Removing the dealer installed Karr alarm

Jeffers

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Here's what we're talking about,

https://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2016/08/never-buy-car-alarm-dealership/

Dealers install these Karr alarms in all new cars. When you don't purchase the alarm with your new car they disable it with a small plastic 'shorting key' they insert into a small module screwed into the bottom of your dash. The Karr harness and two modules are left in your new car. I like to remove this stuff from the new cars I've bought so I can repair any damage they've done to my Honda's wiring harness and to eliminate any faulty wiring that can prevent me from starting my car. This is a 2020 Civic Si coupe, but should be similar to other Civics.

(1) shows the wire taps Karr uses. If there's enough room to work, I like to remove the wire taps, check the wire damage underneath, and tape them.

(2) this view is looking straight up under the door, underneath the door panel. I didn't want to remove a whole door panel. So I unpluged the wire connector and left the plastic wire tap on the wire. This is safe to do as the plastic wire tap prevents shorting.

(3) Here's a door clip that was left out of it's bracket.

(4) All of the other Karr connections are wire taps into the Honda harness. This is the only connection where Karr cuts the Honda harness. An open here prevents the car from starting. You can use these wires to wire in your own anti-theft switch hidden somewhere in the cabin.

(5) Here's the entire Karr alarm removed from the car.

(6) Here's where the Karr installer poked a hole though my new car's door boot to route their wire into the door. All they had to do was take the time to route their wire with the other Honda harness wires.

Honda Civic 10th gen Removing the dealer installed Karr alarm Karr harness (1).JPG


Honda Civic 10th gen Removing the dealer installed Karr alarm Karr harness (2).JPG


Honda Civic 10th gen Removing the dealer installed Karr alarm Karr harness (3).JPG


Honda Civic 10th gen Removing the dealer installed Karr alarm Karr harness (4).JPG


Honda Civic 10th gen Removing the dealer installed Karr alarm Karr harness (5).JPG


Honda Civic 10th gen Removing the dealer installed Karr alarm Karr harness (6).JPG
 
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REBELXSi

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I swear I would tell them to take their car and shove it up their ass if I saw this on my new vehicle.

Thanks for the info.
 

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Dealers install these Karr alarms in all new cars.
No they don't. I bought my car new and there is no "Karr" alarm.

And if I ever found any bullshit like that, I'd *demand* they replace all those wiring harness they put their shitty butt connectors all over.

You've effectively bought a used car.

If they weren't so fucking cheap, they could have installed an EVO-ONE with a t-harness instead and not cut into a single wire in the car.
 

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No they don't. I bought my car new and there is no "Karr" alarm.

And if I ever found any bullshit like that, I'd *demand* they replace all those wiring harness they put their shitty butt connectors all over.

You've effectively bought a used car.

If they weren't so fucking cheap, they could have installed an EVO-ONE with a t-harness instead and not cut into a single wire in the car.
Even with the T-harness, depending on the car you still have to splice wires. There's very few that are completely plug and play. Starter kill is where they're primarily fucked up.
 


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Jeffers

Jeffers

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Yeah, I'm not too happy about it!
But the last four of our new cars have had them.
Three Hondas and the Mazda2 had them. Norm Reeves Honda, Browning Mazda, and Carson Honda.
Most people have them and don't even know it.
Maybe it's a regional thing in Los Angeles and Orange County.
But yes, it does suck. And doesn't help the 'new car experience".
 

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Dealer Added Crap

The only thing I had to deal with was wheel locks.

The funny thing is that, if you brought the car to the service department for just about *any* issue that involved the electrical system; they'd freak and insist that this cheap and lazy installation of an aftermarket electrical part was causing the issue. And they'd insist it be removed before they tried to diagnose anything.

If it were me; I'd wrap those splices with electrical tape and then heat shrink tube it to add rigidity.

And I'd be pissed at their sketchy bullshit.
 

Axatax

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Even with the T-harness, depending on the car you still have to splice wires.
You don't on a Civic (unless you want optional features) and that's what car we're discussing here.

Anyhow, there's better ways to tap into wires than use t-taps and butt connectors. I don't think this is an acceptable practice in 2019 on a new car.
 

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You don't on a Civic (unless you want optional features) and that's what car we're discussing here.

Anyhow, there's better ways to tap into wires than use t-taps and butt connectors. I don't think this is an acceptable practice in 2019 on a new car.
You sure about that?
Honda Civic 10th gen Removing the dealer installed Karr alarm Screenshot_20191202-191647_Drive

That is not an optional feature, but one that may not be present. As for the manual version of our car, you have to splice into the clutch wire in order for it to work. Which isn't done with a t harness. Many remote start companies have tried over data, and its super unreliable so they recommend analog.

Nobody said T-Taps are acceptable, especially not for data. Plus most lazy installers use t-taps for quickness, and not properly. Nothing's wrong with butt connectors, but again I don't use them for data either. Primarily audio signal I only use direct wire to wire for data. Military splicing however is perfectly acceptable. Not everything needs to be a t-harness.
 

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NEVER heard of a dealer installing something the customer didn't ask for, why would a dealer want to spend money where they don't need too?
 


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I think we're talking about two different things. You have to attach to stuff like parking lights and clutch, etc. which have a bare wire (not a plug) on the harness but that doesn't mean you have to splice into the wires. There's other ways of making the connection. AMP and T&B make pins, for example, that are designed to be backprobed into the existing plugs and lock securely in place. Posi-taps are an option that are far less intrusive than T-taps, etc.

