My first post on an awesome site!! - Here's something that's been bugging the heck out of me. I've noticed on my Ridgeline (brand new '07' White w/ Nav.) that when I swing the tailgate open, the bed lights come on but when opening it in the more traditional way, that is, lowering it, the lights don't come on. On top of that, I looked at another Ridgeline on the dealers lot a few days ago and guess what, the lights came on regardless of which way you open the tailgate. So, now I'm thinking that I've got a faulty switch or something, so I go to yet another Ridge and try it again. This time, it's like mine, the lights come on when opening the tailgate one way but not the other. What's up? Why would this vary from truck to truck? Am I missing something?:cool:

The lights should not come on when the tail gate is lowered this is so the lights don't come on while driveing with the gate down. The trucks in the lot should be the same way. and welcome

The truck on the lot may have had the cargo light turned on manually from inside the cab, rather than coming on because the tailgate was lowered.

Congrats on your new truck and welcome to the ROC.

My first post on an awesome site!! - Here's something that's been bugging the heck out of me. I've noticed on my Ridgeline (brand new '07' White w/ Nav.) that when I swing the tailgate open, the bed lights come on but when opening it in the more traditional way, that is, lowering it, the lights don't come on. On top of that, I looked at another Ridgeline on the dealers lot a few days ago and guess what, the lights came on regardless of which way you open the tailgate. So, now I'm thinking that I've got a faulty switch or something, so I go to yet another Ridge and try it again. This time, it's like mine, the lights come on when opening the tailgate one way but not the other. What's up? Why would this vary from truck to truck? Am I missing something?:cool:


Welcome to the ROC, you gonna find out more than you ever wanted to know about your Ridgeline here. It is truly a great site. Again, welcome.

Your bed lights are working as designed. When I took delivery of my truck, the bed lights would come on when the tailgate was opened either way as well. The service department stated that this should not happen and they tracked it sown to a faulty sensor / switch that detects the tailgate position. Now my bed lights only come on when I swicg the gate open, open the trunk, or turn them on via the cargo light switch.

Enjoy your truck!

Thanks for the responses. This really is a great site! Just an FYI for those who may be interested. I took my Accord in for service this past weekend and while waiting, walked the lot and checked more trucks. I even ran into my salesman who couldn't really offer any new info. He was just as lost as me when I demonstrated. Regardless, after opening and closing more tailgates, I noticed the same as before. On some trucks the lights come on regardless of which way the gate is opened while on other trucks they come on when the gate is swung sideways only. I did something that I usually save as a last resort...I read the owner's manual. It states (and shows pictorially) that the lights should illuminate when the gate is swung or switched from inside. Now at least I know that mine is working properly. However, I don't think they could have that many trucks with bad switches or sensors. Something else going on here! Maybe it will always be a mystery.
:cool:

ya that is driving me nuts too.. i want them to come on nomatter how i open it... any way to make it doo that :D

i want them to come on nomatter how i open it... any way to make it doo that

Yep... Swing Open Tailgate ... lights come on ... close... lights stay on for a bit..
Drop tailgate ... do what you have to do with lights still on...

22-186 Service Manual
5. open it in the down mode . The cargo lights should NOT come on or flicker.


:)

my bed does the same as your's, just go into the cab and press the lighting for the bedlights if u want them on when u lower the tailgate, not much work....

Blackbelt, welcome and thanks for the post.
I was over at my Dad's house over the weekend and he just bought a white Ridge. I dropped the tailgate and the cargo lights came on. This does not happen on my silver Ridge, although I would like it to because I have a tonneaux cover and usually drop the tailgate to remove my cargo as opposed to swinging the gate. One of us has a malfunction. When I looked at the switch that activates the cargo light near the tailgate, it appears that it is not designed to come on when the tailgate is dropped. I am having my Ridge serviced at the dealer on Friday and am having them check it out. My guess is that there is a loose or bad switch on my dad's.
I'll post the results back here over the weekend.

Does anyone know if the cargo lights will go off when I lock the truck with the keyless fob? I really don't want to turn the cargo light on as I get out of the truck, drop the tailgate, throw my hockey bag over the shoulder and have to walk back to the cab to turn the light off (and scratch the living crap out of the side of the ridge or the car next to me).

