Acura radio reset after new battery is installed?

Answer 1

Acura is generally one of the better cars on the road; except for this problem. When the battery is removed from the system in addition to losing your AM and FM radio presets; the radio assumes that it has been stolen, and will demand a CODE number before allowing itself to be usable.

On some cars, a sticker may be place on the left hand side of the exterior of the glove box. other dealers place a sticker under the hood, inside the fuse box. Other dealers may not install a sticker with this code at all. To obtain your code, you will need your vehicle's VIN number and the serial number or the radio's code number.

You can get your radio's serial number by removing your radio and looking at the serial number on the rear of the radio (fun, huh?). The preferred way is to turn the key to the ACC or ON position, and turn the radio 'ON' while depressing the radio reset buttons '1' and '6' simultaneously. The radio will display a U xxxx and then a L yyyy code, you need to know those 8 digits; write them down.

Next, contact your local Acura dealer, identify yourself, your car's VIN and give him the code (xxxx yyyy) or the Serial Number; and he should be able to give you the CODE to turn your radio or Navigation system back on.

This is, in my opinion, the worst, least thought out solution to anti-theft equipment I have ever come across. Almost every car on the road will have the battery fail one or more times in a car's lifetime. Thus, every Acura owner will go through this problem - this is a very poor solution to an even smaller problem; the Acura radio is not a high demand device on the black market, as they are tailored to the Acura dashboard - the only people who would need one, are those Acura drivers who already have one.

There is a new problem set: According to Acura Service, at least for 2002-03 models, when the power is lost to the radio, it will not accept the code due to recent OnStar switch from analog to digital. The service department indicated a "hard reset" of all memory is required and the owner must incur the cost. There may be a work-around by taking your car to a location where there is no radio reception, or disconnecting the antenna from the radio.