Anyhow, I don't see how you don't consider the Forin T-harness a superior way of doing an install like this? Because of two wires?? Not using something like this is just being cheap.
 

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I think we're talking about two different things. You have to attach to stuff like parking lights and clutch, etc. which have a bare wire (not a plug) on the harness but that doesn't mean you have to splice into the wires. There's other ways of making the connection. AMP and T&B make pins, for example, that are designed to be backprobed into the existing plugs and lock securely in place. Posi-taps are an option that are far less intrusive than T-taps, etc.

Anyhow, I don't see how you don't consider the Forin T-harness a superior way of doing an install like this? Because of two wires?? Not using something like this is just being cheap.
You really think I'm gonna depin then repin for a better looking install only the hundreds of cars I do a year? No. If that's what a customer wants they're paying extra. I'll gladly make it look as factory as I can for free though. Positaps are far more intrusive than t-taps imo but that's just my opinion.

Also, they are just bare wires in a harness. That go to a harness. Such as the light switch harness. Or the clutch pedal harness. But it costs less money to have the installer military splice into a wire rather than make a T for every single plug especially when the T-Harnesses aren't just made for one car. That same tharness may very well work on other hondas like other remote start company tharnesses are. Especially considering that in the actual T-Harness, they'll pin every wire in the plug regardless of if every pin slot in the plug, is pinned. Such as this, an idatastart T-harness for our civic.
Honda Civic 10th gen Removing the dealer installed Karr alarm 20191202_202232
Honda Civic 10th gen Removing the dealer installed Karr alarm 20191202_202239

Buts not even just remote start t-harnesses. Even the axxess HONDSP t harness has every single pin slot pinned, when close to half aren't even originally pinned. Even in a 2018. They do this so that if variations of the plugs in newer model years come out they don't have to re-make the t harness. They do have t-harnesses that are all, and I'm know they're working on make a lot of them even more t-plugs but it reaaally depends on the car. Subarus, at least for the remote starts I install, don't have T-Harnesses at all. It's completely a hard wire.

I do consider t-harnesses more superior. They're easier for me, and freak the customer out less. My boss can do a remote start in a 2017 ford f-250 in 10 minutes because of the t-harness. All others are shortened but it depends on the and how significantly. But splicing into a wire, using a proper method isn't bad. It's just as fine. Sometimes I prefer it. Hardwire, using some factory looking tape, and you won't even know there's a system in there. I've military spliced into a lot of wires in my own car and my touring is my baby.

I also have the knowledge to argue with my dealer if they say me tapping into the constant wire of my factory amp to draw less than 500 milliamps caused it to break if it ever does.
 

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Here's what we're talking about,

https://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2016/08/never-buy-car-alarm-dealership/

Dealers install these Karr alarms in all new cars. When you don't purchase the alarm with your new car they disable it with a small plastic 'shorting key' they insert into a small module screwed into the bottom of your dash. The Karr harness and two modules are left in your new car. I like to remove this stuff from the new cars I've bought so I can repair any damage they've done to my Honda's wiring harness and to eliminate any faulty wiring that can prevent me from starting my car. This is a 2020 Civic Si coupe, but should be similar to other Civics.

(1) shows the wire taps Karr uses. If there's enough room to work, I like to remove the wire taps, check the wire damage underneath, and tape them.

(2) this view is looking straight up under the door, underneath the door panel. I didn't want to remove a whole door panel. So I unpluged the wire connector and left the plastic wire tap on the wire. This is safe to do as the plastic wire tap prevents shorting.

(3) Here's a door clip that was left out of it's bracket.

(4) All of the other Karr connections are wire taps into the Honda harness. This is the only connection where Karr cuts the Honda harness. An open here prevents the car from starting. You can use these wires to wire in your own anti-theft switch hidden somewhere in the cabin.

(5) Here's the entire Karr alarm removed from the car.

(6) Here's where the Karr installer poked a hole though my new car's door boot to route their wire into the door. All they had to do was take the time to route their wire with the other Honda harness wires.

Karr harness (1).JPG


Karr harness (2).JPG


Karr harness (3).JPG


Karr harness (4).JPG


Karr harness (5).JPG


Karr harness (6).JPG
Seriously, I'd go complain to American Honda about this install. god knows what may happen now that all of the wires have nicks in them, exposing the copper to any moisture that may be in the air (although it's non-corrosive California air, if you plan on keeping the car for any amount of time, the possibility is there that any affected wires could corrode over time.


barring any legal paperwork, i'd be demanding a new car.
 

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I swear I would tell them to take their car and shove it up their ass if I saw this on my new vehicle.

Thanks for the info.
If you lease or finance the car, there's a tracker on it until the day you buy it or pay it. The next service you bring it in after it's paid for, they disable the tracker. Frankly, I'd rather keep the tracker active, in case some steals my car. ;)

That's what they use to repossess cars and it's their right, even though they should have the shit smacked out of them for piggybacking off the harness instead of building it in. They create a failure point by doing that.
 

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If you lease or finance the car, there's a tracker on it until the day you buy it or pay it. The next service you bring it in after it's paid for, they disable the tracker. Frankly, I'd rather keep the tracker active, in case some steals my car. ;)

That's what they use to repossess cars and it's their right, even though they should have the shit smacked out of them for piggybacking off the harness instead of building it in. They create a failure point by doing that.
Must be a regional thing or like dealers that have been burned too many times. I originally leased the last 4 of mine and none had that. Besides, the head unit already has the Honda Link. They can find it if they want to.
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