A Honda Civic owner has run into an issue that will affect more than just Hondas. If you want to put a wrap on your car, either for looks or to advertise a business, you might end up messing up your car’s keyless entry system.
How A Wrap Overlay Caused Problems For This Honda Civic Owner
Here is what the anonymous user posted in a Facebook group:
“Hi all! I got my car wrapped and now my smart entry doesn’t work.
Anyone else have this happen? And if so how did you fix it”
The answer to what caused the issue seems pretty straightforward.
“They covered the sensor on the door handles that’s why it’s not working,” one user replied.
This makes complete sense - keyless entry and starting systems need to detect that the key fob is nearby in order to work, and it seems that a wrap would block the sensor. Not surprising.
Our anonymous user said that there was even a warning light on the dash.
Advertising
“Yes just the light saying “smart entry problem see your dealer” they wrote in response to another poster.
That poster tried to get a bit more into the issue, asking this:
“Anonymous participant one of your door handles is probably unplugged. When you put your hand behind the driver of passenger door handles does one of them not unlock?”
He or she responded: “nope none of em do and when I walk away it doesn’t auto lock”
Your author is not a technician, but common sense suggests that if you block a sensor, it won’t work. Whether that's a Honda Civic or another model.
The anonymous poster seems to understand this - it appears from another post that he or she bought a wrap or overlay that had cutouts to make sure the sensor wasn’t block, and another post indicates he has door-handle covers that don’t interfere with the sensor.
How To Adjust To Today’s Modern Tech
If the original poster has a wrap with cutouts and yet the sensors are still blocked, it seems likely the wrong one was shipped and/or the installation was poor.
Customizing one’s car - or using it as a rolling billboard - is nothing new. Customers love to buy customizing parts on the aftermarket to make their car feel more personal to them. But OEM technology continues to evolve, and this is a reminder that if you’re looking for aftermarket parts to customize your ride, you’ll need to make sure they fit your ride. Make sure to get parts for your model year, make, model, and trim level. And make sure any shop you use to install parts is capable of keeping up with modern technology.
You might be saying that this doesn’t apply to you, because you’d never wrap your car with an overlay. But you might add some other accessory to the outside, and it could mess with your tech. Say, perhaps, a bike rack that messes up a parking sensor.
So shop carefully and make sure to think ahead about possible problems. Shop around. Consider using the OEM to supply aftermarket parts, and if that’s not possible or desirable, look for an established company that has been reviewed well online. Online reviews can also help you find the right shop.
You might not want to wrap your car with an overlay, but you might want or need to put aftermarket parts on your car. So be aware that doing so can cause unanticipated technological problems.
You can also check out Facebook groups or forums for owners - ideally, before any money and time is spent on this kind of work.
New cars are chock full of technology and associated sensors. Some of those features didn’t exist as recently as even five years ago. These are features that must be accounted for when customizing the car.
It’s not just a matter of convenience, it’s safety. In this case, it might be annoying to rely on the key fob’s remote function to unlock the doors, but it’s also a safety problem - if the owner needs to get away from a bad situation quickly, taking longer to unlock the doors will obviously cause a safety issue.
Blocking other sensors, such as, say, a blind-spot monitoring system sensor, can also cause a safety concern. Imaging trying to change lanes and the system fails to detect a car - and a collision happens.
Take a lesson from our anonymous poster - check before clicking “submit order” on that custom part.
About The Author
Tim Healey is an experienced automotive writer and editor from Chicago. He has covered automotive news at Consumer Guide Automotive, Web2Carz, AutoGuide, and was the managing editor at The Truth About Cars. Tim is a member of the Midwest Automotive Media Association. You can find him on Facebook, X/Twitter, and on LinkedIn.
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