I have the 2007 Escape Hybrid with the phone buttom. Do I need to buy the following 2 items from Ford in order for it work with my blootooth phone? That is a lot for just activating the bluetooth system.

Mobile-ease™ Hands Free System
Part Number: 3W4Z-19G399-AA
MSRP: $384.27

Mobile-ease™ Hands Free System, Connector Wiring Harness
Part Number: 3W4Z-14A411-BA
MSRP: $49.51

 

It may be more cost effective to replace your radio (assuming you don't have the navigation system) with an aftermarket one that has bluetooth support and other nice features already built in.

 

I do have the Navigation system that came with it.

 

The Nav system doesn't have bluetooth. The phone button is nothing more than a mute button. I have the Parrot bluetooth unit that works with the Nav and all that happens is the radio mutes itself and says "phone" on the screen and the audio is routed through the speakers. There is no onscreen display. There is nothing built into the nav unit itself. All the functionality is a part of the bluetooth kit. Don't think for a second that the factory nav radio is bluetooth capable.

Here's the Parrot unit mounted to the car...


Here's what the NAV "phone screen" looks like....

 

I experimented with the phone in to use it as an AUX IN for Satillite radio, Ipod, etc.

Which technically DOES work, but it has serious limitations:
You have volume control, and that's about all.

1) You do not have pan/fader control. Same volume goes to all speakers
2) You do not have Bass / Treble control
3) Worst of all, you cannot change the screen to Nav, MPG, or anything else!

So with #1-3 above, the "phone" feature is useless for anything other than Tim's application. ( aka, a phone! ) ( hardwired, no BT )

-John

 

Tim application is Bluetooth, the Parrot kit is an aftermarket stand alone unit that works in any car but work better in cars that have a phone input so it will automatically mute the radio when someone calls you, says mute on the radio and you'll hear the phone ringing through the factory speakers.......actually you can run your speaker wires into and back out of the parrot kit if you don't have mute input on the radio, so when it rings it will mute your speakers and you'll hear the person your talking to through the factory speakers ..I love mine and so has everyone I've installed them for.

 

The parrot is hard-wired to the dash unit. The dash has no bluetooth ability. The only blue-tooth link is between the phone and the parrot.

 

Yeah I thought that's what we were talking about....an aftermarket kit has to be wired to get bluetooth in the escape....which is usually better anyway, OEM BT tends to be a step behind aftermarket as far as phone compababilty etc...phones come out so quick the oem suppliers don't always keep up as well as the aftermarket do, less pairing up etc issues with aftermarket kits like the parrot or tellphone, motorola etc.

 

Okay, mine is a 2008 Escape, with "audiophile" sound system but no nav.
Parrot's fit guide says their system won't work on Escape "with subwoofer", which is part of the audiophile pkg. Ford's literature is a bit unclear, but their ad-on system is really expensive. What are my options for this configuration?
I really want a hard-wired setup so I don't have to remember to turn on (and recharge) yet another widget in the cockpit.

 

Parrots guide is for the pre-wired harnesses they make that plug directly into factory harness, plug and play no tapping in to wires at all....parrot kits are univeral and can be put into just about anything. Find yourself a good car audio shop and they will get a bluetooth kit in there easily, or shoot me your location or zip and I'll help find you a trustworthy professional shop.