Removing the Radio from a Saturn Vue

I am planning to replace the standard radio/single CD Player in my '03
Saturn Vue with a Panasonic head unit and a Sirius satellite radio
receiver. Does anyone have any advice on the radio removal /
installation procedure, the best place for the Sirius receiver, and the
best place for the Sirius antenna?

Thanks for any advice.

Regards,

Ed White

 

....no experience here with the VUE, however I've had good luck with
Crutchfield (www.crutchfield.com) - they include with purchase easy to
follow instructions and have good tech support too.

 

They are the best bet on everything except for the prices, they tend to be
about 10-15% higher...but their support is superb!!

You can also buy the "master sheet" instructions for your make/model/year
vehicle from them for 10$ I think. It will tell you everything about your
vehicle stereo and wiring and what needs to be done to remove the factory
set and rewire in a new one, well worth the $$.

 

I went to the local Circuit City Store to buy a radio/CD Player that
could handle MP3 files. They had some but the salesguy said
that installation is free except for Saturns, they need a $150
module because the airbags are conected to the radio !! Could that
be true ? Why ? What if I didn't have a radio ?
Anyway, I told him forget it...........

 

This is common on many GM vehicles...but not the airbag part. I know
that in Pontiacs with the "Monsoon" stereo system, the door chime, the
gas chimes and the alert chimes are passed through the stereo to the car
speakers. If you change the steroe you have to do one of 2 things.

1 is to by a wire harness that has an additional lead to leave your
factory stereo plugged in in the trunk, so that you can still have the
chimes.

2 is to use the other harness and lose the chimes.


This may be the case with the Saturn as well, but I doubt it would be
tied in with the airbags. The stereo is a servicable part in the car
and it would be too risky to have steroe installers touching the airbag
controls.


Call Crutchfield and they can tell you over the phone what you would
need. It really is as simple as that with them.

I just did a quick check on their website where they have the "What fits
my vehicle" section and this is what they say about the 2003 Vue:

*****
-The vehicle's door chime will not work after the factory radio is
removed.
-If your vehicle has the OnStar system, the voice prompts will be lost
if the factory radio is replaced.
*****


That is all that is mentioned...but call them or call your dealer to
confirm.

 

Whoah, pretty sure thats a load of BS. I got my CD player installed (Pioneer
55 x 4 system) at Future Shop, which I believe is the Canadian version of
Circuit City and yes there was one extra adapter needed for the radio plug
which was about 5$. Also, since the old radio was at the rounded top part of
my center console, and the new one was in the square middle part of my
console, there was another 10$ part to buy which had the cubby hole on top
and the opening in the middle. This was on a '98 SL2

Wurm

 

That's total BS. No GM model has the airbags connected to the radio. Some
models have the chimes produced by the radio, so if you replace it you need
a special chime module so that the chimes will still work. However, this is
not the case on at least the 2003 model of the Saturn Ion and Vue..

 

The Crutchfield rep said the chimes won't work with the replacement
radio. This is not a problem for me. However, I am curious about the
special chime module. Where does one get it?

Regards,

Ed White

 

Probably from Crutchfield as well.

I think the chime module is a lot more expensive than loosing the chimes or
buying the split harness that uses your relocated old radio for the chimes.

 

The chimes aren't generated by the radio on an '03 Vue - the radio doesn't
even connect into the data bus - so they won't be affected. Most other
current GM vehicles do have the radio connected to the data bus (mostly for
the radio's anti-theft function), but only some have the chimes generated by
the radio and therefore need a chime module if it's replaced.

Crutchfield has the Class 2 chime modules, but like I say, you don't need it
on this vehicle, and there's no place to plug it in..

 

I agree that its probably BS. I had my stereo swapped out about a month ago
and replaced it with a Pioneer CD/MP3 Sirius player, and I think there may
have been a $5 or $15 adapter part, but nothing about having to go through
an airbag and needing a $150 adapter.

I even think my doors still chime, although I suppose I'll have to check
on that now.

Mike