OWM Cargo Protection Has Gone Downhill - Advice Requested.
Man am I bummed.
We have a 2020 Passport and went all out with OEM Cargo Side Panel Protectors, the cargo tray, and seat-back protectors - and we LOVE them. Everything looks factory installed and it's great - even at the $600+ price we paid for parts and install.
Picked up a new 2025 Pilot Transport on Tuesday and the first thing I wanted to do was make sure my cargo area is protected. All we wanted to do was rinse and repeat the same OEM accessories but it's been such a frustration.
Bought/returned the OEM cargo tray. So worthless. Slides around. No using the 3rd row with it installed let alone the flexibility to use one seat down and the other up.
Just got back from dropping $280 on the Cargo Side Panel Protectors. From the single low-res image on the Honda website it looked like it was similar to what I had in my passport and so I ordered and had installed. Unfortunately the quality is literal garbage. There's gaps everywhere, the cupholders are now useless, it's just not something in hindsight I would have had done. Now I've got holes drilled in my side cargo area with pins installed to hold these things and a janky piece of plastic that looks like a 5th grader carved it with a hacksaw.
So my questions:
RE Cargo Tray: I've seen some of the options out there, but out of curiosity is there anything that would act more like a 3rd row back seat cover and have a separate little tray that covers the other storage tray? I'd like to be able make use of the extra room by putting the tray at the bottom. All the mats I've seen that use velcro to attach to the rear of the 3rd seat are split which is great, but is a solid piece to the back of the car so then what? It flops around when I have the tray open?
RE Side Panel Protectors: How screwed am I? I've got these pins pictured - that aren't the worst thing in the world but it seems stupid to just remove the side panels all together. Are there any other 3rd parties that happen to make something better that might use the same pins? Anything that approaches the concept separately? Like when I'm using the 3rd row I don't need the protectors beyond the rear cargo area and I'd certainly like to be able to use my cup holders, but when I'm hauling something it's nice to have the arm rests in the 3rd row protected.
Any thoughts?
Posted Dec 29, 2025, 7:58 PM UTC