Honda Ridgeline Towing Capacity by Year and Drivetrain

How much can a Ridgeline tow, by model year

Honda publishes one towing figure per trim and drivetrain for each model year. Find your year in the table, then read the drivetrain note in the middle column if the truck is a 2020 or older.

Each year comes from Honda's own specifications release for that year on hondanews.com: the 2017 U.S. specifications, the 2018 and 2019 releases, the 2020 release, the 2021 release and the releases for 2022 through to 2026. The 9-speed automatic arrived for 2020; the V6 is unchanged across all ten years.

Can a Ridgeline pull a camper?

A small one, yes, if both the trailer's loaded weight and its tongue weight fit. The weight limit is 5,000 lb, and Honda also caps the truck and trailer together at 9,986 lb, a figure it calls the Gross Combined Weight Rating.

The second limit is the one that catches people. Honda's published payload for 2026 runs from 1,509 lb to 1,583 lb depending on trim, and everyone in the cab, everything in the bed and the trailer's tongue weight all come out of that same number.

So the check is two comparisons. Put the camper's loaded weight, from its own weight label or a scale ticket, against 5,000 lb; then add its loaded tongue weight to the people and gear you carry and compare that with your truck's payload. Honda's 2017 press kit is the one document that states what its rating assumes: two passengers and 110 lb of cargo.

Which 2026 Ridgeline tows 5,000 lb

All of them. The trims differ only in what they weigh, which changes how much payload is left for people, gear and tongue weight.

Figures from Honda's 2026 specifications release. There is one engine, one cab, one bed, one final drive ratio and all-wheel drive on every trim, so Honda publishes no further combinations to look up; the Ridgeline model page quotes the same 5,000 lb figure. Payload shifts a little with the options fitted to an individual truck.

Front-wheel drive or all-wheel drive: it only matters up to 2020

Honda sold two drivetrains from 2017 to 2020. The all-wheel-drive versions were rated 5,000 lb; the front-wheel-drive versions were rated 3,500 lb, 1,500 lb less. The combined truck-and-trailer limit was lower too, 8,201 lb instead of 9,986 lb.

For 2021 Honda made its i-VTM4 all-wheel drive standard and dropped the front-wheel-drive versions, so every Ridgeline from 2021 on carries the single 5,000 lb rating. Which trims offered which drivetrain also moved year to year: the RT was front-wheel drive only for 2018 and 2019, while the RTL-E and Black Edition were all-wheel drive only.

What Honda says about the truck and its trailer equipment

The Ridgeline is a unit-body pickup, with MacPherson strut front and multi-link rear suspension on every trim and an off-road tuned suspension on the TrailSport. Honda says the unibody frame is stronger than conventional body-on-frame designs and that about 45% of the body and frame is high-strength or ultra-high-strength steel. Those are Honda's claims, not measured results.

On the towing side Honda lists a high-capacity radiator with two high-power fans and a heavy-duty transmission cooler, standard on every trim in the current spec tables. For 2017 it also named Trailer Stability Assist, part of the stability control system, which damps trailer oscillation with the brakes and, if needed, slows the truck. The other unibody pickup shoppers put against it, the Ford Maverick, publishes its own ratings by year and engine.

Honda names no factory tow package in any model year from 2017 to 2026. The Class III hitch receiver is integrated, with the 7-pin connector standard from 2021, and Honda's own footnote still reads that towing requires accessory towing equipment.

Hitch, trailer brakes and tongue weight

Honda sets the tongue weight limit and the trailer-brake requirement in the towing section of the owner's manual for your model year, and that is where to read them. This page gives no figure for them because the manual could not be verified against Honda's own hosting, and the specifications releases print nothing beyond the Class III hitch class. Nothing published here is a substitute for that section.

Trailer wiring beyond plugging into the factory 7-pin connector, and any change to the hitch hardware itself, is work for a qualified shop. General towing practice for light trucks and trailers is covered by NHTSA's towing guidance.

Finding the figure for your own truck

Two labels inside the driver's door carry the numbers for your exact truck: the certification label with the Gross Vehicle Weight Rating, required by federal rule 49 CFR 567.4, and the Tire and Loading Information placard, which states in plain words that the combined weight of occupants and cargo should never exceed the pounds printed on it. That second figure is your payload.

Neither label shows a trailer rating, so for the towing figure match your model year, trim and drivetrain to the row in the table above. The full procedure, label by label, is on the page about finding your towing capacity.

If you are comparing mid-size pickups

The Ridgeline is unusual in publishing one towing figure for the whole line. Body-on-frame mid-size trucks print different ratings by cab, bed, engine and axle ratio, so a headline number from a brochure rarely matches the truck on the lot. If the comparison is open, read the figures for the build you would actually buy, which is how the Toyota Tacoma ratings are laid out by year.

Common questions