2016 infotainment upgrades

Hello, I just purchased a 2016 CX-5 sport to be my winter vehicle to compliment my MX-5. I see there is a lot of threads on people adding backup cams and general tweaks to the system. I know the new system is a little different as it removes the hard buttons on the radio bezel and adds the commander.

Does anybody know if the backup camera tweaks still work?

I also see that on the 2015's you could buy the module that fits in the blank to the left of the steering wheel for navigation. Mine doesn't have any wires. I have gps type functions like location for traffic app and clock set so I assume all of the pieces are there, its just missing the SD card? I'm sure mazda would want some unholy amount of money to enable NAV.

Text messages also don't seem to work on my iphone 5. I have seen several posts about this issue leading up to a new bluetooth module for the 2015 models but the 16's aren't listed on that TSB.

I'm shy to dig into the dash quite yet, the ink isn't dry on the docs. I definitely need to put some real speakers in it. I'll do some looking for similarities on 2015/2016 HU removal before digging in but welcome anybody's knowledge.

I suggest you wait a few months and the Mazda Navteq SD cards will start showing up on eBay probably around $100. Make sure you get one that is brand new though and make sure it is Navteq and not the previous Tom Tom card. I believe the dealers sell them for around $400 MSRP.

Yeah, I have done a lot of research and there just isn't anything on these 2016's yet. I have gleaned the most from the mazda 3 forums as it is roughly the same system. I pulled my tailgate plastic off the other day and there are no spare plugs back there so I would have to run wires for the camera.

As you suggest, I will give it a few months and dig back into it late summer as I won't drive it much during warm months.

I'm hoping other 2016 cx-5 members start to appear

I did a bunch of reading on the mazda 3 forums and found that they have a plug in the trunk or in the liftgate on the wagons that have the wiring for the camera. I pulled the top plastic trim off the liftgate and I find that I have 4 wires in a plug that match the colors they have. My multimeter probing didn't yield much results so I'm a little purplexed at the moment but I did trace them back into the side panel where I find them passing through a plug to the vehicle harness so they appear to be hooked up.

It's possible they don't connect at the head unit or something. I'm still trying to ascertain if I should see 6vdc at the plug when the vehicle is running or what the story is.

Hopefully I can get somebody with access to wiring diagrams to post up stuff specific to the 2016 cx-5.

A couple of pictures I snapped:

I decided to take a look behind the head unit this afternoon. Accidentally dropping a screw into what I feared was the vent system caused me to be one of if not the first to remove the center console. It was easy once I figured it out but wasn't obvious.

I'm now fairly sure the wiring isn't there for the camera. What's strange is I think it is at the gate but someplace between there and the HU it disappears. The mazda 3 has three separate pieces, the screen, cd player and amp/fm radio. The cx-5 combines the screen and cd player into one unit. They are really just bolted together.

Going off the mazda three pinouts which definitely appear to match mine, the wires for the camera are MIA.

You can see 1a, 1b, 1c, 1d in the first plug on the screen unit is for backup camera.


My plug:



You can see all the empty pins... I think that's where the camera should be.

I guess the next step is to pop off the threshold trim pieces and see if I can find where it ends. Of course that is probably irrelevant at this point. I think I will have to run power and signal back to the gate anyway.

Just to update this thread. I found that the camera wire runs from the tailgate plug to a plug at the drivers side wheel well, travels up the drivers side and ends at a large white plug behind the small fuse block. The pins are missing at that point and it doesn't continue to the head unit. I made temp pins at the head unit and sure enough 6v is available in reverse where expected.

I ordered a 6v backup camera on amazon known and used by mazda 3 owners. I also suspect based on looks alone that it is the same as the one in the popular "add on kit" you can buy on ebay for the 2014-2015 cx-5s.

I'm going to test the camera at the radio to see if it works. If it does I will wire it into the tailgate. I have yet to decide if I will run new wires or try to use the stock ones. I would love to add the missing pins but I think identifying them will be hard. I'm sure mouser has them but they have 1000's of pins.

If anybody has better knowledge in sourcing pins, let me know. If we could identify the proper pin type, people could add a backup cam for about $20 and an hour or two labor.

My camera worked as expected. I ran new lines to the gate as I opted to use a 12v source instead of hack up the camera as others suggested. I tapped into the amp turn on line in the passenger kick panel since I already was for my subwoofer install.

It works well. The one catch is I still need to source some female pins for the head unit plug. Right now I just used a solid core wire pushed into the plug. It works intermittently as I expected it would. I'm going to have to see if I can pop a pin out of the plug to measure it and see if I could potentially source them on mouser.

So, at the end of the day, yes, you can add a backup camera to your 2016 mazda connect head unit for $17 and some time.

Moxified said:

My camera worked as expected. I ran new lines to the gate as I opted to use a 12v source instead of hack up the camera as others suggested. I tapped into the amp turn on line in the passenger kick panel since I already was for my subwoofer install.

It works well. The one catch is I still need to source some female pins for the head unit plug. Right now I just used a solid core wire pushed into the plug. It works intermittently as I expected it would. I'm going to have to see if I can pop a pin out of the plug to measure it and see if I could potentially source them on mouser.

So, at the end of the day, yes, you can add a backup camera to your 2016 mazda connect head unit for $17 and some time.

Click to expand...

Hello Moxified, you have connected the camera and display properly in the new 2016?
On Spain forum we are on trying without success. We need to know that cable must be plugged in where. We would be very grateful if you help us with indications how to make connections.
Even more would be of enormous help a photograph of connections.
Many users are unresolved this point and we be very grateful.
Thankyou !!!

Sorry, It didn't alert me to your response.

I used 1A,1B,1C,1D on the diagram linked above (Mazda 3 radio pinout2)

A is video
B is video ground
C is +6vDC
D is ground

There is no pins in the factory harness you will need to source them. I found a junked mazda 6 and dug around under the dash until I found a plug with the same pins. It actually came from a HVAC component I believe.

There is then a bundle of 4 wires in a larger jacket that starts at a plug in the drivers kick panel and runs to the tailgate. You could either tap into that or source the proper pins to use the connectors.

Remember that your camera needs to operate on 6v not 12. Also, you have to reboot the radio fully for it to recognize the camera. That can be done by pulling the battery, waiting like 20 minutes or holding back, mute and navigation for ten seconds (I think is the combo. If not, try mute, music and back)

Thanks Moxified!!!
We work on it, thanks!!!

Hello @Moxified, you say:
"There is then a bundle of 4 wires in a larger jacket that starts at a plug in the drivers kick panel and runs to the tailgate. You could either tap into that or source the proper pins to use the connectors."
Is the gray color box?

"Remember that your camera needs to operate on 6v not 12"
My camera works on 12v (this)

thanks for info!