Kenwood Wiring Locations for Direct OEM Steering Wheel Controls
Wed, 5 Feb 2025Some helpful information from Kenwood, regarding the location of the factory steering wheel control wires in most Japanese and Korean cars.
Most Kenwood aftermarket head units come with built-in steering wheel controls that can be wired directly to vehicle harnesses. This removes the need for expensive steering wheel control harnesses and allows the Kenwood unit to directly program accurately to the vehicle steering wheel control buttons.
Below is a list of common loactions with colour coding to match Kenwood provided patch leads. Images are representing the location from the back of the plug and provide how many pins are within the plug you need to connect to. Make sure you have the correct plug before connecting into it as you can damage electronics if installed incorrectly. We recommend that installation is to be performed by a qualified car audio installer or auto electrician, to avoid damage.
If one of the inputs listed under the vehicle is "NC" - The Kenwood wire does not connecting to the vehicle harness and should be taped or terminated off to avoid shorting.
Once wiring is connected, you will then need to manually program the buttons between the Kenwood unit and your vehicle steering wheel controls. Please refer to your provided Kenwood manual for instructions relating to the programming.
