Dashcams

[Handyandy2]

When I ordered my MY22 XC60 I asked the dealer if Volvo did a dash cam as an accessory. I was told that Volvo didn’t like customers fitting dash cams as they can interfere with some of the cars systems, and for that reason neither Volvo nor my dealer get involved with fitting them.

Has anybody else come across this and successfully fitted one, or are they just more trouble than they are worth?

[Shepherdspie]

Have dash cams fitted to both my XC90 and V60. No issues whatsoever.

[Philip Fisher]

Many people have fitted them, me included. If you do a search there will be multiple threads on the subject.

[Familyman 90]

I think while the likelihood is extremely low of a dashcam causing problems its not beyond the realms of possibility. Then in the event something does go wrong the dealer is left holding the baby and expected to clean up the mess.

That's why many dealers won't go near them. Ditto aftermarket alarms, etc.

Not terribly difficult to do yourself if you have a bit of time to do a neat job.

[EssexExile]

I have them both ends, fitted myself. The salesman said they'd fit them for me but then changed his mind later and said they couldn't do it for the reasons you've mentioned.

They come in handy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ScS5mXwJ5LA

[Shepherdspie]

Originally Posted by EssexExile

I have them both ends, fitted myself. The salesman said they'd fit them for me but then changed his mind later and said they couldn't do it for the reasons you've mentioned.

They come in handy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ScS5mXwJ5LA

Biker at fault there me thinks.

[papalazarou]

Fitted them to my previous lease Volvo and also this one. Strange thing is, when I came to give the old car back, I went to remove the USB cable which I had cable tied underneath the glove box. The cable was now running above the plastic to which I had previously tied it to and was very tricky to get out - almost had to cut it to get it out! As I am the only driver I can only assume this was done during a service? Weird. But no issues either way. Im pretty sure that most consumer electronics need to be able to withstand a certain amount of interference from other devices and not create too much either. This would apply the the car and the dashcam. I even use a cable tie to tie the USB end through one of the vents behind the rear view mirror - this is for those hot/cold days where the sucker gives way when parked - the camera doesn't fall too far and set off the alarm which used to happen before I did this.

[Vman40]

I did find a main dealer offering dash cams for Volvo - the one they were offering doesn't have a screen or wifi, likely to reduce possible interference.

I had one fitted , but sadly I've had two of them now that have failed so can't recommend them.

Both times the failures were hardware faults requiring the units to be returned - I spoke directly to tech support from the dash cam manufacturer and they confirmed this.

Prior to owning a Volvo I'd had a nextbase dash cam installed and used for a long time without ever having had any issues.

[key76]

I fitted my own front and rear. I didn't wire them into the wiring, just used USB to a an adapter in the rear cigarette lighter socket. All wires hidden behind trim (didn't have to remove any trim) apart from where they go into socket in rear, then you see the cables. Neat, non destructive, and easy to remove when I change cars (had same on my last car and just moved them over to Volvo when I got it).

Never had any issues whatsoever with any of the safety systems. Front camera is mounted to left of mirror, and rear is top centre of rear screen.

I still don't understand why manufacturers cannot offer the facility to use the 360 cameras as a dashcam.

My last Mercedes had 360 cameras and an SD card slot so would have been really easy for them to write the footage to the SD. They could even have included telemetry data such as if I was indicating, braking and other useful data for a claim. You'd also get full surround images.

I'd even happily pay extra for it as it would in theory be far superior to any after market install.

Most cars offer 360 now so why not go the next step and offer to use it as a dash cam.

[techwatcher]

Originally Posted by key76

I still don't understand why manufacturers cannot offer the facility to use the 360 cameras as a dashcam.

Most cars offer 360 now so why not go the next step and offer to use it as a dash cam.

Not given this much thought but part of the reason may be that the cameras used for the 360 camera functionality are really wide angle to provide the coverage necessary and so may not be effective as dash cams?