Many new cars come with keyless entry and ignition systems. So the car can tell where the key is, there are several antennas in different parts of the vehicle. If something goes wrong with one of the antennas, the car can have trouble recognizing that the key is in or near the vehicle, and will usually cause a diagnostic code in the computer.

A 2014 CR-V came into the shop for diagnosis because the keyless system warning light was one. I plugged in the computer to read the code, and it was for the rear interior antenna circuit. The first thing to do is check to make sure that the antenna is plugged in or hasn’t been damaged. When I pulled up the carpet in the spot where the antenna is supposed to be, there was nothing but two unused bolt holes, not even any wiring. I was really confused by this so I asked one of our master techs to come take a look and he was similarly baffled.

We started pulling off trim panels in the area to see if the antenna was somewhere else in the area, and we did end up finding the wiring connector for it, stuffed under the carpet under the seat. The only thing we could think of was that the car had collision work done and the antenna wasn’t reinstalled, or it was just never installed. I could maybe see the latter happening if this was a new car and this problem was discovered during pre-delivery inspection, but this car was 4 years old with 40,000 miles. It should’ve thrown a code and turned on the light years ago, but somehow never did.

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-Dan