[cravend]

I purchased a dashcam for my 2008 Escape, and the way the wiring works, I'd like to splice into const/acc/ground in the wiring harness of my aftermarket head unit. Has anyone ran a wire across the passenger side of the dashboard, up the a-frame pillar, across the headliner, and down behind the mirror?

The part I'm not sure about is getting access to the space in between where my head unit is and where the a-frame meets the dash... I could probably go through the driver's side, but I was thinking that would be harder b/c of the IC and steering stuff.

 

[RazoE]

Yes. It's basically as you described it: dash, to pillar, across the headliner and there you go.

 

[cravend]

Yes. It's basically as you described it: dash, to pillar, across the headliner and there you go.

Awesome! Any tips on getting access to that dash space behind the passenger airbag? Is there a panel I can pull to get into it?

 

[RazoE]

If I remember correctly, you can tuck the wire under and zip tie it to the harness already running through there

 

[Mountain Escape]

I definitely ran wires around the windshield trim, tucked it into the dash, and I believe there is a plastic panel you can pop out once you open the door. Be gentle with plastic panels. I accessed power and ground in the passenger side foot well. Very easy to wire a dash cam/radar
detector, just make sure you pull from (ignition on) hot source, not constant hot sauce- respectively.

Some dash cameras have a bump on feature, which will begin recording upon a G-Shock event. Some of those require a constant hot.

 

[cravend]

Got this all working, thanks for the help!

For those curious, I did end up crossing through the space where the passenger airbag was. There was some sort of hollow metal tube (I believe to provide a spine for the dashboard?), I pulled the wire straight through there.

I’ll post pics later, but the reason I had to wire it behind my head unit is I bought a dash cam with a video output — rather than having a built-in screen, I can switch to the A/V input on my unit and make my adjustments there!