2017 Honda Civic: key fob or push-button start problems

Filed Jul 29, 2025 · Electrical · FL

The Body Control Module (BCM) is faulty and causes the alarm to go off on its own, lights inside the cluster glitch turning on by itself and drains the battery even with the key fob nowhere near its vicinity when off. Sometimes does not recognize the key fob.

Filed Apr 11, 2025 · Electrical · NM

I drove home from work today like normal. Pushed the engine start/stop button before getting out of the car. The radio was still on, and the dash was still on, with Accessory Mode, push "start/stop" twice to turn off, or something similar to that. I pushed the button twice. It went to accessory mode. I started the engine, drove the car out of the drive way, came back, pushed the button to turn off the car... accessory mode. turned the car on, turned the car off.... accessory mode. Moved the keys all away from the car. Started the car (which i could do because it WAS STILL IN ACCESSORY MODE) and drove the car, meanwhile there was a big warning saying there was no key fob in the proximity. Parked the car, pushed the on/off button.... accessory mode. I have tried everything I can think of, the car wont lock. It wont exit accessory mode unless its in full on start. Someone could come along and steal my car because I cant turn it off. all i can do is disconnect the battery and after 2-3 days i connect it and it works just temporarily. This is not ok and unsafe especially when i have a new born and stranded in the middle of the wors place due to this issue.

Filed Aug 15, 2023 · NJ

For several months, I was facing an issue with being able to lock and unlock my car properly. You could hear the mechanisms in the car trying to respond when I would press my key fob or the buttons inside the car but the locks themselves would not move. I would either need to use my physical car key to manually lock or unlock the door. Or if i was in the vehicle, i would manually unlock the driver door and then re-lock it. The problem seemed to start out of nowhere. The dealer confirmed the problem and said it was related to the door lock actuator. In two of the doors, the actuators had failed and in the other two they were on their way to failing. I had all four replaced which was a large and unexpected expense. But the ability to get in and out of the car safely and know that it is safely locked to prevent theft is very important. I did send a letter to Honda corporate about this problem and I felt this was a very strange part to stop working on a car that was brought brand new 6 year sago.

Filed Jun 7, 2023 · Electrical · TX

Car has a faulty board control module. Car randomly starts itself in accessory mode, even when key fob is not present or batteries are removed. Other times, car will click and not turn on, or show random error messages. Car will intermittently not start; shows “keyless start system problem.” Car alarm randomly goes off. Car will intermittently not turn off once started. Internet search reveals multiple other individuals with the same problem, sometimes covered under warranty and other times not. Honda of America is sometimes helpful and other times, not. Problems are intermittent and difficult to reproduce, necessitating additional diagnostics by dealers. Among other problems reported are problems with door locks, windshield wipers, and headlights. I have concerns that the electrical problems will lead to serious safety issues, such as: lights turning on or off while driving; inability to turn off ignition in an emergency; wipers not working during rain (wet conditions seem to correlate to more problems, for other drivers and for me, suggesting an issue with corrosion), or getting locked into/out of the vehicle in an emergency.

Filed Jun 7, 2023 · AZ

Keyless entry problem on my car. I was unable to get into my car and when I used the key from the fob to enter the car, the car wouldn't start. I was stranded and needed to call for help. The car was jumped and started again to get it back to my house. In the morning, the car wouldn't start again so was towed to a local mechanic in my town called Desert Dawg and they were able to start the car again and it drove for about a week and then the same problem happened. They put in a new battery and worked again for about a week. The car then would start but wouldn't shut off without disconnecting the battery. Then one night the car just started beeping uncontrollably and the car would not shut off the beeping and key fob not recognized. Towed back to Desert Dawg and said it was a keyless entry problem but the part he needed to fix it was on National Shortage and could take 7 months or more to get the part. He told me to take it to the Honda Dealership to see if they could help me. Car towed again to Honda dealership and they said it was a keyless entry problem and the part called a body control module with Part number: 38809-TBC-A31 was on back order and on National shortage and the part may not arrive for 7 months or longer or never. I now have no car to get to work. I called the Honda Corporation and got the same answer of this part being on national shortage. How can people be left stranded. I live in Arizona and the temperatures get very hot and people could die if their car doesn't start. Please address this issue. thanks.

