Deck install question

[Gwec]

Hi, new to the forums and I have a question. I own a 2001 Olds Alero. It has the deluxe sound system which pretty much sucks and I want to replace it. I went to bestbuy to get a wiring harness and the audio guy told me that new GMs (2001+) require a special wiring harness that costs $100 and apparently is a huge pain to install. He told me without it, if I tried to install an after market deck, that my other electrical things in the car would not work (dash lights, chimes, etc.). Anyways, so my question is, has anyone else heard about this? Was this guy legit or was he just trying to make me buy an overpriced wire harness?

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[SRim23 5,000+ posts]

from what i understand is you just lose your door chimes, and on star stuff if you had it. used the normal harness in my girls pontiac sunfire (guy said she needed the 100 dollar one too) and it worked just fine.

might run into problems if ur car has a stock amplifier though........

 

[xxBURT0Nxx 10+ year member]

From what I've heard you loose your airbags too? Not sure if it's true. I know when I used to have an 01 cavalier I had an Alpine deck installed and they just put my factory deck in the trunk and it only cost me like $35 instead of the $100 but idk if that's an option or what exactly they did... to stupid and young when they did it to know any better?

 

[SilverSquared 10+ year member]

U dont lose airbags. You lose chimes, and R.A.P. (Retain Accessory Power), which is when you turn the key off, the radio and stuff stays on for 15 minutes. This will just instantly kill them, instead of 15 minutes or when you open the door. The harness you need is from a 2002 Saturn.

 

[Gwec]

From what I've heard you loose your airbags too? Not sure if it's true. I know when I used to have an 01 cavalier I had an Alpine deck installed and they just put my factory deck in the trunk and it only cost me like $35 instead of the $100 but idk if that's an option or what exactly they did... to stupid and young when they did it to know any better?

Yeah, now that you mention it, I do remember him saying something about the airbags. Eh, I'll probably just save myself that hassle and spend the extra $70 even though I'll probably never need my airbags, and that door chime is the most annoying thing ever invented for a car. Anyways, thanks for the quick responses Srim and Burton.

 

[SRim23 5,000+ posts]

U dont lose airbags. You lose chimes, and R.A.P. (Retain Accessory Power), which is when you turn the key off, the radio and stuff stays on for 15 minutes. This will just instantly kill them, instead of 15 minutes or when you open the door. The harness you need is from a 2002 Saturn.

so basically nothing useful lol i always thought that was a useless feature in my ***** am. what exactly is that feature useful for when if you want you can just turn your key to accessory? i never understood it.

to the OP, install it yourself. plenty of people on here that would help if you had problems.

 

[Gwec]

U dont lose airbags. You lose chimes, and R.A.P. (Retain Accessory Power), which is when you turn the key off, the radio and stuff stays on for 15 minutes. This will just instantly kill them, instead of 15 minutes or when you open the door. The harness you need is from a 2002 Saturn.

Okay, that would make me feel better knowing that I would still have my airbags. I could easily do without the R.A.P. and the chimes I just don't like. Thanks all!