A-pillar Questions for Routing Dashcam

[mazinger]

Hi guys,

My car is a 2018 Audi Q5 which has air bags behind the A-pillars. Is it safe to route the dashcam wire starting from the headliner, then route and tug the wire along the gap between the headliner and the top edge of the a-pillar trim piece, then tug the wire between the vertical side edge of the a-pillar trim and the rubber weatherstrip beside the a-pillar (most videos show this is the easiest method)? Is it safe to route the wire this way so that it will not interrupt the airbag in case there is a car accident?

To remove the A-pillar trim, it will a very complicated job because it will involve buying new clips even they are not broken, and may damage any clips behind the a-pillar trim.

Please advise, thanks.

 

[Harsh]

Hi guys,

To remove the A-pillar trim, it will a very complicated job because it will involve buying new clips even they are not broken, and may damage any clips behind the a-pillar trim.

Don't necessarily need new clips each time if you have the appropriate pry tools and take some care while removing trim panels.

The following thread should help if you decide to do it this way.

https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/threads/sg9665gc-hard-wiring-into-skoda-octavia-mk3-2017.30501/

 

[Mickey63]

I'e not done this on a Q5 but I have on a Golf GTI and it sounds the same from your description.
Yes to routing up to the headliner, yes to route along the top of the headliner to the A piller. It here that you need to route the wire above/behind the piller airbag NOT in front of it. It's a bit fiddly but is do-able, then route down the a piller as you said.

 

[Harsh]

It should be more or less the same. If you aren't comfortable doing it yourself, could get it done by a car-audio installer.

 

[mazinger]

Here is a video from a dashcam installer showing how to route the wire at the A-pillar. This is the most popular way people are doing.

What do you think?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=296&v=N-FAe3WWWFU

 

[kamkar]

I think its fine, as long as you dont have the wire in front of the direction the airbad are going to deploy in you should be good, so a A piller airbag i assume deploy towards the back parallel with the door window, so any wire hidden behind the rubber grommet should not get dislodged by a deploying airbag.

Bus as he say at the top of the plastic trim, it would be best if you do have a a pillar airbag to open it up to make sure the camera wire really do go up and over the airbag, but i think as long as the wire are up higher then the plastic trim on the a pillar you should be good.

But better safe than sorry so if you have a airbag there you better have a closer look, in general those plastic trim parts on the A pillar are not hard to tear off, some click on others even my cheap ass little Suzuki also have a screw though its far too cheap to have A pillar or curtain airbags.
But it might some time require more force than people expect to tear loose those clips, so i imagine that can turn off some people.

If you are in doubt you can always go to a salvage yard and find a car like yours to practice on first.

When installing stereo in my car i couldn't figure out how to tear the center console apart, so i drove to the dealer and a guy showed there me what to do, only took him 1 - 2 minutes in the parking lot to make a customer very happy.

 

[DashcamDPR]

I have my wire tucked in the headliner, but then outside of the a-pillar where the horizontal(ish) seam is, where it meets the headliner, then down by the weatherstrip. On an A3, done the same with my GPS wire on the other side too

 

[mazinger]

I asked a vehicle collision specialist today, she told me that the a-pillar and side curtain airbags are one-piece. In other word, if we have a side-impact of the vehicle, the side curtain and the a-pillar airbag will inflate at the same time. If we tuck the wire horizontally between the gap of the headliner and a-pillar, this wire will 100% block the airbag deploy. The force of the airbag is about 300km/hr. (she said), and the dashcam will guarantee to break apart and the copper inside may go through your head or eyes.

Now, I am thinking tuck the from the wire horizontally from the headliner, then straight down between the a-pillar and the windshield, then go across the gap between the of the dash board and the bottom of the a-pillar, then finally the usb will go either the fuse or the 12v power outlet.

This should avoid the blockage of the airbag deployment. However, another way to do this is to remove the A-pillar and route the wire behind the airbag and zip tie.

 

[SawMaster]

another way to do this is to remove the A-pillar and route the wire behind the airbag and zip tie.

