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Issue link: https://adp.epubxp.com/i/696759
www.ADandP.media This time, the fact that the Honda Ridgeline is a pickup truck that is meant to compete with other midsize pickup trucks is unmistaken in terms of its exterior execution. Extensive use of high- and ultra-high- strength steels are used to build the bones of the Ridgeline. the pickup truck that follows in the tire treads of the frst-gen vehicle that, when it rolled out of the Honda plant in Alliston, Ontario, Canada, was unlike what people then—and presum- ably now—considered to be pickup-truck-like in appearance. And it all came down to one simple thing. When you think of what a "pickup truck" looks like, regard- less of manufacturer, you undoubtedly picture (1) a cab of varying size and confguration and (2) a rectangular box behind the cab. The two come together such that there is a 90-degree angle formed by the visual intersection of the back of the cab and the top of the box. But back in 2005, when the Ridgeline was launched as a model year 2006 vehicle, the cab and the box came together not with an "L" shape, but as though a right triangle was inserted between the two. For many people this design not only seemed unusual—the whole notion of a unibody truck was futuristic onto itself, when "real" trucks had a good solid set of frame rails below, and here was something that seemed visually aerodynamic, and when you had things like the Dodge Ram 1500 with an upright, in-your-face grille that seemed to scof at aero, that body side appearance wasn't an advantage for the Ridgeline—but it didn't seem like a "real" truck. So the designers and engineers for the 2017 Ridgeline— designers in Torrance, California; engineers in Raymond, Ohio—went to work at that intersection, eliminating the "buttress-style" body structure in the forward portion of the bed, replacing it with a truss-style inner construction. Not only is there the visual beneft of appearing more truck-like, but there are actually benefts of the new approach: the torsional rigidity of the new model is 28 percent greater than that of the previous model. (There are also a couple of other advantages: (1) the side panel on the truck bed of the new model is easier to stamp than in the previous; (2) as there is now a more-conventional rear fender that is bolted in place, in case of collision, it can be more readily removed and replaced.) But maybe we're getting ahead of ourselves here. Honda is about Accords and Civics, right? Well, 55 AD&P; ∕ JULY 2016 RIDGELINE