Hey I am thinking of buying a first generation hybrid escape. I always liked the older escapes and I would like to get a hybrid one. I have test driven a couple older ones and was particularly amazed at how well a 2005 one ran that had 245,000 miles. I was just checking it out. It had a sat nav in it that also told you telemetry about the engine. I have a newer hybrid fusion and the readout tells you everything. Particularly useful is the monitor that tells you how far you can put your accelerator down before the engine turns on. This is great for pulse and glide. I also get from 47 to 53 miles to the gallon in it. Anyway, the escape I am looking at doesn't have the sat nav/telemetry in it and I am wondering if it is possible to say get one off of ebay and install it and it will work accurately?

I'll attach a couple pictures of the dash, one without and one with the unit installed.

 

I wanted to do this for my '09 FEH. Immediately, people familiar with the issue told me to forget it. I had to make up my own mind, and at first my research indicated it was possible. But eventually I agreed with the others. To install an oem nav system in these cars is very expensive and you end up with grossly outdated technology and maps that are costly to update. To make matters worse, at least in my FEH, the nav system hooks into the steering wheel controls or replaces some of the items displayed on the message readout. Such as the time. For mine, SYNC and voice control were other issues. Even getting a compatible unit looked challenging.

All this may be easier on a 1st generation FEH, but I don't know.

There is a company you can find online that will sell you a unit they claim will be compatible, for something like $1300. But that does not include a bezel, perpheral compatible modules, and installation. I could find no information that anyone could get all the systems working like an oem nav system. It looked like trying to get there would be at least $2000.

For far less money, I could get a modern 2-din head unit. With up-to-date navigation and all sorts of features not available 5 or 10 years ago. Yes, unfortunately none of these units have the Ford proprietary hybrid power flow display. You can achieve that to some extent by getting an Android or Apple compatible head unit. These can run Hobdrive, which is a smartphone app that has the hybrid parameters. It would have a bluetooth or wifi connection to an adapter plugged into the OBDII port. Of course, the graphics are pretty crappy, nothing like the oem hybrid nav display. But Hobdrive can display far more information than the oem hybrid nav unit. And you can always shortcut that by just using a smartphone on a bracket to get the hybrid info. Not to mention navigation. I just find the phone screen too small to read and operate while driving. Maybe a tablet would be a good compromise, but finding a place to put it can be a hassle. Note that Hobdrive has a HUD (Heads UP Display) function that allows you to lay the tablet or phone on the dash, and the display will reflect off the windshield.

 

What does the unit look like on the 2009? The one on the 2007 looks like an even swap, no need for extra hardware. See the pictures. I can find more if you wish. The main concern is the electronic compatibility. The main question is will the hookups to the necessary sensors be in back of the OEM radio?

 

I looked up pictures of the 2009 unit online. Actually, to complicate matters, two different nav uintis were used on the 2009. One had a separate sat radio module (under the front passsenger seat, like mine), the other integrated the sat radio module inside the nav unit. They have slightly different controls.

I doubt if any of my research would apply to the 2007, so I can't say much about the wiring. I suspect the 2007 might be simpler since it didn't have SYNC, sat and voice controls. But it might have issues with steering wheel buttons, existing dashboard info readouts, and whether you have a subwoofer.

 

So the 2007 model is different. Anyone know the answer to these specific model years 2005-2007?

 

I replaced the head unit on my '07 with an Alpine dual DIN nav unit. It works great! It's a pretty easy swap on the 05-08 models.


In all these years I've never seen anyone post about successfully retrofitting a 'classic' 10-CD nav system to an FEH, but it's possible someone may have done it.


Imagine putting all that effort in to a head unit, external CD drive, and GPS antenna installation, and still not having voice/touchscreen controls, Bluetooth, sat radio, or a rear camera.


Once you get used to driving it, a 4" display of battery state and MPG probably isn't going to be as useful.

 

I know it would be great right? I mean no more car answering your phone, sending data to who knows where about your location, and taking your attention off the road for those miserable touch screen electronics! I hate today's electronics vs a few years ago when I knew where everything was and could operate them without looking down and studying it for 3 or 4 dangerous seconds while I figure out which one to push. No wonder there are so many accidents these days, it's not just the smart phone idiots! Oh and the power socket for your laptop! Even better for traveling. But it is the telemetry they offer and being a direct fit it doesn't look like it would be a lot of effort. The basic radio is the same size and shape as the nav unit. Yes a backup camera is nice but never as good as a traffic cam you can get aftermarket and angle where you want it to.

 

Resurrecting an old thread here but I did a search and didn't find much else here. I'm interested in doing this too, just bought a 2006 FEH with the basic head unit and would love to upgrade to the sat nav unit - not for navigation, obviously my phone handles that - but I would like to have the more detailed hybrid telemetry. Used head units aren't hard to come by on Ebay. Is the first gen FEH plug and play, or is it more involved?

 

Congrats the 2006s and 2007s were the better ones too. No such thing as old threads. Threads being "old" is a new (very irritating) thing as if information about a car you have now that was made in say 1995 (eg. right hand drive Nissan GTR imported from Japan) wouldn't still be useful. I never ended up getting the Hybrid Escape but I'm guessing the unit should work. If not there are dozens of other ways you can get telemetry via the OBDII port though if it doesn't work out.

 

You missed out, @Wsky ! Mine has been great in the few days I've had it so far. 85k miles and I'm getting 30 mpg.

The head units I've seen aren't too expensive but I hate to drop a hundred bucks on something that I don't know will work. Definitely also considering going the route of a nicer head unit plus an android display running Torque Pro but at this point I sure like the simplicity of just swapping the stock unit in.