This is the safest method with all cars because it lets you see exactly where the airbags are and how they deploy so that you can know for certain that everything is safely routed behind them. If the factory has run wiring in there you do as they did then you can't possibly go wrong

It is generally safe to run wiring between the outer door weatherstrip and the car body as long as you go past the trim pieces where the airbag resides before crossing them as long as there is only an "A" pillar airbag. Watch for pinch points with your wiring when the door closes Alternately staying to the inside of the trim throughout the wiring run is also generally safe as long as there is only an "A" pillar airbag.

Getting a car audio shop to do the install may be a better option compared to a DIY job, but there is always the chance that they will take an easier but unsafe approach knowing that there is nearly no chance of that particular car having an airbag deployment Everyone claims to be "professional" but not everyone is, so if you do get a "Pro install" have them explain to you where they will ran the wires and how that avoids the airbags. If there is any hesitancy in their answers, look for another shop

Phil

 

[mazinger]

I phoned the shop who claimed themselves "professional" and when I asked specific whether they had any experiences working on my 2018 vehicle Q5. He replied saying that he had experiences working on my vehicle brand before. In other words, my car will be their first experiment vehicle to play around.

I ended up doing the wiring myself and bought a 12V to 5V converter. I tapped the power from the interior rearview mirror and it worked perfectly.

This way I can skip all the problems touching / removing the airbag / a-pillar.

Now, I still cannot use the dash cam because I still do not have a memory card at this moment. I am waiting for the boxing day sales .

 

[kurizma]

I phoned the shop who claimed themselves "professional" and when I asked specific whether they had any experiences working on my 2018 vehicle Q5. He replied saying that he had experiences working on my vehicle brand before. In other words, my car will be their first experiment vehicle to play around.

I ended up doing the wiring myself and bought a 12V to 5V converter. I tapped the power from the interior rearview mirror and it worked perfectly.

This way I can skip all the problems touching / removing the airbag / a-pillar.

Now, I still cannot use the dash cam because I still do not have a memory card at this moment. I am waiting for the boxing day sales .

how did you get access to the rearview mirror wires? did you hide the wire and converter in the headliner?

Thanks,

 

[mazinger]

how did you get access to the rearview mirror wires? did you hide the wire and converter in the headliner?

Thanks,

Yes. I get the power from the compass rear mirror. I hide the power convertor behind the rain sensor plastic cover.

 

[Hillbilly]

The safest way is to run it down between the windscreen and the A pillar trim Thats what I have done in my Vw's and I would think Audis would be the same. as the trim is outside the roof lining and inside the end of the dash it will fold out from the bottom.

So I ran it down the front and back along the join between it and the dash and down the side of the door seal and into the end of the dash to the fusebox

 

[kurizma]

Yes. I get the power from the compass rear mirror. I hide the power convertor behind the rain sensor plastic cover.

thanks. do you have a link to the converter you used? The one I have is way too big to hide behind the mirror cover.

I tried taking the A-Pillar off like I do with all my cars but it seems impossible to take off and I don't want to break any tabs or clips. Been searching the forums to see if anyone has successfully pulled it off but no luck yet.

 

[mazinger]

thanks. do you have a link to the converter you used? The one I have is way too big to hide behind the mirror cover.

I tried taking the A-Pillar off like I do with all my cars but it seems impossible to take off and I don't want to break any tabs or clips. Been searching the forums to see if anyone has successfully pulled it off but no luck yet.

Use this one:

https://www.amazon.ca/gp/B00U2DGLCQ

You can buy the same one from aliexpress, same supplier and cheaper if you are not in rush.

Go and search “mirror tap” in the audiworld forum and you will get an idea how to tap the wires and get the power from the compass mirror.

The A-pillar cover from my 2018 Q5 is so complicated to remove, it is much easier to tap the dashcam to the rear view mirror.

Do not forget to buy the connector pin from the electronic stores so that you can solder the pins to the converter wires, then you can tap them to the rearview mirror connector. The size of the pin should be about 0.062” male. They are inexpensive.

PIN MOLEX MALE 1.57X16.7MM CRIMP .062INCH:

https://secure.sayal.com/zinc/zinc_SEARCH.asp?txtSEARCH=Molex+pin