Hi,

I apologize for my non-techie-ness, but I am... well, not very tech oriented. I love my new Escape Hybrid, and the first thing I had done was to have an installer replace the CDDJ functionality with my Ipod, which he did using the Ipod2car cable, plugged into the back of the head unit and resulting in the glove compartment. Which was fine... it allowed me to control the Ipod just fine using the radio controls (in my other cars I had always had an installer replace the changer with an AUX-in cable, which I would then plug into the headphone jack, which was also fine with me). The problem is the Ipod2car disabled the mileage and battery/engine usage display. The installer is telling me I can't have both.

Now I could see if I were getting a read-out onscreen of the Ipod data, but I'm not. I'm not even getting the elapsed time of the track! It just flicks back and forth from 1:00 to 2:00 to 1:00 to 2:00. So I asked if there were some way to forget about using the radio controls to control the Ipod. I don't care about that. I'd rather use the Ipod itself... At least I can see a display that way! I asked if there was some way to restore the data function of the mileage/battery, AND use an AUX-in sort of solution to replace the CDDJ with the Ipod, and the installer said no. All he wants to do is FM modulation, which since I live in Los Angeles is not a viable option.

Does anyone have any suggestions? When I had him back out to look at it, he futzed with it, and now about 50% of the time I get the error message others have mentioned when I turn on the system. I guess what I'm asking is: He talks to me as if I am an idiot who doesn't understand the system. Am I?

Thanks for your patience and help and expertise!
Mike