Could the 2026 Honda Ridgeline’s Lockable In-Bed Trunk Replace Your Garage Storage?

Not every truck buyer has a garage. If your parking spot is a shared driveway, an apartment lot, or a stretch of curb, keeping tools, gear, or groceries secure matters more than it does for someone with a locked garage bay.

The 2026 Honda Ridgeline has an answer built right into the bed floor, and it changes how you think about a pickup’s everyday storage.

What the In-Bed Trunk Actually Is

The In-Bed Trunk sits under the bed floor itself, a washable, lockable compartment that adds 207 litres of enclosed storage separate from the open cargo bed above it. It locks with the rest of the truck, so whatever goes in stays hidden from view and secured from the weather.

This isn’t a small under-floor bin bolted in as an afterthought. Honda designed the Ridgeline’s unibody structure around it, and the compartment is standard across the Sport, TrailSport, and Black Edition trims.

How It Works Day To Day

The trunk sits below the open bed, so you get two separate storage zones instead of one. Bulky gear, like a bike or a load of mulch, rides in the open 960-litre bed. Smaller, valuable, or weather-sensitive items go into the locked trunk below.

Because the compartment has a drain, it can double as a cooler filled with ice for tailgating or a day at the lake, then rinse clean afterward. That drain is also what keeps it from turning into a puddle when road grime or rain gets in through the open bed above.

Access comes through the Dual-Action Tailgate, which opens downward like a standard tailgate or swings out to the side. That side-swing makes it easier to reach into the In-Bed Trunk without climbing into the bed, especially useful when your hands are full. A power tailgate lock secures both the bed and the trunk together, so there’s one lock to manage, not two separate systems to remember.

Why It Matters When You Don’t Have a Garage

A garage lets you store tools, sports equipment, and seasonal gear behind a locked door where nobody can see it from the street. Without one, that gear usually sits exposed in a bed, a trunk, or a hallway closet.

The In-Bed Trunk gives Ridgeline owners that same hidden, locked storage, just built into the truck instead of a building. Hockey gear, work tools, a road-trip cooler, or grocery bags on the way home from the store can all go in the compartment instead of sitting in open view in the bed.

The Ridgeline also backs this up with a second enclosed storage option inside the cabin. The 60/40 split lift-up rear seat reveals underseat storage that keeps smaller, cleaner items away from anything dusty or wet riding in back. Between the In-Bed Trunk, the open bed, and the underseat compartment, the Ridgeline gives you three distinct storage zones instead of a single all-purpose space.

The eight heavy-duty bed tie-down cleats round out the open-bed side of that equation, keeping larger loads secured so they don’t shift while the smaller items stay locked away below.

Who Gets the Most Out of This

The In-Bed Trunk suits commuters who need somewhere to stash work equipment or a gym bag out of sight during the workday. It also fits weekend project owners who want tools locked up between job sites instead of hauling them in and out of a house.

Families running errands benefit too. Groceries, sports gear for multiple kids, and seasonal equipment like ski boots or beach chairs can rotate through the compartment without cluttering the cabin or sitting exposed in the bed.

Buyers who store items of real value, cameras, laptops, tool kits, benefit most from the locking, weather-resistant design. It’s a level of security an open bed simply can’t offer on its own.

Making the Ridgeline Work for Your Storage Habits

The Ridgeline’s In-Bed Trunk, open bed, and underseat storage give owners three ways to separate gear instead of relying on one space, or a garage, to hold everything. For anyone without dedicated storage at home, that built-in flexibility is the truck doing double duty as a truck and a lockable storage room.

Visit Lallier Honda PAT in Pointe-aux-Trembles to see the In-Bed Trunk in person and find out which 2026 Ridgeline trim fits how you carry your gear.