[longboat]

@DriveAllNight, I am currently at number 2, and bounced back and forth between 2 and 3 in my younger years. I suspect I'll adopt #1 as I get closer to retirement, and will probably revert back to #3 during my last planned decade. 😁

 

[longboat]

It would be nice to know the overhead that Honda's engineers have dialed in, but they would never tell us because it varies based on conditions and could introduce liabilities.

My rule of thumb is 30% overhead, and 50% is pushing it, which puts us around 1500lbs in the bed. Comfortable, if you know what you are doing.

I've seen 3x-5x engineered overhead in life-supporting products, such as mountain-climbing ropes (e.g., - a 3000lb rated load strength may actually have a 10000lb breaking strength).

However, as @zroger73 alluded to, dynamic forces can quickly multiply forces far beyond rated capacities, and those forces are difficult to manage on the fly, and impossible to predict. Be gentle if you push it!

 

[longboat]

The payload weight max is 1,583 pounds

Yes, that means any combination of 1583lbs in the cabin, in the bed and on the hitch, but not to exceed 1100lbs in the bed itself.

Other trucks have these limitations, also.

 

[longboat]

@Brian Goodwin at GWR, same goes for towing. The 5k max is at J2807 standards, so there is wiggle room there.

That being said, I would never recommend anyone tow over that limit, or load over the payload, because there is way too much variability among drivers, their KSAs, perceptions, etc.

As far as one's liability in an accident, that will mostly come down to which side has the better lawyer, not what's written in the manual.