Stereo Install, 04 Vue

[Thundercat]

So I want to swap out the factory deck for a new Kenwood model. I went to my local Best Buy/Future Shop to pick up the stereo, and was told that I needed to purchase a harness for $150. They told me it was due to air bag, warning chime, and a few other electronics being routed through the system. I believe him to be full of crap, but I'm wondering what anyone else has found during stereo swaps. I was also told that if I don't purchase this $150 adapter harness, my air bags are likely to go off at an unexpected time.
I'm going to contact my local Saturn dealer tomorrow, but I've had difficulty getting tech info out of them in the past.

Any information would be greatly appreciated :)

[BobbyP]

Go to crutchfield.com and outfit your VUE. They do not mention anything unusual necessary for your 2004 VUE.

Tell the "stereo jockey" to verify this. My 2006 VUE has the CAN network wiring and the steering wheel controls ran to the radio, yours do not. I seriously doubt you need an expensive interface...

Why not do it your self and get a self install kit from Crutchfield?

[Thundercat]

I have full intention of doing this all myself. I was floored by the fact that when I went in there last week, I was told there was an option of 2 different harnesses, retailing for about $16.99. Today I was told $150.....yah right.
I'll check out crutchfield, thanks for the tip.

[FGCA_XRL]

04 does not need the fancy class 2 harness. It uses the same plug but without a data network. One of the very, very few.

[Tom92SCm]

I installed a Pioneer stereo in my '04. No fancy harness, no airbags deployed so far- stereo has been installed for about......3.5-4 years.

[ryanB3]

I believe him to be full of crap

He's full of crap. The Vue wiring harness is extremely simple. Something to look out for though is the pinout being incorrect as it was on the "made for Saturns" harness I got from Crutchfield. It was simple to remove the wires from the harness and use the old one as a guide for their locations. Buy the bracket from Crutchfield if you like the idea of your new stereo fitting into the dash properly.

http://gallery.mac.com/ryan42#100091/DSC_4489&bgcolor=black

It's a shame I don't have a photo of it in the daytime. It's been installed in my '04 since I took to removing my Deep Purple CD from the stock unit with a pry bar after it decided to arbitrarily short out the + to the ground.

[FGCA_XRL]

If you get a Panasonic radio you won't need a wiring harness at all, if you have the same CD player as mine. Single DIN base CD player. It comes with a GM to Panasonic plug on it already.