You have to forgive me this is the first brand new car I have had since 10 years(previous car was a 97 civic), so with all the updates in technology I am not sure what may be normal. In my 07 CRV when you put the key in the ignition and turn it to the 1st position you hear a high pitch noise coming from the front of the car(like a computer is being turned on), you can actually hear this noise slightly even when the engine is running. Also, also when you turn off the car and take the key out of the ignitiion you can hear the high pitch noise and it finally stops once the dash lights have gone out. Is this an electrical problem or is this normal. I have never had a car that has done this before.

 

Hmm it sounds normal but i'll look at one when i go to work tomorrow.

 

Maybe you're hearing the ABS pump. I know the ABS pump does a self-check every startup on all hondas. That sounds more like a low whining noise to me though. See if its in synch with your brake light on your dash, the noise should stop right before the brake light goes out. I've worked on quite a few of these, and can't say that I've noticed any high-pitched noises on startup.

 

Thanks for the replies. I called honda today to see if they might know what it is. They service tech claims they are getting a lot of calls about the noise. He said it was the relay and its normal. The noise comes on when the lights on the dash come on, once all the digital gages on the dash(gas, etc) have loaded it cuts off. The same thing happens when you turn the car off once all the lights on the dash are out the noise stops. As you can tell I know very little about cars, so I am not sure what the relay is, but as long as its normal I can deal with it.