1st Shop: Auto Magic, Glassboro, NJ <> 2nd Shop: Suburban Radio, Oaklyn, NJ

Our Tiburon had a number of features added and we ran into some problems that I am curious about.

First we had a Pioneer (AVIC-D3) GPS/Stereo/DVD player installed. When the tech (1st place) brought the car out and gave the orientation and he told us and showed us that the GPS and DVD were not operational when the parking brake was off due to legal and safety considerations. (It was not bypassed nor did I want it to be)

Next we had heated seats installed at a different (2nd) place. When we got the car back we noticed when we got home that the dashboard “brake on†light was on, indicating that the parking was on. We called the place that installed the heated seats and made an appointment to correct that problem and to also install a rear camera and a remote start.

My wife drove the car and wanted to use the GPS and of course had to pull over and pull up the parking brake to input the data into the GPS. The DVD was never used so we don't know if it was operational after the heated seat installation and during the period the "brake on" light was constantly lit.

We took the car in to the 2nd place to get the camera and the remote start put in and the dashboard “brake light on†corrected. When we got it back the tech said someone had run a wire to the parking brake to bypass the shutoff for the GPS/DVD Player. He said they were able to watch a DVD in the shop with the vehicle parking brake off. He said they cut the wire because they didn’t want it coming out of their shop bypassed because it was against the law. We did not have it bypassed and to the best of our knowledge GPS/DVD never worked without pulling over and pulling up the parking brake. After they cut the wire they said was a bypass and installed the rearview camera and remote start, the radio did not work.

It was very difficult to communicate these events to the 2nd shop because they automatically got defensive and assumed we had the system bypassed which was not the case. My wife made things worse my being insulted and defensive thinking they were accusing us of doing something unsafe and illegal. Communication then totally broke down. If someone could provide me with a plausible scenario of what might have occurred that I could communicate to the shop perhaps I can get this straightened out.

My questions are:

Is it possible that when the 2nd shop installed the heated seats that they did something that inadvertedly caused the dashboard “brake on†light to light up?

Perhaps this caused an unintended bypass?

Is it possible that the 1st place installed the Pioneer (AVIC-D3) GPS/Stereo/DVD player in a correct and legal way (not a bypass) but different from the methods the 2nd shop might use and they saw the installation and mis-identified the installation as a bypass, then cut the wire which then caused the radio not to function?

Is it possible that they cut a wire thinking that it was a bypass wire when instead it was the wire telling the unit if the brake was on or off?

It would appear that the “brake on†dashboard light from the heated seat installation and the subsequent cutting of a wire that then rendered the radio inoperable all could be attributed to a single wire being mis-identified? Yes/No?

Thanks

-Steel

it is very possible that the fuse was blown. check your fuses according to the location where the radio fuse is located. always check your fuses first before really stressing yourself out. hopefully your fuse is only blown.

MOD EDIT: Upping fuse sizes like that is a VERY bad idea. I've seen many cars electrical systems destroyed by doing that.

your radio should still work even if the parking brake wire is disconnected. I drove around for a week without my ebrake cable hooked up, because i didn't feel like pulling the center console out, and the radio worked fine. sounds like they cut the wrong wire. If it was working fine before you went to that shop, there is no excuse why it would not work when it left.

Well, the only thing I can say is that if the first shop was doing the bypass, they wouldn't have connected the brake wire to the cars emergency brake. To bypass, you would have to ground that parking brake wire.

Sounds to me like shop 2 botched it up somewhere, and they need to be the ones to fix.

We took the car back to the 2nd shop so they could make the radio work. They said the antenna wire was not fully seated.

Everything now works including the GPS input and DVD player when driving. I have no clue what they did. Somehow they did a bypass when they said they cut a wire to foil a bypass that they accused me of doing.

If you recall from my first post, they accused us of having it bypassed and cut a wire to the parking brake. I said; we never did that, didn't want that, and had no idea how it occurred. When we left the first shop they guy even showed us that it wouldn't work. The GPS input and DVD player didn't work while driving until "they", the 2nd shop put in the heated seats.

Now I have a car that somehow has it bypassed. I could take it back to the 1st shop who seemed to do everything right and pay to have them find how it was bypassed and correct it or just ignore it and hope temptaion doesn't get the better of me or my wife and daughter.

I'm done....I didn't want a bypass but I got one. I know some people do and that's your perogative. I just wanted it legal and safe because my daughter drives it. But at this point I can't even talk to these guys. Everything works...I give up.

Thanks for all your help.

Yeah... when the unit is hooked up properly (NOT bypassed) the wire is supposed to be hooked up to the parking break. I'm not sure why they would tell you it wasn't supposed to. But whatever. As long as it works now.

I'm sure that you and your wife will be able to resist, not sure about your daughter tho...

The major reason why I bypassed my D3 is so that my passenger can watch a movie or input a destination for me, but either way I hope you enjoy your new system!

I can absolutely understand why someone would bypass it because the GPS is very inconvenient to use if you have to constantly pull over, pull up the brake and input data. When I am looking for directions I usually have someone else in the car who can input it.

It really is a matter of judgement when to use it and when not. Since my young daughter was driving the car I didn't want to give her any more distractions than she already has.

-Steel

1st: with the gyro sensor when the car is stopped e-brake on or off it will play a dvd. 2nd: the shop that did the work after the 1st one probably accidently grounded the wire when running their own wires causing the light to stay on. 3rd: why did you get heated seats if you got a remote start?

1st: with the gyro sensor when the car is stopped e-brake on or off it will play a dvd. 2nd: the shop that did the work after the 1st one probably accidently grounded the wire when running their own wires causing the light to stay on. 3rd: why did you get heated seats if you got a remote start?

3rd why did you get heated seats if you got a remote start?

WOMEN!!!!! that's why, LOL, I don't even know why we got the stupid camera. I could understand if it was an SUV. I been married so long Its just easier to say; "yes dear".......it saves me a lot of aggravation.....usually

-Steel