You can make the bed lights come on when you drop the tailgate down very simply. The switch for the tail lights is on the passenger side of the bed. Swing open the tailgate and remove one of the shims under the switch. You will need a 10 mm wrench and about 2 minutes of your time. You will have to pull the switch line out of the hole about 4" IIRC. There is a connector on the wire about 4" down from the switch.

Please beware that a side effect of doing this modificaiton will be that you cannot drive with your tailgate down at night unless you shut off the cargo lights manually on the dashboard. I had my truck set up like this for a while. I didn't like it and put it back to stock.

I think between ChrisM and RiverFisher we may be on to something. It could be that some trucks have the extra shim in the switch while others don't. This would explain the behavior of the trucks that I looked at while at the dealership a while back. BTW, Chris, Go Bucks - I'm from Columbus!!:)

Well, the trip to the dealer was fruitful. The cargo bed lights are definitely not supposed to come on when the tailgate is dropped. The service manager went out on the lot dropping tailgates and guess what he found? Yep, three out of ten had the lights come on upon dropping the tailgate. He was going to report it to Honda to see if there is a problem that needs to be corrected or if it is OK (he wanted to fix the trucks he found before selling them if needed).
ChrisM-Thanks for the tip on modifying the switch to achieve the "errant" behavior. I think that I will leave it the way it is. Besides it may just give me an excuse to buy a cool Surefire flashlight or something.

Sorry guys, I am rooting for Florida to pull off the upset of the Buckeyes (which are definitely the best team in the land). The Utah connection with Coach Urban Meyer is pretty strong. Either way I hope it is a great game.:)

Greetings!
I have a comment on this-

I tie heavy mountain bikes down on my Ridge. We don't take the wheels off our bikes when traveling..
With just one bike I can position the back wheel to enable shutting the tailgate, but with two bikes I leave the tailgate down.

What I find is that Honda intended for the cargo lights' auto-popon feature when the tailgate open to the side, but not when down in extension mode..
But (to the point), if you stand on the right side that tailgate when it's down the lights will flicker on, step off it and they're back off.. So it is pretty annoying when I have my bikes on there and the cargo lights flickering constantly while driving down the road or trail =;-/

I figured it was logistics around that plunger switch, and the fact that extension mode just barely lets off of the switch a bit too much.
*Looking here on RidgelineOwnersClub really helped because I want to check out the switch, those shims ChrisM mentioned, and define any solution.
Personally, I wouldn't even care if the cargo lights are controlled entirely by the cabin button, as long as they perform to expectations.

Thank you! Krish

I own a 2006 RT Ridgeline and I also have the same problem. If I drop the tailgate the lights will come on for a few seconds and then go off BUT if I swing the gate the lights stay on. I do not know if this is a defect or some fool who decided to ad something to the design when he has never even driven a pick up truck.
If the lights are suppose to stay on, and this is a Honda problem, even at 41,000 miles PLEASE let me know how to get them to fix it.
robokp66

I own a 2006 RT Ridgeline and I also have the same problem. If I drop the tailgate the lights will come on for a few seconds and then go off BUT if I swing the gate the lights stay on. I do not know if this is a defect or some fool who decided to ad something to the design when he has never even driven a pick up truck.
If the lights are suppose to stay on, and this is a Honda problem, even at 41,000 miles PLEASE let me know how to get them to fix it.
robokp66

The sensor that turns on the lamps in the tailgate swing mode needs to replaced or shimmed. The bed's cargo lights should not come in with the tailgate in the dropped down position unless the cargo light button is pushed to turn them on.

Summation :o :

Tailgate swung out - Cargo lights on
Tailgate dropped down - Cargo lights off (Unless the button has been pushed).

I used one of those 'Gripper' furniture foot stick-on deals from Freddy- I cut it to the perfect shape and stuck it to the clean gate surface. I rarely use the side-swing tailgate option, so it is very sweet deal for crew rigging.
I strapped 4 heavy mountain bikes and a gangload of gear in the back of my ridge, and mobbed a 40 minute trek up logging roads. At the summit, we downhill for 1.8 hours and then drive back up to acquire the approach vehicle. My fave was when the other rig (jeep w/ 4 bike trailer hitch (wo, bucking bronco stylee)) was used for the initial approach and I had the ridge (w/ tailgate up) for ripping back up / down (for acq the other rig). I love using the ridge as a shuttle runner, and it doesn't take half the abuse a chev because it's just compact enough to avoid and conquor. Lovin' it!