Steering Wheel Control Aftermarket Radio
Jonathon Burnside
2010 Fusion Hybrid is the car in question. I installed an aftermarket Pioneer media player into the double-din opening that the OEM CD Changer Module was previously installed in. That went fine. No issues at all. However, a few days after the fact I decided to connect the steering wheel controls (volume up/down, skip forward/backward) to the aftermarket unit and that's where I run into problems.
So I wire up the ASWC module and turn the ignition on to allow the ASWC module to auto-program like it's supposed to do 90% of the time. It doesn't work though. I reset it and try again. Still nothing. The after market media player that I installed is working fine, but the steering controls are not working. The steering controls did work fine on the factory radio and CD player. So now I try to use the manual programming option on the ASWC. And when I manually program each individual button on the steering wheel, I get the "success" confirmation light from the ASWC module. Meaning when it prompts me to press the VOL+ button I press it and the module gives the green LED which means it is successfully recognizing that button and accepting the program. It does this for VOL-, Skip+, Skip-, etc. Every single button that I program gives the green LED on the ASWC which means success. And the ASWC module is clearly getting the signal/pulse of me pressing the steering wheel buttons since it gives the "success" LED upon me pressing them. However, after I exit out of the manual program mode, still no luck. The media player still does not respond to the buttons on the steering wheel
The wild card here is although I've used this media player in a previous vehicle, I never used it with steering controls so I suppose the problem could be with the media player unit. Being that the ASWC module is giving the "success" LED every time I manually program the steering wheel buttons, a big part of me thinks the problem is between the ASWC module and the media player, and not between the car and the ASWC. The only thing I've seen in the literature for the media player is that it's compatible with "most" steering wheel control systems. "Most" Lol. I've spent so much time on it at this point that I have kind of lost patience and am at the "ehhhh f*** it...." point, but I'm curious if anyone else ever had this issue and if so, is there a fix?
Aaaaand it was installer error on my part. Wired the ASWC module up at nighttime with just a flashlight and crossed a wire because I couldn't see what the heck I was doing. And because I've literally spent the last 15 years of my life as a low-voltage service technician I figured there was noooooo chance that any of my wiring could be wrong when the steering controls weren't working, so I didn't even consider that possibility until I drove myself insane looking up every piece of info I could possibly find on both the ASWC and the head unit........ Ugh. Embarrassing. Don't do dashboard wiring at night time, kids.
Thanks for the follow up. Seems to be a pretty nice sounding stock system. I've only had the car for about 2 weeks so far, but I've been really happy with every single aspect of it up to this point, which is why the issue with the steering wheel controls were so maddening!
Has anyone had experience with the PAC SWI-PS steering wheel control module? The mode, volume control and preset buttons are working but my installer has been unable to get the voice recognition, phone on hook and off hook buttons to work. I have verified with the installer it is a 1.6.8 version but wanted to check if others have been able to get it to work.
A 2010 Outback owner in Sweden (who purchased my 20-pin radio harness) is having a similar issue. He bought a Chinese HU that has a built-in steering wheel interface. It was able to "learn" the same buttons as you did (volume, etc.).
Before connecting the new HU, he measured the resistances across the two SWC wires on the radio harness, and found they are the same as on older years. However, there were no readings on those pins when pressing any of the three new handsfree/phone buttons (Talk, Off-Hook, On-Hook). Obviously, those connect to the OEM HU some other way -- either via the CAN bus, or one of the other harnesses. Or possibly a scheme to "piggyback" some strange new signal on the two SWC wires (something that doesn't show up as resistances).
If we can figure out where the new buttons are wired, that might give a clue on how to solve this problem. The Chinese HU and the PAC modules are able to work in cars that have 3-wire SWCs. So if the new buttons use a simple resistor network like the old ones, it may be as easy as connecting one more wire from another harness.
Axxess (Metra) has created a firmware update for their ASWC interface module to automatically recognize all of the buttons on 2010 Legacy/Outbacks. They've sent me a pre-release copy, and they should be posting it on their web site any day now (early July 2010).
You'll connect pins 4 and 11 from the car's radio harness directly to separate input wires on the ASWC (no tying together, no resistor needed). The Subaru's pin 14 still needs to be connected to ground. My 20-pin install harnesses already have all three of those wires (unlike the ones from Metra and Scosche). For more info, see my homepage (under my profile).
"You need to ground the ORANGE/WHITE, and tie the BLUE/WHITE and PURPLE/WHITE together to the white interface wire. Try to program it this way and if the VOICE button doesnt program, then put in a 100 ohm resistor on the BLUE/WHITE before the WHITE wire."
I'm getting ready to install a Pioneer headunit and screens for rear seat entertainment system in my 2016 NVP. I believe I've gotten everything I need with the exception of a installation kit. I'm not sure if it is necessary since radios typically come with a mounting cage. From what I can tell it just fills any gaps between the stock opening and the new unit if there is any.
If you mean an installation kit such as brackets you don't need anything, any double DIN unit should fit, but you will have a gap around the headunit unless you get the piece of plastic like I listed above. You might need the stuff below if you want to use the factory antenna or keep steering wheel controls or add a backup camera if you don't have one already.
I used this wiring harness to keep the steering wheel controls and it also works perfectly with one footnote, two of the wire colors were in the wrong spots causing me confusion in the steering wheel controls. Details are listed in my review of the item on Amazon. 20-pin Subaru/Nissan Headunit/Radio Wiring Harness with Steering Wheel Switch wires =cm_sw_r_sms_apa_gvRrzbZQXTT30
If you're hooking up a reverse camera the reverse tie in is an orange wire in a 4 pin plug in the driver's side kick panel. It's right in front at the bottom on the right side of the plug when you pull the kick panel off.
My install will start with the Pioneer AVH-4200NEX feeding screens for each back row; overhead monitor for the first row, headrest mounted monitors for the second and third rows. I'll be utilizing a 5 channel Eclipse amp that I have had laying around for years which, for now, will just power a low profile sub mounted in a sealed enclosure in the rear left door.
Replacement of all stock speakers may have to wait until it is approved through the finance committee...or I might just get a itchy trigger finger and click "buy now" on Amazon Prime late at night. Likely candidates are JL or Hertz.
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