Anybody knows from what year Honda started installing coded receivers in Accords as a protection against stealing them? My '94 Accord LX does not have it. I wonder if the EX model does, though the receivers looks the same in it.
i don't know what years, but i have one of each - identical in all respects except code activation. my guess is that honda got a bunch of negative feedback about dealer gouging for code reads after flat batteries and dropped the coded version after just a couple of years.
cameo wrote in news:khtmll$khq$ snipped-for-privacy@dont-email.me:
Honda has employed anti-theft coded receivers since at LEAST the 1990 model year for all /US-market/ models. At some point, they began installing anti- theft on at least some /other/ markets' models (Canada among them), but I'm not sure when that started.
In WA state, near Seattle, but my Honda's receiver was not coded. I am to install a Pioneer from Crutchfield into my neighbor's '94 Accord EX and I don't want surprises. Its factory receiver looks just like the one I used to have in my LX and Crutchfield sent the same installation kit as well.
cameo wrote in news:ki0m7n$r68$ snipped-for-privacy@dont-email.me:
I'm not certain of the details on exactly which radios had codes and which don't. Honda's documentation starts mentioning the need to record and use the security code in about the 1990 model year, but it may have begun with higher-end models only. My '91 does not have a code, but it's Canadian market.
If you do end up needing the radio code for your neighbor's radio, you can get it for free directly from American Honda, here:
If your neighbor does not have a ZIP and phone number matching the one AHM has on file, you 'll need to bring the radio plus the vehicle's ownership to a dealer. Some will give you the code for free, some will charge a nominal amount, like $25.
For a long time, it was the Accord EX radios only, the ones with higher end features.
Not that Honda acknowledged radios as anything more than an afterthought until about 1998--the same year they decided that air conditioning should actually work.
But that should only matter if I want to reinstall the old radio later, right? The code should not affect the installation of after-market receivers, I think.
That still leaves me wondering about the '94 Accord EX.
Oh, so I am not the only one who noticed how weak the A/C is in a '94 Accord? That means that it's not a fluke in my car only. I feel better already. :-(
It wasn't until the 98 Accord that they figured out AC.
Of course, that coincides with the year the American management team took over...hmmmmm, that was probably the first thing the Ford guys did--fixed the radios and AC to mask what they were doing under the sheet metal.
Good. And just how do they enter the code when it's needed? I don't see any key entry pad for it on the receiver, unless they use the station preset buttons for it somehow.
yup, preset buttons. turn on, then you get three attempts before it locks you out for an hour. when entered correctly, it beeps, and the radio comes to life.
Well, I finally got around installing that after-market receiver (Pioneer) into my neighbor's '94 Accord EX and that's when I found out that the old factory radio did indeed have anti-teft protection. Luckily, my neighbor also told me that because she needed the code before when the battery was replaced, she wrote it down for future use. So that issue is settled.
Interesting though why Honda bothered with two different kinds of receivers (for LX & EX) with the code feature being the only difference. I guesss they wanted to justify the higher price for EX even though the engine itself should have justified it alone, IMHO. Oh, that old radio also had a blinking red light, typical of car burglar alarms even though I didn't see any alarm installed that needed some remote. Maybe the blinking light was meant to discourage burglers who associate it with full-fledged security system.
BTW, the Crutchfield installation kit with the factory type pocket made the Pioner receiver a real nice fit and it also looks good.
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