Hi all,
We have a 2024 hybrid and the wife wants front and rear dash cams like in our Subaru. I have the front sorted, but I’m not sure how to power the rear cam. The Subaru has a rear cigarette that made power easy. I’m lost for the Highlander. Any recommendations for power for the rear?
BTW I don’t want to hack up wires. I prefer a plug and play option, if possible.
It’s a pain in the ass in this car. You will have to power it from the front and route the wire under all the plastic trim pieces to get to the rear.
You can hardwire to the fuse box under the steering wheel area, no hacking necessary.
Might be outside your expertise to route the cables and identify aux and 12v+ slots, though.
Tracy said:
You can hardwire to the fuse box under the steering wheel area, no hacking necessary.
Might be outside your expertise to route the cables and identify aux and 12v+ slots, though.
This is for the rear window. The front is no big deal with an adapter for the rearview mirror.
@Dara
The best approach is to buy a dual camera. It’s powered at the front, with a processor/camera mounted on the front windshield, and another camera at the back with a cable routed between.
There are plenty of cheaper knockoffs on Amazon, but I like Blackvue models from eg blackboxmycar.
Lighter plug-ins are convenient, but man I hate wires dangling all over the place.
There is a rear fuse box that you may want to explore.
Yeah, it’s weird that they don’t have a 12v in the rear part. I avoid running wires close to the airbags. For my Viofo A119, I run the cable from the middle console under the floor mats to the side and up. I added a few 3M velcro to manage the cable. For the front camera, I use this dongar to get power from the mirror. Very happy with the setup.
My rear cam uses a USB cable. I use the 2nd row USB port and run the cable under the floor mats and along the trim on the bottom to the back. Then up the pillar to the top center, where my cam is mounted.
On YouTube, it looks like 2019 has electrical connectors under the rear inside panel.
But on the 2024, it looks like the wiring already goes through the bottom, outside to a covered connector for trailer wiring. On a 2019, a hole has to be drilled to the outside. Either way, there are power wires back there, but I don’t know if they just go to the lights, or if there is a wire that is always hot.
Dashcams come as a set – front and rear. Both with power and recording together from the front dashcam.
Unless you are literally talking about two front dashcams installed – one for the front, one for the rear? This would not be the norm though.
Is this what you did for the Subaru?
If you are going to power it from the front (is there another way?) then forget the fuse box solution. Go to the Dongar website and get an adapter that is hidden and runs off of your powered rearview mirror. I did this and it is a life changer.
Please forgive my naiveté–but why can’t you just run & hide the cable along the headliner to the rear glass/hatch area, as I did with my 2013 Highlander? My Redtiger Front & Rear cams came with extra-long USB cables. In any case, best of luck!