Honda's check engine light keeps us humble.

You know the feeling.  You are done wrenching on your car, take a quick shower, put on a change of clothes, and out to the pub or closest drive thru for a burrito.

Turn the key, and bam!  The dreaded check engine light appears.  "What?" you exclaim. "Another problem?"

That happened to me. All I did was a oil change.  For me, I literally stop tracks when a Check Engine light, aka CEL, comes on.   It's almost as if my car was telling me, "hey, I understand you want to mod me to make me better, but I have issues of my own."   Recently I left my Civic Hybrid in the garage during a short vacation and came back with not only a CEL, but a "IMA" (Interegrated Motor Assist) light welcoming me back. 

"Oh no - my car is going to blow up!" I repeated the thought as I made my commute to work. At the local dealership, I quickly told them about my trauma-filled morning. 

"Um," replied the service rep. "It's probably the cold weather, the battery not being happy, and the 2 weeks you let it sit there.  It's probably fine, you can just unhook the positive on the battery up front and see if it comes back. If it's still there a couple days later, come back." 

And then it came to me.  The CEL is what keeps us alive. Without it, would you know half of what makes your car move?   It's like your current girlfriend's ex: without him, who would she compare you to?  Would you really do that extra shakedown over those sketchy looking wires, or even go the extra mile and detail the engine bay, without the CEL telling you something was actually wrong?