Factory radio dead

[DTrick22]

Had a customer with a ‘15 Legacy 2.5i Limited come in last night to get rear brakes and a rear wheel bearing done (that bearing was a good time) I noticed the radio wasn’t working and asked him about it. He said his son had put some coins in the CD player and the radio hasn’t powered on since.....He had the dealer take a look at it, they said they plugged a new one in and it worked, but they wanted $1,500 to leave it in He obviously declined.....

 

-My question, if I find a replacement factory radio/Nav unit on car-part with all the same features, will it be plug and play, or does Subaru integrate the VIN into the radio as a security feature where it would need to be reprogrammed with Subaru’s scan tool in order to work on that vehicle?

 

Thanks guys!!

Edited November 20, 2019 by DTrick22

[YeuEmMaiMai]

go aftermarket and upgrade

[DTrick22]

go aftermarket and upgrade

 

Not my car so it's not up to me!

[YeuEmMaiMai]

Not my car so it's not up to me!

 

 

 

 

I know but those radio are not known for reliability overall so that is why i suggested it. Yes if you find the exact same model of radio from a 15 or 16 it is plug and play as far as I can recall

[crudzinskas]

You are able to just plug in a new radio and be on your way. I watched them do it for mine at the dealer and they did not program anything after doing the swap. You can find used ones on ebay for under $200, but from the pictures, it looks like most of them will have the "grid lines" that can appear after a while. The grid lines don't affect the function, but they do make the screen a little harder to see and give the head unit a cheap look.

 

This is why most people recommend the aftermarket route if they are replacing on their own dime.