How To Wire A Dashcam In The Yaris (WARNING: picture-heavy)

[Yarisfur]

Car: 2005 XP10 (1st gen), P2 (japanese built), T3 Yaris D-4D, stock interior.

Before I purchased my Dashcam (a Z-edge Z3, for the curious - it works great!) I scoured the forums for advice fitting it into the Yaris, because a lot of the fabric, or undoable trim where a wire could usually be tucked into in other cars, are hard plastic on this one. Before I found the "best route" I found today, I had the wire go through the transmission tunnel, under the passenger side rear foot mat, and up, running parallel to the passenger seatbelt, and up through the top roof upholstery. The issue with that route was obvious: the wire could be seen from the back, right from the roof down to the floor mat, and, more alarmingly, rear passengers would sometimes trip up on said wire.

 

Okay, so the first image shows where I begin: the USB plugged into the cigarette lighter socket:

(if you're wondering, that's a bluetooth to FM thingy)

 

As you can see the wire travels to the passenger side, where it then goes underneath the passenger mat (removed for demonstration):

 

Next you can sort of "unclip" the plastic connected to the foot guard protector, and slip the wire underneath and through. To clip it back on simply push it back down and in once the wire's in. If it doesn't click shut, move the wire around a bit to avoid obstructing the clips:

 

Here we can see where the wire enters and then exits, making it nice and neatly hidden:

 

A close-up of the wire exiting (ignore the crap stuck to it):

 

The wire then travels up in front of the passenger side seatbelt. This is the only wiring really visible, about 60cm:

 

Following up, the wire then enters the bit of rubber housing as shown here. It was fairly easy to stuff the wire inside:

 

The wire goes up through that rubber housing adjacent to the plastic trim, and then continues around the corner where it meets the fabric roof liner. It's fairly simple to stuff the wire under the fabric liner, and just needs tucking back in. The setup I had included this bit - going through just where the fabric liner is.

 

Following the same method I had before also, the wire exits the fabric trim early, like so:

 

For the next bit I found the best way is to tuck the wire into the passenger sun guard - tucked in so it can still be used. When opened the wire stays in the same place:

 

Last but not least, there's a short travel to the Dashcam itself. In this position the Dashcam is mostly concealed by the rear view mirror (from the driver's seat view). The wire doesn't hinder or interrupt any windscreen space.

 

Thanks for following and I hope it's useful to people! Any questions or image requests feel free to ask.

[jonquirk]

It's quite easy to pop the trim off the pillar and drop a cable into the space behind the glovebox which just pops out for access. From there you can reach the centre console area. I have a DAB aerial on the left side and a hands free microphone on the driver's side, both cables concealed behind the trim on the pillars.

[mrpj]

The cable should also hide behind the front of the headlining rather than route it in the open and over the sun visor. It's just a matter of pushing it into the gap using either fingers or a blunt, plastic implement.

It should also tuck in behind the top of the A pillar trim rather than removing it. If there's an air bag it will not be affected there either.

[Yarisfur]

2 hours ago, mrpj said:

The cable should also hide behind the front of the headlining rather than route it in the open and over the sun visor. It's just a matter of pushing it into the gap using either fingers or a blunt, plastic implement.

It should also tuck in behind the top of the A pillar trim rather than removing it. If there's an air bag it will not be affected there either.

Thanks for the reply, I don't quite get what you mean regarding the front of the headlining - if you have time could you illustrate with a picture? Also of the A pillar trim if you could. Thanks :)

[jake9891]

You can hide them pretty neatly, so no cables should be visible. It's just a matter of forcefully, but carefully pulling off the trim (careful not to break the clips, etc). If anything you might have to undo few screws here and there to get behind stuff. 

I did aftermarket radio installation on another car, with DAB radio and microphone in headliner and there was only 1" of cable visible in total near the windscreen, everything else was hidden :)

[Justhandguns]

I managed to hide a 3m USB cable for my Dashcam from behind the mirror across the windscreen, to down below the drawer then towards the cigarette plug.  It was relatively easy, not sure if it is as simple if you have a rear cam attached.

[Cyker]

Wow, you used an interesting route!

Just FYI, there is a very convenient little 'channel' where the forward section of the roof (The 'headlining' mentioned above) meets the glass of the windscreen - You can feel it with your fingers.

 

It turns out it's practically perfectly sized to hide a single USB cable and take it to the left or right A-pillar :)

 

I might take a picture of my route; It's much more half-ubikd but still quite neat.

I ran it along that channel to the left, then down the windscreen with cable stickies, then down the left rubber seal and under the glovebox to the radio where it's plugged into my Xcarlink's USB port for power.