Seriously Need A Proffessional's answer

[madman 10+ year member]

This question is for any professional installer familiar with 99 caveliers.

I was recently told that the stock tape deck in my 99 cavelier would have to be left hooked up to the car and mounted in the trunk in order to replace it with a C.D. player because if it is diconnected it will mess with the computer and set off the airbags.Is this true?because i am not familiar with installations on newer vehicles and i don't want to get ripped off.At the same time i don't wanna mess with the computer on my car and set off the airbags.i was told that it would cost $150 canadian for the wire harness to run the stock tape deck to the trunk.

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[beastyle 10+ year member]

I'm not familar with your specific car altho the story sounds like crap.

In the past i had some "problems" while building in any radio in a car that had a board computer in it. With problems i mean that **** like the station u'r tuned in or the CD that you play is no longer displayed on the board computers screen.

For the rest i cant imagine that you would need to do what the garage told you to for simply changing or adding active audio components. The only thing that might bite you is the remote wiring but this is very very unlikely to occur. Seen it once in a car who had an actual remote antenne, two amplifiers and a HU frontloader WITH external CD changer (in this situation all jumped on and off expect the CD changer, it seemed to be the only thing that actually stayed on. I dunno how he solved it but i my first blaim would be wiring)

Anyway, get a second opinion on a other garage, something thinks to the story you got from the first garage if you ask me.

Gl & peace

Editted: As far as i know most airbag systems have minimal impact on other car electronics

 

[natem33 10+ year member]

Sorry not familiar with that either, but check out http://www.installdr.com (I think that's right) and http://www.caraudioanswers.com - hopefully you can get some info there if not here. If you do not get many responses here you want to consider reposting with something like 'cavelier owners' or 'airbag controlled by stereo?' - Just some ideas to get others attention. I too believe that's a bs story too. Call your local Chevy dealer and ask them about that too. They won't bs you around and they will know the truth.

 

[BassiKLowZ 10+ year member]

thats not true

 

[zane 10+ year member]

There are a few restrictions with the Delco "Theft-Lock" Radio's, however, none should interfere with the airbag assembly. If this was true, how could the radio be moved to the trunk without setting off the airbags? I will do a little research and try to obtain some more information about the "Theft-Lock" units and post this later today.....

take it easy,

-zane

 

[madman 10+ year member]

Much appreciated Zane thanks

 

[AZMaxima97 10+ year member]

I heard from an installer when I got my system installed that Chevy's kind of have a poor design in that aspect and hooking up certain audio equipment interferes with other electronical functions in the car which kind of *****. So i don't think the story is bogus

 

[Corsica 5,000+ posts]

I now this is different story here but same main brand. My Chevy corsica (1988) and my Aunt's 1991 Beretta had airbags installed and tha radio being chaged didn't interfere so that my be pure BS. But take hatever Zane says cause he's like THE MAN!.

 

[dbhittin 5,000+ posts]

i have a 2001 Mercury SableLS(not the station wagon)and i had to buy a wiring harness to run to the back too. But we put in a 10disc cd changer.

 

[zane 10+ year member]

Ok, heres the deal.......

GM's "Theftlock" Radio's are equiped with several electrical add on's that relate to the rest of the vehicle. The main concerns here would be with the SCV circuit that adjusts the volume to compensate for road noise. Also, removing the radio will cause it to be useless if ever installed again. There is a code that you can program into your radio that will allow you to disable the "Theftlock" feature however, so that should take care of that issue. Refer to your Owners Manual for the proper instructions on setting this code for your car.

Basically, I "borrowed" my fathers 97 Chevy Silverado 2500; which has the premium "Theftlock" AM/FM/ Cassette/CD system. Did a little snooping under the dash- and there are quite a few more wires coming from the back of the radio than would appear on a typical- 4 speaker, standard power, Preout unit. None of the wires appeared to be interlinked with the Airbag system in any way durring a brief inspection of the main harness. Again, based on this- I think the SRS is not going to be an issue for you. However, GM specifically warns (in big bright red letters!) of adding aftermarket audio/visual equipment to the factory system due to its integration with the vehicle. While I believe that all you need to do is program your "Theftlock" code and disable the system to remove it; without knowing which specific radio and the layout of your cars main power wiring harness, I would still discuss this matter with a GM technician before attempting anything.

take it easy,

-zane

 

[madman 10+ year member]

Ok this is for you guys to read for future reference in case someone else has this question again........i talked to a few proffessionals about the stock deck thing and finally got the answer......99 caveliers do not have the feature where the deck is wired to the computer that is for 2000 and up.A surefire way to tell this is your "door ajar" chime.If when you open your door,the chime beeps through your door speakers one one of em anyways that means you do have the stupid wiring setup through the computer.If the chime comes from the dash,you're fine.//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif