Doug Lassiter

OK, just purchased a 2012 Civic. Nice car. Get it home, lock the doors. Go out at night to see a red LED light blinking in the upper right hand corner of the dash. Huh?

Blinking red lights are supposed to be telling me something. Pray tell, what is this telling me? Is it that the "security system" is on? The manual does a horrible job describing exactly what the security system is, except reading between the lines one gathers that one should not be messing with the entry without the electronic key fob when it is on.

So I go in the car at night, lock the door, and watch the red blinking light go one. I open the door and BOOM, the alarm system goes off. That's supposed to be something handy?

I'd be happy just to turn the damned thing off.

Clear explanations, anyone?

ezone

Define "RIGHT".

Need more info:
Is this a US/Canada car?
DX? LX/EX?


North American car:
Red light blinking about where the gas gauge is is the factory anti-theft indicator light.
BTW, this is the left side of the car, left side of the dash.



Does this not fit your car?

Did you buy your car brand new, or used?

Ask the car lot or the previous owner, or the installer if it is an aftermarket alarm.

Doug Lassiter

My apologies. It's on the upper LEFT side of the dash. Not the right.

Brand new car from the dealer. No aftermarket stuff.

Yes, on reading the details of the manual, it seems to be the security system, but they don't bend over backwards to identify the light. A blinking red light means something. Something bad? Something good? In fact, the light itself has no identification printed next to it. Like "Security System". Wouldn't that be smart? Some alphanumeric code. (Which you can't see in the daytime, but only with a flashlight at night.) Thanks, Honda!

When you approach this car in the middle of the night, that blinking red light is the SINGLE most conspicuous thing about it, but you have to DIG to identify it. The index of the manual has no entry for "alarm", BTW.

ezone

You have to think of other possible names.
Look under SECURITY SYSTEM in the index of your owners manual.

Sedan owners manual, P9, P74 and P112-113.

The blinking red light is to warn potential thieves that the car has an alarm.



BUT this part ain't right. You unlocked it with the key or remote? That ain't right.

It's under warranty, right? You have a problem, see your dealer.


But if you reached in an open window and flipped the lock ****, yes the alarm should go off.

CraigW

iTrader: (1)

Thats how it works.

ezone

Wait up a sec...Who locks themselves in the car to figure out they can trip the alarm, then complains about it?

CraigW

iTrader: (1)

I did find out on my 2010 recently that if you get in the car, doors shut and lock it (with door button) the alarm does not set.

I set the alarm off once in the Honda showroom checking out a new Civic. (my 7th gen had no alarm)

Doug Lassiter

Ah. That's exactly what I need to know. The blinking red light is FOR THE PERSON WHO WANTS TO STEAL MY CAR. So why can't they just tell me that?

"Who locks themselves in the car to figure out they can trip the alarm, then complains about it?"

More to the point, if someone manages to get in the car without setting off the alarm, and locks the car, why in the world would the alarm go off when they try to get OUT? That just doesn't make any sense at all.

Do I understand this to mean that if you're in the car, and lock the door with the door button (which is what I almost always do), the alarm isn't set, but if you lock it with the key fob (which I almost never do, from the inside) it is? What this means, and what really should be noted in the manual IN CAPITAL LETTERS/large font if true, is that the key fob lock arms the security system, on whichever side of the door you happen to be on.

ezone

I believe that is supposed to be common knowledge in this day and age, almost all alarms use a blinking light of some sort.

Um, none of that made any sense to me. No thief with 2 brain cells is going to do that?
Sounds right so far.....
BUT I think if you have the door open when you hit the lock putton it MAY arm the alarm when you shut the door....play with that one and check if I guessed right or not.
It's cold out here, I'm not going to go out to my car to check this right now. LOL

Right, that arms the alarm. The car can't tell if you are inside or outside.
It EXPECTS you to be outside if you use the fob to lock the car.

UM, you DO KNOW you can set the automatic power locks to lock when you turn the key ON, right? It is done through the iMID controls on the steering wheel.
Then you wouldn't have to lock the doors manually.

Doug Lassiter

Heh. Well, ya know, they might pay those folks who write the manuals a bit more if they'd include useful info like this.

ezone

(typo corrected?) FYI, I tried this on a 13 CRV this AM and it DID arm the alarm.

I was mistaken here. It can be programmed to lock the doors upon moving the shift lever out of Park, or lock upon receiving vehicle speed signal (approx 9 mph?)

Allison_shea_83

My 09 civic has the blinking light under the steering wheel that constantly blinks twice weather the ignition is on or off. also the horn sounds when i turn the ignition off and the panic button does not work and i even replaced the battery. Any ideas on how i can fix this

ezone

Someone has installed aftermarket stuff on your car. You would have to get it all removed and restored to original, stock condition.


If the car is an LX or EX, the power locks can be configured to automatically operate without the aftermarket stuff, and it already has an alarm from the factory.