Fully compatible Stereo

[2horsegarage]

I seem to be hitting a wall looking for an aftermarket stereo (and/or with adapters) that will allow me to keep functionality of the steering wheel controls, bluetooth, and USB input on the console...

Anyone know of an option?

[dbya rx]

crutchfield.com will show you everything you need. for the steering controls they sell adapters, but it will take some work. you will lose the bluetooth but just buy a new unit that has bluetooth. as far as the usb, you will have to figure out how to wire it to the new unit from the center console. you probably wont be able to use the same wiring, but you can pretty put the wire anywhere. i honestly prefer the glovebox personally.

good luck

[2horsegarage]

Thanks... I contacted them today. Actually they were as much help as I expected. They couldn't really give me a clear answer. I am surprised that there isn't something out there for this--- can't believe I am the only one that is looking for something like this.

[mjboudreaux77]

To use your steering controls with the aftermarket HU, you will need something like what is found on:

Recommended Accessories Wheel Audio Control Adapters

You have to splice into your factory wires to do this, and programming seems a pain - so I haven't bothered.

[rage-wrx]

Its nearly impossible to retain all the steering wheel controls with an aftermarket unit.Many have asked the same question,me included,but the consensus is that you will lose steering controls.Some are just going to leave the HU in place & add a JL cleansweep to dramatically improve sound .It costs about $200-$300 & you get to keep steering controls.Only drawaback maybe volume control.

[jd92677]

A company called PAC makes steering wheel controls for the WRX that work with Pioneer, Alpine, and maybe Kenwood? head units. They sell them at crutchfield as others have said. You cannot use the USB in the glovebox but you can run your own USB there from your new HU. Bluetooth, you're pretty much out of luck, but most good head units have bluetooth capabilities.

[SVXdc]

Both the Axxess ASWC (by Metra) and the various SWI-* modules from PAC Audio will enable you to keep your steering wheel audio controls (SWCs) with an aftermarket head unit. These modules recognize all of the buttons on your wheel and translate them into signals that the new HU wants to see.

Both brands will see all 8 buttons on the 2011s (including the new phone buttons -- Off-hook, On-hook, and Talk). However, many HUs don't have remote control commands that match all of those buttons, particularly off/on-hook. Any of the car's buttons that are "leftover" can be assigned to other audio functions (e.g., band, preset up/down, etc.) -- anything else the HU does have commands for.

Incidentally, you can manually assign the car's buttons any way you want. You could, for example, assign volume up/down to be seek up/down. As far as the SWC interface module is concerned, they're all just plain buttons.

I make a 20-pin radio harness that includes the 2 or 3 SWC wires, so you won't have to splice into your factory wires. E-mail me for more info.

With the 2011 premium HU, the actual Bluetooth functionality is built into the HU itself. So as others have said, when you pull the OEM HU, you loose BT. But many aftermarket HUs have it. The OEM microphone will still be there (in the map light cluster). We've been looking at how that works and how it might be connected to an aftermarket HU, but it's not looking too promising. See this thread.

The 2011's OEM aux+USB "pod" in the center console has a proprietary connector on the back for the USB port. The car's harness has a different proprietary connector at the HU end. Short of cutting off that plug and splicing on a regular USB plug, there's no easy way to re-use the OEM harness or jack.

The best alternative is to replace the pod with the one for the Media Hub accessory for cars with the base HU. That pod has a regular USB A socket on the back. Then you can use a cable with USB A male-to-male plugs to connect your aftermarket HU's USB jack to that. See this thread.

You didn't ask about the OEM 3.5mm aux jack, but it is possible to retain use of that with an aftermarket HU. I can build an adapter harness to connect from the 2011's 16-pin aux harness to the HU's aux or A/V input on the back (either left+right RCA plugs or a 3.5mm stereo plug). Again, e-mail me for more info.