Filed Feb 23, 2021 · Brakes, Electrical · 29,900 miles · WA

My car alarm randomly started going off while parked for three days, three different times of the day. The last time it happened back to back at 2am while parked. I tried turning it off with my key fob and it would not register. I opened the car with the key in the fob and pushed the start button, the engine started and I remained parked. Then I tried turning the car off but it would not turn off, instead the lights flickered on the dash and the car stayed on. I tried it 2 more times and it finally turned off the engine but not the dash. All the warning signs came on the car including a break systems error and a tire pressure error. After this, I took the battery out of my fob and now the car battery is dead. I powered up the battery today but the car won't start. The dash turns on but then it just flickers and gives me all the same warning signs. I found there were recalls for this issue on 2016 civics and that the recall should be extended to 2017 and 2018 civic as well. Mine is a 2017 civi and it's having all these issues that could be deadly if they happen on the freeway.

Filed Nov 26, 2020 · Driver assistance, Electrical · 14,600 miles · AR

Car was parked in my garage and the alarm set itself off multiple times, when I approached the car it was unresponsive to any key fob commands and the dashboard was completely lit with flashing safety feature warning lights, and airbags were also disabled. Had to open the car with the manual key, since the car would not respond to the key fob. Started the car to see what was going on, when I went to turn it off again, it refused and wouldn't turn off. I proceeded to call roadside assistance after multiple failed attempts to get the car to respond to the key fob and they turned the car off. Two days later I drove car to the dealership, the whole way there all the warning lights were on and all the safety features were disabled and not working. Dealership refused to cooperate or even acknowledge the issue at hand. Took it two times just to be turned away and told they would not help me out, as they claimed they did not find anything wrong with the car, even though when we went to pick it up the vehicle was still not working. The car was bought new, I'm the original owner, only has 14,600 miles. Dealership manager told us that corporate honda commanded him not to touch the vehicle and to tell us to pick it up. Drove the car back still broken, with all safety features not working, warning lights on, and the alarm continues to set itself off. Had to disconnect battery and it has been sitting in my garage unusable for two weeks now, for it is not safe to drive. Attempted various times to contact corporate honda for help with this issue, yet they refuse to acknowledge what is going on and will not respond. Please help, this car is unsafe and must be recalled. What would it take for honda to own up? It seems safety is not a concern for them. It is a safety concern for the car is controlled by unresponsive electronics.

Filed Sep 20, 2020 · 38,000 miles · MA

"all windows down" feature on remote key fob can be accidentally activated too easily, making car vulnerable to break-ins and interior damage. This feature cannot be disabled.

Filed Feb 3, 2020 · Electrical · 44,000 miles · OH

Tl* the contact owns a 2017 honda civic. The contact stated that the vehicle failed to shut off. The failure started when the alarm was activated and the key fob failed to unlock the door. The instrument panel indicated remote key system failure. The vehicle was later taken to (honda of mentor located at 8555 market st, mentor, oh 44060, (440) 290-6017) where it was diagnosed that the computer system needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired but remained at the dealer. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 44,000.

Filed Nov 8, 2019 · Electrical · 22,500 miles · NJ

I have had issues with my navigation system when I plug in my phone into the jack in the car. I have driven my vehicle to my honda dealer and they witnessed my vehicle actually remove my phone and replace it with someone else's phone in my vehicle. My vehicle will not recognize the phone also even though I have my bluetooth on my I phone and it will not pair with my vehicle as well numerous times. The tech at honda stated to me it is as if someone else is controlling the vehicle through your radio frequency. My car has been unlocked at times. Etc. I asked how this can occur and he stated if someone has your radio id or your key fob numbers. This is still occurring even though honda re set the navigation system and settings to factory default. Now my trunk will not stay closed if something is in the trunk. Happens at all times in motion, staying still.

Filed Aug 29, 2019 · Electrical · GA

The car alarm blares randomly throughout the night and sometimes during the day and the car locks itself unable to use the key fob to turn off the alarm and unlock the door replaced the battery in the key fob seemed like a fix for a week now the instrument panel has 'keyless start problem' and won't go away and the car just turns itself to 'on' by itself and/or the alarm goes off also you have to put the actual key in the driver door to turn the alarm off and unlock the car this happens while the car is stationery after it's been driven and turned off for an hour or more

Filed Apr 1, 2019 · 12,000 miles · VA

10th generation 2017 honda civic lx sedan: first reported to the honda dealer in may 2018, the trunk mysteriously opens without any owner interaction. Have gone inside our home only to come out in the morning to find the trunk open. Just recently, in the last week of march 2019, the honda dealer had the car again and was not able to duplicate the problem. Then on sunday, march 31, 2019, the problem occurred again. We believe this to be an under-reported problem as some owners may think they accidently activated the remote key fob. This problem has shown up in the honda civic owners forum on civicx.com.