The weather is finally warming up (depending on where you are in the country) and you most likely just put in your time off for summer vacation. But how will you maximize the little time you have away from the office?  An exotic backpacking trip through Europe sounds nice or a cruise touring the Pacific Ocean would be fun. But both sound awfully expensive and I doubt you’re looking for a second job to help pay for such an expedition. If you’re anything like me, your budget is telling you that’s a bad idea and you need to stay local. Luckily you’re a car fanatic, so a cross country road trip is the perfect opportunity to experience America’s raw beauty while setting your own itinerary and staying within a budget. Best of all you get to spend the week with fresh air, friends, open highways and of course; your car.

And what perfect timing, you just replaced your Boss AR1200.2 amplifier with something that has a little more power, the Hifonics Brutus BRX2400.1D to optimize sound quality. Your 12″ NVX VCW subs have never sounded so good and you’re ready to show them off. Not to mention your Pioneer AVIC-6200NEX head unit not only displays the most accurate navigation information but also comes equipped with Apple car play and a DVD player. Your friends chose you to drive for more than just your clean driving record.

What seemed like a good idea at the time turned into a nightmare. You drove a total of 48 hours in 7 days while your friends slept and played on their phones. You had no one to interact with and those highways just kept getting longer and longer. Luckily you have a friend in Sonic Electronix and we have all the insider information you need to maximize your car’s entertainment potential for your next road trip.Use these tips and tricks to bypass those pesky safety features so you don’t have to rely on your friends for in car entertainment.

Stock Head Units

As we all know, not all factory head units are manufactured the same but luckily they all resort to similar safety features. This features prevent you from accessing certain settings while the car is in motion. To override these safety features you’ll need an aftermarket part. Popular manufacturers include Crux, Nav TV, and Lockpick. However, with such an advanced piece of technology comes a high price point. This part costs a few hundred dollars and for that price you might consider purchasing a new head unit. However, if you have grown to love your stock head unit, purchase this bypass harness and reap the benefits. The install process is very simple:

Step 1: Remove head unit
Step 2: Wire lockpick to stock head unit
Step 3: Reinstall; it’s that simple

This will enable you to perform restricted actions while in motion. Use responsibly; only watch good movies.

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Aftermarket Head Units

Regardless of the head unit, manufacturers want advanced audio functions utilized only while the car is parked. But we live in America and have unlimited freedoms so Sonic Electronix is going to offer you the option to override this safety feature. Basically if you want video in motion, you have to override the parking brake lock out function. Meaning your car requires you to be in park to access these features, but there is a way to trick your vehicle into thinking your parked while the car is moving.

On almost every brand aside from Alpine and Pioneer, this process is basically the same. You must first ground the parking brake wire which is black, to the pale green or sometimes pink wire. Boss, Planet Audio, and Soundstream all have pink wires whereas other manufacturers have light green. Our tech recommends you install the bypass wiring during your initial install so you do not have to go through the install process twice. All you have to do is strip and twist the wires to bypass the video safety feature. This’ll make your vehicle think the parking brake is on allowing you to perform advanced settings while in motion.

For Pioneer and Alpine head units, the process has an extra step. These two prominent manufacturers have placed customer safety as a priority. So they have made it more difficult to bypass the parking break lock out. In fact they do not manufacture or sell the part necessary for the bypass; but Sonic Electronix does. The PAC TR-1 is an inexpensive part specified for these two brands. Very simple to wire; Alpine head units require all the previous steps mentioned with the addition of a yellow wire connected to another yellow wire for foot break recognition.

The blue wire goes to the blue white wire for amplifier turn on, black to ground, and the green is for parking break output. Now what happens is when you turn on your radio, the amp turn on wire triggers this PAC TR1. This output send a signal from the green wire to the head unit so it thinks the parking brake is on allowing you to access advanced features.

Sonic’s Secret:

1. On most brands all you have to do is ground the parking brake wire. Once you find the ground wire, strip the ends and twist them together.

2. For stock head units, the aftermarket wiring harness costs about the same as a new head unit. You might want to consider upgrading to an aftermarket head unit for the price you are paying.

3. For an aftermarket stereo, bypass safety features during initial install.

4. Most importantly Sonic Electronix is sharing insider knowledge on how to bypass safety features, use your best discretion and ALWAYS be safe.

5. Despite the tiny bit of extra difficulty bypassing the parking brake; the Pioneer AVH series is still our tech’s favorite line of head units.