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Upgrading my Ford Figo's infotainment system: Got a non-Android setup

11th December 2023, 12:29 by Utkarsh Chaudhary

As soon as the existing HU was opened up, I was told that wire cutting would be required to enable the steering controls.

BHPian AYP recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Hello everyone,

The purpose of this thread is to take you through my journey of ICEing my Figo and to also serve as a guide for the Figo and the Aspire owners who want to upgrade their infotainment system (non-Android).

Prologue

The itch to upgrade the ICE started back in 2019 with all the new cars coming with huge screens with support for Android Auto and Carplay. Even the Aspire and the Freestyle had the updated Sync3 systems. I remember coming across various Android systems during this time but I was concerned with their long-term performance and cheap-looking UI.

And then COVID hit us all and the thoughts of an upgrade quickly left my mind. Of course, the extended warranty also made me wary of such an upgrade.

June 2023

I came across these 'Woodman' Android systems and started to search more about them and Android stereos in general. While the cheap looking UI was still an issue, there were a lot of positives. However, the deeper I went into this, the more I realised why Androids weren't the way forward for me. My reasons for not going for Android are as follows-

Cheap-looking UI. No offense to the Android users but I really hate the generic Android HU UIs. I tried to come up with a different word to substitute the word 'cheap' but none could quite deliver the message more appropriately.
Long-term reliability and performance- Most of us are Android users and even with 6, 8, or 12 gigs of RAM, more often than not, in a matter of 2-3 years, our phones do slow down and after 5-6 years, they start to become unusable. Most of these Androids have 2 gigs or 4 gigs of RAM. There are 8GB options available as well but they cost more than 30-35k and even then, with 8 gigs of RAM, the long-term reliability is still a question mark.
Updating the apps- Since an Android HU is nothing but an Android tablet adapted to function like an HU, it needs to be updated just like an Android phone. In contrast, the HUs from Sony and Pioneer rarely require updates and when it comes to AA and CP, it is your phone that does all the heavy lifting, and all the apps are updated as long as you update these apps on your phone.
Size of the HU- Unless you go for an ancient Android HU, you only get 9'' and 10'' Android HUs. 9'' and 10'' have become the standard size for Android HUs now but the centre console of the Figo is clearly not suited for these sizes. This is how a 9-inch Android HU looks in the Figo-

As you can see, a 9-inch HU looks quite out of place in a Figo or an Aspire. Also, the hazard button switch does not fit properly in the frame.

July 2023

I got the RCD 360 Pro for my Father's Jetta which comes with wired AA and CP.

This made the itch to upgrade even harder not to scratch.

August 2023-

The itch to upgrade was ever-growing, but a few things kept holding me back.

Extended warranty-

My car was and is still under extended warranty. Ford has in fact introduced EW for the 8th year as well. So I can, if I want, have EW until August 2025. Currently, my car is covered until August 2024. And while coupler-to-coupler fitting does not generally void warranty, you never know. There is always a chance.

Stage 2 Remap-

At a lesser cost than an ICE upgrade, I could get my car remapped to Stage 2 from the current Stage 1. However, since my car is under EW, I was hesitant to take this route. And thus, I was caught in this never-ending cycle.

Itch to upgrade ICE- Warranty concerns- Thinking of spending the money for a stage 2 remap- Warranty concerns- Back to square one.

To be very honest, the trigger for me was the introduction of the 8th year EW by Ford. Yes, instead of being a deterrent, it acted as a catalyst since I was quite sure that I didn't wanna wait that long for an upgrade. And thus, started a rather painful journey of ICEing my Figo.

The first step towards getting an ICE was to get a frame suitable for a 7 inch HU. I posted about it on my ownership thread.

