OEM Integration
Selling 12V: OEM Integration
Retaining high fidelity from a secondary source
By Brett Solomon
XM-KEN/PIO DMX V. 1
OEM Integration used to be a matter of retaining a head unit or amplifier and changing other equipment. Because of the addition of mobile video and satellite radio, the purveyors of OEM Integration equipment have been working late nights in order to develop products for the new formats.
The advent of satellite radio and DVD mobile video has increased the consumer’s sensitivity to retaining the cleanest audio signal, and installers are seeking to add additional sources to play through the stock stereo systems without using an FM modulator that reduces the fidelity of the source.
The most current wave of new products in OEM Integration are those that can inject Satellite Radio into an OEM head unit without the use of the FM modulator. Also included in this group are the products that can provide sound from a secondary entertainment source such as a DVD player or video game system (so the owner of a car can listen to the audio portion of a DVD through the stock stereo).
Blitzsafe’s XM-Digital Connect Interface line for connecting the Pioneer XM tuner to select OEM radios was first slated to ship in March, but the company said those models should be shipping early this month. (Blitzsafe in January announced an XM-Digital Connect Interface, Model XM-KEN/PIO DMX V. 1, $95 SRP), designed to make a Kenwood Sirius-ready radio work with Pioneer’s XM tuner. At press time, the company said the Kenwood-Pioneer model was shipping.)
As we transition from analog to digital formats, OEM integration devices that can retain the fidelity of the digital source will become more important for retrofitting today’s vehicles as well as future vehicles.
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Blitzsafe witholds new GM kit
ENGLEWOOD, N.J. - BlitzSafe has decided not to ship a General Motors radio replacement interface product because of possible liability issues in the event of an airbag deployment. This interface allows the removal of the OEM GM radio to allow the installation of a aftermarket radio.
BlitzSafe’s interface, called the GM RRD, is a kit that allows users to remove a GM radio and replace it with an aftermarket product without losing some of the car functions, which are now tied into the GM radio. These functions include OnStar voice communications and chimes for door open, ignition key, safety belt fasten, etc.
BlitzSafe’s president Ira Marlowe said the company learned that if an airbag deployed and its GM RRD had a failure and OnStar did not work, then BlitzSafe could be liable. The critical issue is that OnStar automatically contacts the driver when an airbag is deployed and will dispatch an emergency vehicle.
“We don’t know if the radio is considered a piece of safety equipment, like an airbag. So now when we talk about integration there’s a big question,” Marlowes said. “Even if our device works the way it should but then there’s a failure and someone’s life is on the line and emergency service doesn’t get there, what do we do? We’re confirming [the liability issue] and if it’s true, it’s never going to see the market.”
BlitzSafe said it invested a year of R&D in the GM RRD, and it was expected to ship in November at $59.
Marlowe noted that the issue might have implications for the entire aftermarket. “Removing a radio in an environment when you have certain warnings and emergency service notification going through the radio, it becomes a tremendous liability. People are going to be reluctant to pull out their radios. And the aftermarket’s ability to do this, without what we [integrator companies] do, is then threatened.”
In the event of a liability case involving an aftermarket radio, “everyone would be brought in, including the supplier, distributor and the retailer who sold it,” he said.
