Wiring for rear facing dash cam

[Vincent907]

Greetings,

I just purchased the Viofo A129 2-ch while waiting for the Dongar Pro to arrive. I am wondering for people who wire their rear facing cam, do you need to take the A pillar off? This is the 1st time DIY dash cam myself and since it's brand new I want to make sure I don't break anything the 1st day.

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[Datrane01]

No. You can run the cable in the ceiling edge around the whole vehicle. Very easy to do.

 

[Iowa Taco]

I have a Vantrue camera that I plan to install with a rear camera, and also waiting for my Dongar Pro to arrive in a couple days. I saw one post express a concern that running the rear camera wire around the edge of the headliner might interfere with the side curtain airbags if ever needed. I've somewhat discounted that in that if I'm just tucking the wire and not zipping or securing, that the wire will blow out with the airbag and not restrict it. Thoughts?

 

[Vincent907]

I have a Vantrue camera that I plan to install with a rear camera, and also waiting for my Dongar Pro to arrive in a couple days. I saw one post express a concern that running the rear camera wire around the edge of the headliner might interfere with the side curtain airbags if ever needed. I've somewhat discounted that in that if I'm just tucking the wire and not zipping or securing, that the wire will blow out with the airbag and not restrict it. Thoughts?

Interfering the airbag is my concern as well. I have not found any videos on YT that shows the location of the airbags/wiring harness in the headliner so I can't say if just tucking the dashcam cable in the headliner will/will not affect the airbags.

 

[Iowa Taco]

So I went down the rabbit hole. The likelihood of getting in a serious accident is rare but I don't control other drivers' behavior and I continue to see way too much distracted driving (usually with a cell phone). So while I don't plan to get in an accident and the odds are relatively small, if I DO end up in a serious accident, the statistics are pretty overwhelming about the value of airbags, especially side curtain airbags up on the edge of the headliner.

After doing some more reading (for example, here and here), I am not really concerned that a tucked, unsecured wire with stop an airbag. However, I am questioning if I want to introduce a wire (or any object) into the projectile path of those airbags because of the impact on my body. Do I want a wire being imploded quick towards my face or neck? I think not. My carotid artery seems to serve me relatively well. Engineers spend time and energy designing trim to stay out of the airbag pathways. I'm inclined to respect that.

I'm no longer likely to simply tuck the wire around the headliner edge to get to the back camera. I see three options at this point. One, take off the trim pieces (including on the pillars) and make sure I put the wire behind any airbags so as not to interfere with a potential deployment. This makes me nervous. I have this cartoon vision of me accidentally deploying an airbag somehow and having a concussion with burns all over my face. Two, see if I can find a path along the windshield, down through the edge of the dash and run under the door seals (or someplace down there) and then back up the back to a camera. Three, just use the occupant camera on the back of the front camera unit and assume it will pick up some video out the back windows. Option three seems easiest (and a waste of money from buying the back camera before thinking through this all the way). I'll take a look at option two over the weekend.

Am I overthinking all of this? Maybe. Will I get in a serious accident? Probably not. But if I am in a serious accident, I don't want to have diminished the significant protection offered by those airbags.

 

[Vincent907]

So I went down the rabbit hole. The likelihood of getting in a serious accident is rare but I don't control other drivers' behavior and I continue to see way too much distracted driving (usually with a cell phone). So while I don't plan to get in an accident and the odds are relatively small, if I DO end up in a serious accident, the statistics are pretty overwhelming about the value of airbags, especially side curtain airbags up on the edge of the headliner.

After doing some more reading (for example, here and here), I am not really concerned that a tucked, unsecured wire with stop an airbag. However, I am questioning if I want to introduce a wire (or any object) into the projectile path of those airbags because of the impact on my body. Do I want a wire being imploded quick towards my face or neck? I think not. My carotid artery seems to serve me relatively well. Engineers spend time and energy designing trim to stay out of the airbag pathways. I'm inclined to respect that.

I'm no longer likely to simply tuck the wire around the headliner edge to get to the back camera. I see three options at this point. One, take off the trim pieces (including on the pillars) and make sure I put the wire behind any airbags so as not to interfere with a potential deployment. This makes me nervous. I have this cartoon vision of me accidentally deploying an airbag somehow and having a concussion with burns all over my face. Two, see if I can find a path along the windshield, down through the edge of the dash and run under the door seals (or someplace down there) and then back up the back to a camera. Three, just use the occupant camera on the back of the front camera unit and assume it will pick up some video out the back windows. Option three seems easiest (and a waste of money from buying the back camera before thinking through this all the way). I'll take a look at option two over the weekend.

Am I overthinking all of this? Maybe. Will I get in a serious accident? Probably not. But if I am in a serious accident, I don't want to have diminished the significant protection offered by those airbags.

I feel the chance of deploying the airbag while just undoing the A pillar cover is quite low. Here's a video from Chrisfix who went through a general process with the wire going through the door seal.

 

[Dongar]

With our Vantrue N5 I tucked the rear wire right under the headliner (see pic)
Then at the A-pillar I crammed into the gap between between the plastic and headliner, without removing the A-pillar cover.
At the top of the door there's rubber weather stripping I super easily tucked into, to the B-pillar right at the crack, then all the way to the back window.

The excess wire I coiled up and left behind the rear seat. I'm only assuming this doesn't interfere with the airbag because it's pretty much following the exact edge of the headliner, which itself would not interfere with the headliner (again, an assumption). I didn't look too hard but you don't see or feel any other wires when you stick your fingers under the headliner.

 

[Vincent907]

With our Vantrue N5 I tucked the rear wire right under the headliner (see pic)
Then at the A-pillar I crammed into the gap between between the plastic and headliner, without removing the A-pillar cover.
At the top of the door there's rubber weather stripping I super easily tucked into, to the B-pillar right at the crack, then all the way to the back window.

The excess wire I coiled up and left behind the rear seat. I'm only assuming this doesn't interfere with the airbag because it's pretty much following the exact edge of the headliner, which itself would not interfere with the headliner (again, an assumption). I didn't look too hard but you don't see or feel any other wires when you stick your fingers under the headliner.

So, I finally installed the A129 along with Dongar Pro. I pretty much followed Kevin's routing.

1. The cover for the screw just pops out, and it's a 10mm. Once you finished the job the torque spec for this is 9.7 N-m or 86 in-lb. If you have the JBL premium sound, be careful of the tweeter speaker wiring at the bottom. I popped the top out then just laid the cover on the dash, there's enough slack on the speaker wiring so I did not disconnect it.

2. I routed the cable along the headliner and the aforementioned A-pillar cover, then between the airbag shield and the sunroof drain hose, then up the headliner.

3. I routed the cable along/above the shield for the side curtain airbag to the B-pillar. Since the side curtain airbag should deploy downward, I assume as long as the cable doesn't go below the airbag it should be safe.

4. I undo the rear handle (couple of 10mm bolts, I again torqued it to 9.7 N-m/86 in-lb since I couldn't find the specific torque for these in the service manual), popped the top of B-pillar out a little so I can route the cable through there.

5. Again, route the cable along side/above the shield for the rear curtain airbag.

6. Bunched up then zip-tie the excess cable and stuck it between the C-pillar cover and the frame. I'm actually kinda surprised how much room there is. I made sure the zip-tie wouldn't rub on OEM harness.

7. Stuck the cable between the C-pillar cover and headliner. Finish the install.

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