No idea. I helped another FF'er hook a USA SPEC IPOD interface to the CD changer port. If you want the IPOD interface, that's the way to go.

 

Fun thread to read. My previous car's (Isuzu Rodeo...clunkered for 09 Fit) radio died and I replaced it with a head unit from best buy that had a usb. This was a few years ago, when USB in a HU was just beginning. I wanted the ease of use/storage features that a USB stick offered, instead of dealing with burning CDs. It was awesome. The only issue I had was it was a slow process of skipping through files and folders to get to a song or group I wanted to listen to.

USB drives, SD cards...wave of the future for cars! Rob22315's story reminded me of the thrill I had of having an endless stream of music from a tiny thumbdrive. No more CDs!

When we were shopping for the Fit, I made sure I got the model with the USB connector (in the upper glovebox). Man I love my USB in the Fit! All of the song information on the HU display....and you can use the volume knob to quickly search through folders and songs (since when you scroll it gives you the names, unlike my old unit in the Rodeo)

Awesome story Rob and Hackbox!

 

Thought I'd post a follow up with our experiences, since we relied so closely on this thread!

We bought a USA SPEC PA15-HON2 adapter for our 2007 base model Fit. We installed it through the dropped down glove box method. But it wasn't quite as easy as we'd hoped, based on this thread. It took us some three days of trying, and scraped up, bruised hands to get that plug in! The space is very narrow, thanks to that damn bar in there right in the way; there is almost no room for maneuvering, so it is very hard to rotate the plug that last little bit upwards to plug in. In the end, it was my wife who succeeded in plugging in the plug, but only after we removed a bit from the plug casing. By the way, the side with clip is up.

The PA15-HON2 comes with a bunch of extra wiring so you can continue to use your XM radio or CD changer (assuming you have one). This means that off the plug you have to plug into the head unit, there is another (female) plug meant for the XM unit or CD changer to plug into. What this means is that there is a big fat mess of wires coming out of the back of the plug, both the incoming wires, and the outgoing wires. I think this extra bunch of wires made it harder to plug the plug in than the description given in this thread.

After three days of unsuccessful attempts, I was contemplating pulling the extra wires and the whole extra plug, since we didn't need it, and it seemed to be getting in the way (though that looks like it would have been quite a task, since it was wired well such that two wires going into a single pin shared a single metal jacket). I unclipped the back of the plug to have a look. There are two clips that hold the plug closed after the wires have been inserted, one on top, and one on the bottom. The top one swung out on a hinge, but the bottom one just fell out, I don't know if I broke the hinge or it just is like that. Either way, fortunately at this point my wife said to let her try once more with the bottom back clip removed from the plug, because she thought she might be able to get it in now. And indeed, she was right!

Only, unfortunately, it apparently wasn't fit right, or one of the wires had come loose from my removing the clips of the plug, because we weren't getting sound through the left speakers. So one more day. I was able to pull and remove the plug, and after reattaching the clip and making sure all the wires were in nice and tight, I again removed the bottom clip, and my wife was able to plug it right in again. (She tried with the clip attached, but was unsuccessful.) This time it was good, so happy ending!

It all now works as advertised. We left the unit in behind the glove box, by what I think is the cabin air fan; we ran the iPod wire out under the back hinge of the glove box, along with a wire ending in a phono-jack for the aux, so the unit is hidden, not taking space in the glove box, but the wires are there, they don't get in the way, and the glove box can be open and closed, and the wires don't get pinched.

The take away from all this: 0) The USA SPEC PA15-HON2 works for a base Honda Fit 2007 factory installed radio, both for iPod and giving an aux plug; 1) with the extra wires and plugs to ensure that existing CD changers and XM radios and stuff continue to work, the plug for the USA SPEC PA15-HON2 is very difficult to plug into the head unit via the dropped glove box method; 1a) it CAN be done -- small hands help, and removing the bottom rear clip from the plug seems to be the key.

 

Hey there,

I've got an '07 base Fit as well and the only thing that's ever been less than great about it was the lack of direct aux/ipod hookup, and I stumbled upon this thread via google last week and got to working on it, and thought I'd recap my experience in case anyone's thinking of installing the PA15-HON2. (I've been using my iPhone with an fm transmitter forever now, and I was on my third one that was beginning to cut out and die on me, so I figured it was time to just get a direct line going, regardless of how daunting installation might be.)

I explored the idea of pulling the dash out and wiring up an aux jack manually (and read the sticky threads about it on this forum at length), but that seemed like far more trouble than I'm capable of handling. I'm not a car guy at all. This unit that plugs into the cd changer port sounded like the way to go, and I'm happy to report that it works well!

I ordered mine from amazon, you might be able to get one from a local car audio place. I called a couple near me and nobody had them.

I read here about dropping the glovebox out, and did that. Just open the glove box and press inward on the sides and it'll pull out further toward you. You'll see the innards of your car, and you'll probably want to reach up behind the radio and see if you can feel the connector with your fingertips. Follow the big horizontal metal bar and see if you can get your hand behind the radio. It's a very, very, very tight fit. Take a look at some photos of the back of the radio unit and know what to feel for, then feel around for the connector. There are a few photos of what the back of the radio unit looks like around threads like these.

Getting the plug up behind the radio and having it make the 90-degree turn to actually fit into the port is pretty tricky. With my right hand I was able to get the plug to the right location, but the way my arm was craned up in there and squished in the tight area, I didn't have enough dexterity to hold the plug with my thumb and forefinger to turn and guide it in. I tried this for about an hour last night and gave up, figuring I'd get it figured out in the morning.

I'm not left handed, but someone in another thread mentioned using their left hand, and that is the big trick to getting it. I laid down with my head on the shift knob and my legs hanging out the passenger door, which allowed me to use my left arm to get up there and hold the connector with my thumb and forefinger and turn it to get it into place. Once I got into that position, fingering around and getting the connector in properly only took about 10 minutes of fumbling, but it was far easier that way.

I've got the unit box itself stashed up behind the glovebox, and the ipod cable coming out of one of the holes that pseudo passenger dashboard "ledge" rubber hooks into. It looks a little janky (but far less so than a ridiculous fm transmitter and 12vdc splitter cable) so I'll probably cut a little notch out of the rubber for the cable at some point.

Overall, it works great, and installation was a little annoying but totally worth it. This solution likely beats the pants off of the manual aux jack installation, since it charges the ipod/iphone as well, and doesn't involve removing the head unit at all or making any necessarily permanent modifications to your interior plastic. If you've got a small hand, some patience, and don't mind cramping your arm up a bit, it's a good way to go.

Best of luck to anyone else that's going to give it ago!

 

I've tried to get this stupid cable up and in there for probably a total of 5 hours on several different occasions. My hands are bruised from cramming them in there. I can feel the plug and I know I am right over it just for some reason I can't get everything lined up properly. I just broke down and bought an aftermarket head unit.

On a side note anyone who wants to by my brand new but slightly used eBay box let me know.