Looking to buy a 2009 Alphard but I want to be about to install a English head unit and have all the OEM features. The 2009 I'm looking at has the 270 camera and 4 speakers in the headliner. Which Oem stereo system is it equipped with? Amplified? From the pictures I seen of the interior there are only 4 speakers in the headliner maybe a 5th.

Will it be simple headunit swap or will I need a canbus box and wiring diagrams and splicing of wires to get a head unit to work?

The confusion arises because some imports are actually 'export' models from Hong Kong.

Are you sure it's just 4 in rooflining? If it's the 18 speaker system, there are 6 in the roof, 2 in rear and 4 between the two sunroofs ( these 4 near the front can have split audio sources, eg, radio/bluetooth for the front passenger and driver, and the rear 4 roof speakers outputting cd/dvd for the rear passengers.

The base model has 8 speakers, the super live has 11 speakers and the premium has 18 speakers.

The 11 spk has an amplifier under passenger seat.

The 18 spk has a larger amplifier under passenger seat and a subwoofer under drivers seat.

The 270degree camera has an IPA (intelligent parking assist) ECU under passenger seat, that takes inputs from the sonar, and the additional two side sensors on the front bumper.

The front and side cameras connect via this ecu.

can you see if tweeters are fitted on the sliding doors? They are located near on the front trim of the windows.

In any case, your headunit model suggests an external amplifier.

You can buy an adapter that converts an analogue output signal from an aftermarket headunit into a digital signal the amplifier understands., and therefore retain the amplifier and existing speaker wiring.

I can share the block diagrams and wiring schematic for the ipa and headunit

Pretty sure there's only 4 speakers in the roof. No sunroof on this vehicle. Vehicle is currently in Yokohama Japan. There looks to be tweeters in the sliding door. So this is the super live system I assume.

Hard to see as I only have pictures from the selling website.

Thanks

Yes. Some of the non sunroof utilise a different design speaker in the roof.

This must be an 18 speaker system.

The amplifier is a 16 channel 640watt (16x40 watt) system, and a separate active powered subwoofer.

Ok. So would there be a easy plug and play solution for a replacement headunit that had Android auto/apple car play and still have a function 270 camera and the park assist sonar?

Would this OEM head unit have Bluetooth as well?

Ok, great thanks.

I use a android auto/carplay external box that connects via the aux video input and the oem Bluetooth for audio.

Less than £200, if you fit yourself. You open up the screen and add a connector to the touchscreen.

The rest of it is plug and play.

This means you retain all original functionality, with the added functions of android/apple system.

If you want to go aftermarket headunit, you will need a MOST decoder box for the connection to the amplifier, and a gvif adaptor for the cameras.

Although you will be able to see the 270 cameras on an aftermarket headunit, i don't think the auto parking will work because you won't be able to interact with the onscreen interface, the video freed will be essentially 'dumb', whereas using a box like i do, you still have full use of the IPA system ( to be honest, you'll probably never use auto park, because it's quicker to just use the cameras as an aid and do the steering manually)

If you go on to AliExpress, and search for Toyota alphard MOST adaptor/interface, you'll find dozens of listings for the wiring harnesses

Here's the block diagram for the headunit.

Do you have a link for the external carplay box that you use? Maybe that's the easiest way.

I'll pm link

Hello,

Can you share the link with me also? I am picking up my 2012 Velfire next week and already thinking about the head unit car play installation. Is it difficult to install?

Thanks

12 hours ago, Marius16 said:

Hello,

Can you share the link with me also? I am picking up my 2012 Velfire next week and already thinking about the head unit car play installation. Is it difficult to install?

Thanks

All the cabling is plug and play.

You can chat with the seller, and they will confirm with you the correct wiring loom.

Link to the unit i use

On mine, i chose the touchscreen integration, which did mean having to remove the screen section, opening it, and plugging in a small cable.

If you don't feel confident to do that, they can supply a 'jogwheel' controller that allows you to control the system.

Thank you for the link.

I would go with touchscreen integration also, doesn’t look complicated. Does all the original features work when the car play is enabled? Did you have any issues or something you dislike?

The whole system works by utilising the aux video input, so you won't get a pin sharp display, but it is perfectly usable for navigation etc.

The way the existing headunit works, when you use reverse gear or slow down under 14kmph, the cameras will take over the display, so you see the parking sensors etc, auto parking will work as it should.

The audio works as it should.

The only irritation, is you have to click a button to swap the touchscreen input between the Android box and the original headunit functions, but you get used to that.

I originally bought this over 3 years ago, and you had to manually splice/wire it up, the newer box i linked to comes with a plug and play socketed loom.

If you have a rear screen, it will mirror the Android box.

I've not tried to see if a dvd still works separately on the rear. I might do that later.

If you are dexterous, you can remove the drop down screen on the headunit quite easily without having to under anything on the headunit itself., then you just need to route the new ribbon cable, i can share how i did it if you decide to buy this.

