When I got home I looked under the dash and straight away I could see someone other than Honda had been in here. The first thing I saw was this surface-mounted switch that doesn't belong there.
Does anyone else find it odd that he just bought a car and effectively started using it without going over it thoroughly and familiarising himself with what controls it contains? Then again, my experience has been with far older and simpler vehicles, so perhaps newer ones are so complex that people have given up spending any time to become acquainted with them.
No, this was not in a location you would see during normal end-user operation of the car given that most users will never do much more than wash the car and refill fluids. Neither is it expected behavior by an official dealership to install undisclosed components. Especially when the salesperson will (in my experience) do a pretty thorough tour of the car, under the hood, obscure storage compartments etc, and the aftermarket component in this post would not have been in a locations reviewed as part of that.
If this was a desktop computer I certainly would expect even a moderately knowledgeable user to open a computer direct for the manufacturer or retailer before using it to see if there were unauthorized components present.
You acquaint yourself with the underside of the dash of a new-to-you car before driving it?
I’m quite interested in cars (do all the repairs in our household except body, paint, and tires) and I’ve never looked under the dash before driving off, unless I was attaching a scan tool on a used car I was buying.
Not before, but certainly after --- and certainly some models have controls like the hood release as well as adjustments for the steering wheel and pedal position there.
Ha, well blame me for that I guess, but none of this stuff is visible from a normal seated position. You have to crawl under the steering wheel to see any of it.
When buying a factory-new car I do not ordinarily rip off the dashboard trim panels to see if the wiring has been tampered with.
No, I don't find it odd. All the critical controls are in basically the same place in every car. Steering wheel, pedals, turn signals, etc. The rest I can figure out as needed. No need to study in advance.
Does anyone else find it odd that he just bought a car and effectively started using it without going over it thoroughly and familiarising himself with what controls it contains? Then again, my experience has been with far older and simpler vehicles, so perhaps newer ones are so complex that people have given up spending any time to become acquainted with them.