BHPian SaiSW responded and suggested me to approach Wavehertz, Delhi for the frame. I did message him for the same but was put off by the high quoted price of 4k. They only had 1 frame in stock. So at the end of August, I ordered, a 7 inch Frame suitable for my car from here and here on Amazon-

However, the final product which came was actually a 9-inch frame. This is what it looked like-

I reached out again to Wavehertz and by the time I was ready to order, the frame had gone out of stock. Throughout the next couple of days, I contacted at least 15 car accessory vendors throughout India for a 7-inch frame without any success. I was left perplexed and frustrated that my ICE upgrade may not proceed ahead due to the lack of availability of the 7-inch frame. These are the perks of owning a non-popular car from a non-popular brand that has shut shop in India. Call it my luck or whatever, but an accessory shop very close to me in Vashi (Navi Mumbai) had 1 frame in stock and offered the same for 150 bucks. However, this frame was in very poor condition. Pretty sure that this was at least 3-4 years old. This is how it looked-

And with this, I thought that my troubles were over. Oh, how wrong was I?

September 2023-

I was contemplating the HU to go for and had almost finalised the Sony XAV-AX6000. It comes with wireless AA and CP and wired AA. It also comes with HDMI and a single-camera input. But then, I saw this post by BHPian Yesterdaysnews.

It made me contemplate between the Pioneer DMH-Z6350BT and the Sony XAV-AX6000 but the price at which the Pioneer was being offered made me go for it. I got in touch with BHPian Yesterdaysnews and we agreed on a price of 26k for the HU. I did though also procure an amp and sub from him and paid 31k in total. Meanwhile, I had got the frame Hydro dipped at H20 Graphix in Dadar. Paid 1800 for the same. This is how the frame looked after-

I had also ordered the required accessories to go with the HU, namely, the micro HDMI to HDMI male cable, the USB C cable (male to female, USB OTG cable, the HDMI male to USB C adapter, the aux cable and the front and rear cameras. I have provided the links to all the accessories that I ordered in a later post.

After getting the HU and the frame, I was all excited and went to get the HU fitted on 16th September(Saturday) at Paras Car Decor in Vashi. As soon as the existing HU was opened up, I was told that wire cutting would be required to enable the steering controls. This was not acceptable to me. I asked the fitter as to how we can avoid wire cutting and I was suggested to order a suitable coupler from Delhi.

Post this, I was running from pillar to post and going to various other installers and also contacting some others over Whatsapp to get a solution to this. Out of desperation, I went to an installer who wasn't very good and he ended up damaging my HDMI cable. Lesson learned- never make a major decision when you are either very happy or very desperate.

I got in touch with BHPian VWALLstar and he suggested me to get in touch with a different installer in Vashi.

After going to this installer, I got to know that there is a separate wiring harness that is required to get steering controls working in a Pioneer. This is what that harness looks like-

This was missing from the package which was sent to me. The owner at Paras Car Decor had 1 such harness with him but even he wasn't sure if this was the right one. Anyway, I went back to him straight away and got the harness for 500 bucks as a failsafe.

I contacted Wavehertz again and ordered the coupler along with the radio coupler. However, I was told even by Wavehertz that wire cutting shall be needed for Pioneer. Post this, I waited for the harness to arrive patiently.

October 2023-

As they say, An idle mind is the devil's workshop, during my wait for the harness to arrive, I started to think of my upgrade more holistically. I was concerned about the wiring and its positioning. Putting them in the glovebox was the safe route. However, 2 factors made me reconsider this-

Putting wires in the glovebox is as good as not having wires in the first place. They never get used.
As per the feedback from BHPian SaiSW, the wires in the glovebox get squished when the glovebox is closed.

These factors made me think of an alternate positioning for the wires and this trim in my car caught my attention-

I was initially thinking of ordering this trim which used to come with the Titanium+ trim-

But since I also needed to have an outlet for the HDMI cable, I quickly realised that this would not work. Finally, I decided to make use of the current trim itself. I ordered this rectangular grommet.

The idea was to make a cut in the existing trim and fit the grommet inside that opening from which the wires shall be routed out.

However, this turned out to be a size too big for the trim. I then ordered this circular grommet (19mm open grommet is out of stock).

I got the trim laser cut and fit this grommet inside the hole (the hole was 21mm in Diameter)-

What I also discovered during this time was that the USB C cable that I had ordered had gone bad, the male part of the cable had gone loose and wouldn't stay put inside any female slot. So I ordered another cable of UGREEN make.

In the meantime, the coupler from Wavehertz had also arrived-