the claim is covered and documented.

Empire is rated 4.4 stars on Google — check the live rating before you buy, as you should with any provider.

Honda Ridgeline extended warranty cost: how to judge it honestly

At Empire, plans start at $69/month. Always convert a monthly price into a total contract cost before you compare anyone’s offer, ours included: $69/month is $828 over 12 months, $1,656 over 24 months, and $2,484 over 36 months.

Now set that total against the repair table above. One transmission replacement at a typical $3,500–$5,500 costs more than four full years of coverage at the starting price. One torque-converter repair, plus one air-conditioning repair, lands in the same territory as three years of coverage. That comparison — total contract cost versus the one or two real repairs a 60,000-to-150,000-mile Ridgeline is likely to need — is the whole decision, and any seller who will not put both numbers in front of you is asking you to decide blind. Your exact Empire price depends on your truck: a low-mileage 2023 and a 140,000-mile 2018 will not price the same, and a higher-mileage truck may be offered a different coverage level. The quote is free and takes minutes — get your Ridgeline’s exact number here.

When should a Honda Ridgeline owner buy coverage?

Buy while the truck is healthy. A service contract covers failures that happen after enrollment, not conditions the vehicle already has. The Ridgeline whose transmission shifts cleanly, whose recalls are completed, whose timing belt is documented and current, and which shows no warning lights today is exactly the truck that qualifies cleanly — and exactly the truck whose next 80,000 miles contain the bills in the table above. Waiting until a transmission starts to slip turns a coverable truck into a diagnosis-first truck.

Buy as the powertrain clock runs out — which, for most second-generation trucks, has already happened. If yours is a 2017 through 2021, the 5-year powertrain hand-off is here, while the truck’s working life is barely a third spent. Even the newest used trucks cross the line at 60,000 miles. Those hand-off points are where coverage earns its keep.

Used buyers: buy at purchase, after an inspection. A used Ridgeline’s factory cover is defined by its original in-service date, not your purchase date — most used second-generation trucks arrive with no factory powertrain cover left at all. Have the inspection confirm completed recalls, a documented timing-belt service (or budget for one), and clean shifting — on a 2017–2019 truck, also confirm whether the torque-converter extension was performed. An inspection that says the truck is healthy is the moment to put coverage in place — the inspection tells you the truck is sound, and the contract carries the risk from there.

Ready when you are: get a free quote or call 1-888-345-0084 — open 24/7.

Frequently asked questions

How much does a Honda Ridgeline extended warranty cost?

At Empire Auto Protect, plans start at $69/month. Your exact price depends on your Ridgeline’s year, mileage, coverage level, deductible, and term. Always convert the monthly price to a total contract cost before comparing providers — $69/month is $828 over 12 months and $2,484 over 36 months.

How long is the Honda Ridgeline factory warranty?

The Ridgeline carries a 3-year or 36,000-mile basic limited warranty and a 5-year or 60,000-mile powertrain limited warranty, with roadside assistance for 3 years or 36,000 miles and rust perforation coverage for 5 years with unlimited miles.

Is my Honda Ridgeline already out of warranty?

On time, yes for most second-generation trucks. Every 2017–2021 Ridgeline has passed its 5-year powertrain term, and 2022 trucks follow through 2027 or at 60,000 miles. Every first-generation truck (2006–2014) is past all factory terms. Confirm your in-service date with Honda in writing.

What engine and transmission does the Honda Ridgeline have?

Every second-generation Ridgeline uses a 3.5-liter V6 with 280 horsepower and 262 lb-ft of torque, with standard all-wheel drive, up to 5,000 pounds of towing, and up to 1,583 pounds of payload. Trucks from 2017–2019 use a 6-speed automatic; trucks from 2020 onward use a 9-speed automatic.

Does the Ridgeline have a timing belt or a timing chain?

A timing belt. Honda’s Maintenance Minder calls for replacement at around 105,000 miles or 7 years, together with spark plugs and inspections. It is scheduled maintenance — typically $1,000–$1,500 with the water pump and tensioner — and no service contract covers it. Skipping it risks serious engine damage, because this is an interference engine.

Are the Ridgeline recalls something a service contract covers?

No — and they do not need to be. Honda recalled 2,490,460 vehicles including certain Ridgelines for a fuel pump failure (NHTSA 23V858), and 187,290 Ridgelines from 2020–2024 for a rearview camera tailgate harness fault (NHTSA 24V321), with an earlier campaign for 2017–2019 trucks. Dealers complete recall repairs free at any mileage. Have recalls done first; a service contract covers non-recall failures after the factory warranty ends.

What about the 2017–2019 torque-converter extension?

Honda extended coverage for a specific torque-converter condition on certain 2017–2019 Ridgelines to 8 years or 150,000 miles. Where that extension covers your truck and your condition, Honda pays first. It covers one defined condition, not the whole transmission, and it has expired on time for the earliest trucks — which is why the transmission remains the Ridgeline’s central out-of-warranty exposure.

Is Empire Auto Protect insurance?

No. Empire sells vehicle service contracts, which are not insurance and are not an extension of Honda’s factory warranty. Empire is open 24/7 at 1-888-345-0084 and is rated 4.4 stars on Google — verify the live rating before you buy, as you should with any provider.

Our guide to the best extended car warranty companies for 2026 shows how Empire Auto Protect compares with the other major providers Ridgeline owners cross-shop.