[thebac]

Send an email to White Audio and Media Services on Saturday. I guess he only works on radios on the weekends.
He reprogrammed a 2015 Buick nav radio for my Cruze. It works like its supposed to, even has the 2015-up lines in the backup camera image that move with the steering wheel.

 

[Slumnit]

Send an email to White Audio and Media Services on Saturday. I guess he only works on radios on the weekends.
He reprogrammed a 2015 Buick nav radio for my Cruze. It works like its supposed to, even has the 2015-up lines in the backup camera image that move with the steering wheel.

So I'm guessing from your suggestion that is its possible to program the radio/module to enable the backup camera, regardless of VIN feature indications?

I don't know if I feel comfortable shipping my factory headunit (or whatever) to a "stranger." Unless he just ships a USB with the update/changes to it; his site doesn't go into much details how the process works..
Perhaps the places I called to inquire about this, they didn't know how to do it, so just claimed it couldn't be done? I live (moved here a few years back) in the south, where majority of the people are not the sharpest tool in the crayon box, so maybe I should call some places outside of my state, Perhaps Florida, and see if they could do it, and just drive down there for the day...

 

[Tomko]

Yes it can be done.

But no it’s not easy.

Your dealers are being truthful with you.

GM corporate has the ability to turn this on. But it will not provide the coding to dealers. GM corporate has made this abundantly clear to dealers and has told them to not even contact them asking. Coding is specific to each VIN.

The @thebac option is likely your best avenue to achieve the integrated solution you seek.

 

[lonewolf04]

If it was a feature that could be added to your vehicle through the dealer it would've been sold as a kit, which would include the rear camera, install and an activation code so the dealer could call GM and have them add the feature to your VIN. Once GM adds the option it would require a reprogram of most likely the BCM, so when the vehicle is in reverse the BCM will send a signal or ground out a signal from the radio to turn on display for the backup camera. Problem is a lot of the cost associated is the code provided to let GM turn it on. They want their money for factory options since they designed them to work with the vehicle.

What year Cruze is this on?

 

[Slumnit]

if it was a feature that could be added to your vehicle through the dealer it would've been sold as a kit, which would include the rear camera, install and an activation code so the dealer could call gm and have them add the feature to your vin. Once gm adds the option it would require a reprogram of most likely the bcm, so when the vehicle is in reverse the bcm will send a signal or ground out a signal from the radio to turn on display for the backup camera. Problem is a lot of the cost associated is the code provided to let gm turn it on. They want their money for factory options since they designed them to work with the vehicle.

What year cruze is this on?

2015 2lt

The rear camera is part of a option package, I'm not sure what you mean by "kit."
Also looking at all the wiring, and Service Manual, it doesn't indicate the BCM plays a roll in it; but I could be wrong, most likely. But from what I can tell, the camera is activated when the reverse lights are turned on.. Which the BCM activate the reverse lights, and in the wiring harness for the trunk lid, the camera activation is spliced into that..
Just the myLink isn't switching to the camera view.. probably because its not enabled to do so..

 

[dhpnet]

2015 2lt

The rear camera is part of a option package, I'm not sure what you mean by "kit."
Also looking at all the wiring, and Service Manual, it doesn't indicate the BCM plays a roll in it; but I could be wrong, most likely. But from what I can tell, the camera is activated when the reverse lights are turned on.. Which the BCM activate the reverse lights, and in the wiring harness for the trunk lid, the camera activation is spliced into that..
Just the myLink isn't switching to the camera view.. probably because its not enabled to do so..

The BCM sends signals over the GM LAN that lets the radio know the car is in reverse, and many other things, but the camera software and hardware is in the radio. Dealers cannot program the radio to include new features because the GM programming interface requires the mechanic to input the VIN number and it will only download and install the software for your VIN. The aftermarket companies can program the radios for a price. You must send them your radio. They flash the main ROM chip in the radio with software they pulled from a different car.

I believe the cheapest alternative would be to find a different radio box on eBay. I have seen them as cheap as $25. But, you would need to program your VIN number into the replacement radio. Aftermarket companies can do this as well. It's easy to do, but it requires you to dismantle the radio so that you can reprogram a tiny chip with your VIN. There are posts in the forums that explain the process.

