The Honda Ridgeline is a dark horse. It’s a non-US-branded large pickup sold in the United States, but it’s more domestic than most vehicles in the country, having been assembled in Lincoln, Alabama since 2008 (along with the Honda Odyssey and Pilot). It competes with other giant pickups like the Ford F-150, Chevy Silverado, GMC Sierra, Nissan Titan, Toyota Tundra, and Dodge Ram, and is more reliable than most of them with the notable exception of the Tundra. In other words, if you’re going to buy a pickup for reliability, this is one of the few worth considering.

Because the Ridgeline is reliable, safe, and a rather good value due to its smaller name recognition in comparison to the other big pickup trucks, it’s become surprisingly popular among rural families with young children. As a result, as I did with the Tundra, I took a look at the Ridgeline to see if it were as up to hauling 3 car seats across the back rows as it was to hauling bales of hay and blocks of concrete. The good news is that they were more than up to the task. Before getting into the details, however, let’s take a look at rear-facing, forward-facing, and other suggestions for keeping your kids safe in your Ridgeline.

For me, everything starts with rear-facing. To keep your infants, toddlers, and preschoolers as safe as possible, I typically suggest keeping children rear-facing as long as possible (until 4 or 5 like the Swedes), followed by harnessing until they can safely use booster seats (until at least 5, like the Swedes), and then boostering until the 5 step test is passed (typically between 10, 11, and 12). Beyond that, I suggest keeping kids in the back seat until at least 13, and delaying teen solo driving until 18 if possible.  Even if you’re in a large vehicle, you’ll protect your children far more by properly restraining them than by skipping stages.

Now that’s out of the way, let’s take a look at what worked and what didn’t. The fact of the matter is that with a vehicle as large as the Ridgeline, you typically aren’t going to have any issues with 3 across car seat installations in terms of width; your main challenges will have to do with front-to-back room, which depends on your cabin sizes. That said, this is likely to be the most thorough 3 across car seat guide for the Honda Ridgeline on the Internet, and I’ll keep adding to it over time.

You can access the complete 3 across guide for every vehicle here and the complete list of recommended seats here. The Canadian car seat guide is here. 3 across car seat images are courtesy of Wikipedia.

2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 Honda Ridgeline

Guaranteed 3 across installations: 

Clek Fllo (x3).

Clek Foonf (x3).

Diono Radian 3RXT (x3).

Diono Radian 3RX (x3).

Clek Oobr (x3).

Diono Rainier (x3).

Maxi-Cosi RodiFix (x3).

Chicco KeyFit 30 (x3).

Diono Rainier (x3).

Diono Pacifica (x3).

Diono Olympia (x3).

Combi Cocorro (x3).

Chicco KeyFit 30, Britax Pinnacle 90, Clek Foonf.

Clek Fllo, Britax Pinnacle 90, Chicco KeyFit 30.

Clek Foonf, Britax Frontier 90, Chicco KeyFit 30.

Clek Fllo, Britax Frontier 90, Chicco KeyFit 30.

Graco Size4Me 65 (x3).

Graco Contender (x3).

Tips and Tricks:

The second generation of the Honda Ridgeline is close to 79 inches wide and 210 inches long in all trim levels. What this means is that you’re going to be able to fit most anything in the second row as long as you have enough front-to-back space and are willing to use seat belts instead of LATCH for the installations.

2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 Honda Ridgeline

Guaranteed 3 across installations: 

Clek Fllo (x3).

Clek Foonf (x3).

Diono Radian 3RXT (x3).

Diono Radian 3RX (x3).

Clek Oobr (x3).

Diono Rainier (x3).

Maxi-Cosi RodiFix (x3).

Chicco KeyFit 30 (x3).

Diono Rainier (x3).

Diono Pacifica (x3).

Diono Olympia (x3).

Combi Cocorro (x3).

Chicco KeyFit 30, Britax Pinnacle 90, Clek Foonf.

Clek Fllo, Britax Pinnacle 90, Chicco KeyFit 30.

Clek Foonf, Britax Frontier 90, Chicco KeyFit 30.

Clek Fllo, Britax Frontier 90, Chicco KeyFit 30.

Graco Size4Me 65 (x3).

Graco Contender (x3).

Tips and Tricks:

The initial generation of the Honda Ridgeline is close to 78 inches wide and roughly 207 inches long in all trim levels. As with the current generation Ridgeline, what this means is that you’re going to be able to fit most anything in the second row as long as you have enough front-to-back space and are willing to use seat belts instead of LATCH for the installations.

If you find my information on best practices in car and car seat safety helpful, you can do your shopping through this Amazon link. Canadians can shop here for Canadian purchases. Have a question or want to discuss best practices? Send me an email at carcrashdetective [at] gmail [dot] com.