Have modern infotanment systems rendered the aftermarket head units obsolete?
06-12-2018, 08:24 PM
#1
Teching In
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Have modern infotanment systems rendered the aftermarket head units obsolete? Noticed this when looking at used cars. Not a lot of aftermarket headunits these days.
Am I missing something? On a lark I decided to visit the old crutchfield site and not a lot of headunits fit modern cars.
Am I missing something? On a lark I decided to visit the old crutchfield site and not a lot of headunits fit modern cars.
06-13-2018, 12:32 AM
#2
TECH Addict
Significant number of them are now so integrated in to the car that replacing them is a labor of love,, huge amount of work and $$... You can literally end up replacing the ECU (Standalone) to get the engine to run, or things like the headlights don't work without them.. Or the heater,cruise control, wipers its endless..
06-22-2018, 05:42 AM
#3
TECH Resident
My daily is a Toyota Tundra with the JBL system....
I used to tinker with car audio back in my high school/college days, but I couldn’t imagine touching the Tundra. The sound is great as is, and the factory look is clean.
The head unit is showing its age, and I did start browsing options: but honestly nothing out there is appealing VS the factory setup (even though the navigation is useless this day and age).
First: I’m a sucker for tactile buttons, and the aftermarket companies are too concerned with putting in a bigger screens with smaller/fewer buttons (why are dials the enemy?!)
second: tons of vehicle features are run through headunits these days. Settings, maintenance reminders, climate control in some, even backup cameras... I know the maestro is supposed to retain most of those features: but how well and how reliable is it?
Alpine makes vehicle specific units: but they cost way too much to even consider.
I feel once Android auto or CarPlay become widely adopted by manufacturers, aftermarket headunits will be a dead industry in just a few years: sure there’ll be a market for sound processors to modify the sound after the headunit, but with such integrated systems it’ll be difficult for aftermarket to keep relevant.
I used to tinker with car audio back in my high school/college days, but I couldn’t imagine touching the Tundra. The sound is great as is, and the factory look is clean.
The head unit is showing its age, and I did start browsing options: but honestly nothing out there is appealing VS the factory setup (even though the navigation is useless this day and age).
First: I’m a sucker for tactile buttons, and the aftermarket companies are too concerned with putting in a bigger screens with smaller/fewer buttons (why are dials the enemy?!)
second: tons of vehicle features are run through headunits these days. Settings, maintenance reminders, climate control in some, even backup cameras... I know the maestro is supposed to retain most of those features: but how well and how reliable is it?
Alpine makes vehicle specific units: but they cost way too much to even consider.
I feel once Android auto or CarPlay become widely adopted by manufacturers, aftermarket headunits will be a dead industry in just a few years: sure there’ll be a market for sound processors to modify the sound after the headunit, but with such integrated systems it’ll be difficult for aftermarket to keep relevant.
