One of the 3 Honda dealers here in Middle Tennessee is Darrell Waltrip, former NASCAR champion, aka The Mouth of the South. He also has Volvo, Subaru, Buick, and GMC dealerships. "If your car doesn't have my name on it, you've gone to the wrong place". The solution is a hair dryer and a plastic tool.

 

I may be able to answer the question to this since I did a ton of research and called the dealership (I'm in CA), Honda's 800 number for owners and KARR directly.

Apparently in CA most dealerships install this alarm by KARR for two reasons: 1) provide additional security (in addition to the immobilizer) to prevent car theft off the lot 2) to con people to purchase the alarm before walking off the lot. Oddly enough, no one asked me if I wanted to purchase the alarm but I do read about people getting hassled and end up paying $500+ for it.

After speaking with KARR, I found out that my particular alarm is a shock alarm only, meaning if someone breaks the window for example, the alarm goes off. These are installed as soon as the new cars hit the lot and there's a dedicated KARR installer that does this for each of the dealerships in the area. You can find out what kind of alarm is installed by providing KARR your VIN number.

After speaking with Honda and KARR, the unit does not interfere with the immobilizer and it does not drain the battery. That little plastic thing in the front is put there to disable to the unit, rendering it useless. It just sits there like a dud.

I think you'll find it hard, in CA at least, to find a Honda vehicle that doesn't have this already installed. You can try to order one that is not already on the lot and specifically tell them not to install it - I think that's the only way. If you haggling for a car on the lot, guaranteed it's already installed.

I have it and I left it alone. I don't even see it because it is so far below my line of sight so it doesn't bother me. I figure trying to rip it out it will do more damage because it's already screwed into the plastic to mount the sucker.

Anyways if you need the phone number for KARR just PM me and happy to provide it.

 

why not just post the number?

 

I bought my Fit in California and it didn't have the add-on alarm installed. None of the cars I looked at at various SoCal dealers have one installed.

I think that the "most dealers" and "every dealer" myths are perpetrated by the unscrupulous dealers who add stuff onto the car to pump their profit margin. There are dealers, and quite a few of them, that deliver cars to the customer without screwing them up.

 

Most likely its driven by the dealers insurance company in neighborhoods where theft and vandalism is a problem. I've bumped in to a few dealers that also play the game of using the alarm if they need to re-po a car.

I bought a new Toyota Truck years ago and the dealer claimed it only had one key. Then when I went back a couple days later to finish the paperwork and deliver the check for the truck they mysteriously had "found" a second key.. Then about a month later I got a 3rd one in the mail...

 

Speaking of keys, I received 2 key fobs when I drove the car from the dealere on 5/2/15. one in my pocket and the second in the box with the manuals and other documents. The other day, out of curiosity, I tested the boxed one. Worked just fine (the day to day one left in apartment). The question is: how long does the battery last in either case, day to day and stored away?

 

Two years in my case, with both in use alternatively.

 

I would require the dealer to take the car back if the wiring was damaged. Honda might be able to help since the unapproved alarm may void parts of the factory warranty.