 

[Slumnit]

The BCM sends signals over the GM LAN that lets the radio know the car is in reverse, and many other things, but the camera software and hardware is in the radio. Dealers cannot program the radio to include new features because the GM programming interface requires the mechanic to input the VIN number and it will only download and install the software for your VIN. The aftermarket companies can program the radios for a price. You must send them your radio. They flash the main ROM chip in the radio with software they pulled from a different car.

I believe the cheapest alternative would be to find a different radio box on eBay. I have seen them as cheap as $25. But, you would need to program your VIN number into the replacement radio. Aftermarket companies can do this as well. It's easy to do, but it requires you to dismantle the radio so that you can reprogram a tiny chip with your VIN. There are posts in the forums that explain the process.

So is the BCM just sending that signal to the radio normally, but the radio just doesn't react to it because it's not programmed to do so? Or would the BCM also have to reprogrammed so it sends that signal over GMLAN to the radio?

Think I trust people on eBay even less than sending my radio to a stranger; I looked around ebay at the "radio" box but none of them mention in the "details" if it supports Backup Camera or not. And I don't have the time to setup a eBay account, and message each person to ask if it does, and hope they don't BS just to make a sale. I've only put a little under $200 into the project; if its not something I can do by just taking it to a Certified Service Center, or buy something online to program myself, then I'm okay with the loss of $200...

A friend of mine used gm-navigation[dot]com to program his factory radio on his 2016 Chevy Silverado; He bought the Factory Tailgate Handle w/ Camera from a gmparts website, then bought a GM Backup Camera Programmer from gm-navigation which was just a OBD2 dongle that he just plugged into the car and it enabled the Rear-View camera.. unfortunately their site doesn't list the Cruze as a supported vehicle. Not understanding why the Cruze is more cumbersome to get a simple function enabled. I own the vehicle, I should be able to do whatever I want to it, but unfortunately big corps have to squeeze every dollar out the little people.

 

[snowwy66]

That sight is very limited in it's product. I don't see chevrolet listed at all. Let alone just the cruze.

 

[Slumnit]

That sight is very limited in it's product. I don't see chevrolet listed at all. Let alone just the cruze.

That site (gm-navigation) was just a reference to the seller my friend used. The Silverado is a Chevrolet (GM) vehicle, though so it does list Chevy, but not the chevy cruze.
The actual OBDGenie site lists the 2016-2018 Chevrolet Cruze.

Unless you are referring to whiteautoandmedia; they have a Chevrolet or two listed..

 

[thebac]

I emailed White back and forth over a weekend, just to doublecheck he could do the job. I would recommend to do that first if you have any questions. Keep in mind, though...he seems to be hard to get ahold of sometimes. At least thats what Ive read on other forums.

Now that I think about it, you just might have to have the BCM reprogrammed with the Back up camera option enabled in order for it to work properly. Im not 100% up on how the options work on these cars yet, but Im working on it.

 

[ChevyGuy]

I believe the cheapest alternative would be to find a different radio box on eBay. I have seen them as cheap as $25. But, you would need to program your VIN number into the replacement radio. Aftermarket companies can do this as well. It's easy to do, but it requires you to dismantle the radio so that you can reprogram a tiny chip with your VIN. There are posts in the forums that explain the process.

^ This. The key is to get a radio for the Cruze that had all the options you wish to use. The kit to reprogram the VIN is cheap. To date, "the collective" hasn't figured out how to program that.

While I'm sure WhiteAuto can do it, I thought the price was pretty steep. I'd be interested in hearing what it is now.

 

[snowwy66]

That site (gm-navigation) was just a reference to the seller my friend used. The Silverado is a Chevrolet (GM) vehicle, though so it does list Chevy, but not the chevy cruze.
The actual OBDGenie site lists the 2016-2018 Chevrolet Cruze.

Unless you are referring to whiteautoandmedia; they have a Chevrolet or two listed..

I looked at 1 of the categories and didn't see chevrolet on the list. Saw gm and buick. But not chevrolet.
Don't remember which category. But i see chevrolet, cad, buick, and gmc under the nav category.

