Any issues with aftermarket P2 head unit?

[ShaunRutherford]

I would like to put an Alpine head unit in my 2004 XC70, but have heard that this can cause issues with the canbus and the car "will forget how to be a car". Just wondering if there's a way to safely upgrade it. I would be using a kit from crutchfield. Thanks!

[jonesg]

you might lose steering wheel controls for the radio.

[darylrobert]

Ive an Alpine unit and have steering controls but its a 2001 so no phone button. The major brand name units are not as versatile as the off brand units. example i wanted to hook up a media player via HDMI only out of 3 devices i tried only one (xiaomi) worked.

Alpine ilx

[EngineeringBloke]

I've had an alpine, then a pioneer head unit in my 06 s60 for 15 years.

There are details on installation in a section of this website. Plus the crutchfield booklet will help too.

Steering wheel radio controls don't work without an adapter which I haven't tried.

Loss of the Volvo head unit results in a loss of communications with the audio module unit which is no longer present. I saw the error with vida/dice but there are no car error lights on. If you do the car modules DTC check, the flashing lights note this but you know the cause!

If you have a Volvo amplifier under the passenger seat, you'll need an RCA (phono) adaptor to take the new head unit low level output and provide it to a European DIN socket for the amplifier input.

If you use your own aftermarket amplifier, you can ignore the Volvo one. I have a 5 channel amp in my trunk and ran phono to it and speaker wires back to the head unit area and then the crutchfield/metra speaker lead adaptor (for the mids in the doors, tweeters connected directly). I have a sub box in the trunk. Also I did not connect anything to the rear speakers as I like a front stage presentation.

I think integrating with newer Volvos is more of an issue. The dashboard doesn't accept the rectangular aftermarket radios, and audio signals are sent in digital form making it harder to use an aftermarket amplifier. The loudspeakers still take analog signals and can be upgraded. But I haven't looked into this much.

[leapdragon]

I installed a cheap sub-$100 unit from Amazon in my '07 XC70 with a bezel and a cable kit from eBay. All worked out well and I have full steering wheel controls. I left the parking brake wire disconnected so that my kids can watch videos on the center console while I drive.

The only change is that the car now considers the reverse proximity sensors to be defective (apparently they generated the sound through the original head unit?) and I get that message on each start. But, basically... Who cares.

Anyway, installation went smoothly and looks OEM with the nice bezel in place (I think it cost about $30 at the time on eBay).