One thing i noticed is the screen calibration was slightly off, but this can be reset by adding a small text file to a usb stick and rebooting the unit to bring up a calibration screen.

The unit has some functionality i haven't bothered to use, such as screen mirroring rather than android auto, but that is phone model/app dependant.

I have not figured out how to get the steering wheel buttons configured, because when you press the buttons, the headunit intercepts them.

I imagine an additional switch (like you see on some posts asking what mystery buttons are for) that switched steering wheel control wires from headunit to the android box would get that working, but in reality, the volume works as it should, and the phone call buttons interrupt the Android box and connect via the phone Bluetooth channel anyway, you only lose the 'mode' button (the back and skip buttons signal are sent to your mobile phone)

If you want to do a video chat for me to show you the unit working, send me a pm and we will set up a time

1 hour ago, Chris.ac said:

The whole system works by utilising the aux video input, so you won't get a pin sharp display, but it is perfectly usable for navigation etc.

The way the existing headunit works, when you use reverse gear or slow down under 14kmph, the cameras will take over the display, so you see the parking sensors etc, auto parking will work as it should.

The audio works as it should.

The only irritation, is you have to click a button to swap the touchscreen input between the Android box and the original headunit functions, but you get used to that.

I originally bought this over 3 years ago, and you had to manually splice/wire it up, the newer box i linked to comes with a plug and play socketed loom.

If you have a rear screen, it will mirror the Android box.

I've not tried to see if a dvd still works separately on the rear. I might do that later.

If you are dexterous, you can remove the drop down screen on the headunit quite easily without having to under anything on the headunit itself., then you just need to route the new ribbon cable, i can share how i did it if you decide to buy this.

One thing i noticed is the screen calibration was slightly off, but this can be reset by adding a small text file to a usb stick and rebooting the unit to bring up a calibration screen.

Thank you for the reply thats is a lot of useful info.

I have managed to contact them and sent them a picture of my headunit and the back of it, they confirmed it’s compatible and told me they will send me a manual how to install but still waiting for them to get back to me.

By the way do you just leave the carplay unit hanging behind the headunit once it is connected?

I mostly need the carplay for the navigation as I noticed there is no usb port for the driver so unable to charge the phone and the navigation drains it fast…

I fitted a standard UK double din Bluetooth unit in my Gen 1. Everything matched up in the consul except;

Steering wheel phone controls (other steering wheel controls work)

Front and rear cameras: I never used the front one, in fact I have since removed it. To get the rear one to work I had to buy a special plug from Japan for £95 and also tap the rear reversing light wire, camera now works on my unit BUT I don’t have the guide lines. No loss to me.

It all Works great. Easy DIY job based on forum and YouTube tutorials! Be brave.

7 minutes ago, wjvh said:

I fitted a standard UK double din Bluetooth unit in my Gen 1. Everything matched up in the consul except;

Steering wheel phone controls (other steering wheel controls work)

Front and rear cameras: I never used the front one, in fact I have since removed it. To get the rear one to work I had to buy a special plug from Japan for £95 and also tap the rear reversing light wire, camera now works on my unit BUT I don’t have the guide lines. No loss to me.

It all Works great. Easy DIY job based on forum and YouTube tutorials! Be brave.

Could you share the link for which device you used?

Edited Tuesday at 08:15 PM2 days by Marius16

If I remember correctly it was an ex-display model for about £130. In hindsight I should have paid more and got a CarPlay one … but this works fine and connects via Bluetooth reliably to my phone, and indeed any phone.

I’ve also fitted a little microphone on the drivers sun visor which plugs in the back of this so you can take hands free phone calls, the microphone was about a fiver off eBay. I tucked the wiring into the fascia so there isn’t much wire visible from the microphone.

Edited Tuesday at 09:50 PM1 day by wjvh

This look slightly more complicated than the one Chris used. I kinda like the original headunit that I have currently, not sure if I want to get rid of it. Will try to wait for the supplier to reply and will go from there. Here is what I have at the moment:

I never got an install manual, probably because i said i had already fitted one in the past.

I haven't actually confirmed if their loom does the parking brake signal mod, because i still have the bypass i fitted previously.

The kit should come with a microphone, too, so you can interact with Google Voice, although i have not actually tested this because i usually set my destination on my phone before getting into the car and it just auto connects and I'm away.

There is a mod somewhere on this forum that i was part of, that you can do to reuse the Toyota microphone (which is the little grill to the right of the controls for the doors above the rear view mirror.)

Again, this might already be in the new loom.

I should really get around to buzzing through the new loom and seeing what they have connected everything to.

When you remove the fascia of the headunit, you will see plenty of space to the left of the gear selector, that's where i have placed my android box.

Your can buy a plug and play 2 port usb panel that fits in the blank switch spaces.

I originally had it fitted next to the cigarette lighter socket, it connects inline with the existing cigarette 12v supply (i later moved mine to the space to the left of steering wheel)

Check on Amazon or AliExpress, if you include Toyota in search term, you will get one that is plug and play, you can get them in usb a, usb c or combo of usb a and c