 

[dhpnet]

Think I trust people on eBay even less than sending my radio to a stranger; I looked around ebay at the "radio" box but none of them mention in the "details" if it supports Backup Camera or not.

Interesting. You won't trust a licensed business on eBay to sell you a $50 radio (most of them come from salvage yards), but you will trust complete strangers on a forum to give you advice on how to dismantle your vehicle.

From what I have seen, very few Cruzes with My Link did not have the backup camera. I think they were only fleet vehicles. I have purchased 4 My Link radios on eBay and all of them had the backup camera software.

 

[ChevyGuy]

You can sign up for services on the web that will give you the RPO codes for a given VIN. Then you just need a list of RPO codes and the VIN from the seller and you'll know if the radio will work for you or not.

 

[Slumnit]

Interesting. You won't trust a licensed business on eBay to sell you a $50 radio (most of them come from salvage yards), but you will trust complete strangers on a forum to give you advice on how to dismantle your vehicle.

From what I have seen, very few Cruzes with My Link did not have the backup camera. I think they were only fleet vehicles. I have purchased 4 My Link radios on eBay and all of them had the backup camera software.

Assuming those "sellers" are in fact legally licensed business; Also I take what people say on the internet with a grain of salt. I'll take the answer/suggestions from multiple persons, from multiple sources/sites, and then research those suggestions even further myself.
Plus the "strangers" on a forum are not selling me information, so less likely to provide false, while possibly misguided based on what they believe to be true, information to make a quick $$. Anyways, off topic.

I'll source one out of a junkyard myself if need be, before buying one from ebay; but before I do that I'll keep researching to see if I can find a way to reprogram it myself, which would make a nice little side project.

 

[Slumnit]

The BCM sends signals over the GM LAN that lets the radio know the car is in reverse, and many other things, but the camera software and hardware is in the radio. Dealers cannot program the radio to include new features because the GM programming interface requires the mechanic to input the VIN number and it will only download and install the software for your VIN. The aftermarket companies can program the radios for a price. You must send them your radio. They flash the main ROM chip in the radio with software they pulled from a different car.

I was able to reprogram it myself; not "aftermarket companies" needed. They wanted to charge me $199 to do something that took me 10 min to do.

Yes it can be done.

But no it’s not easy.

GM corporate has the ability to turn this on. But it will not provide the coding to dealers. GM corporate has made this abundantly clear to dealers and has told them to not even contact them asking. Coding is specific to each VIN.

It was done. And it was rather easy. Hardest part was putting in the time/effort to research how to do it..
Odd they won't give the information to Certified GM/Chevy Service Center, but a guy messing around with his car in the garage is able to do it..

If it was a feature that could be added to your vehicle through the dealer it would've been sold as a kit, which would include the rear camera, install and an activation code so the dealer could call GM and have them add the feature to your VIN. Once GM adds the option it would require a reprogram of most likely the BCM, so when the vehicle is in reverse the BCM will send a signal or ground out a signal from the radio to turn on display for the backup camera. Problem is a lot of the cost associated is the code provided to let GM turn it on. They want their money for factory options since they designed them to work with the vehicle.

BCM didn't need to be programmed, or modified at all, at least not in my case; just a change to the Radio [module] was need.




Video of it working now; https://streamable.com/04stn
So nice to have a backup camera again

 

[ChevyGuy]

I was able to reprogram it myself; not "aftermarket companies" needed. They wanted to charge me $199 to do something that took me 10 min to do.

What exactly where you able to re-program? There are other threads here on how to do the VIN, but I don't remember reading how to enable/disable features.

I do know things in the tone control between regular and premium sound are in the same chip as the VIN. I was able to get a "premium" system to work in a "regular" car. But others haven't been able to do the reverse and get it to work.

 

[dhpnet]

I was able to reprogram it myself; not "aftermarket companies" needed. They wanted to charge me $199 to do something that took me 10 min to do.

Please share what you did. We are interested and you left us hanging.

 

[dhpnet]

Very cool. Thanks for sharing the video. Glad you got it working. But I am very curious how you did it. Would be great for others who have the same issue.