I emailed them and asked if it would retain the OEM mic.
- Yes, but only for Sync related activities.
which when replacing the radio, I never recommending retaining the sync system, any good radio is going to do everything sync does like USB playback, BT phone and audio streaming, and there are a few radios that will also support voice controls (although you wont be able to control certain things over voice like climate controls) and to retain Sync, you will have to have it come into the radio vis an AUX channel so it adds an extra step of having to manually switch the new radio over to the aux channel before you can use any part of the Sync system
I asked them if you could remap the "talk button" to trigger either Siri or the Google assistant on an aftermarket unit, he said no. However he said you could map other buttons to do that. I'm not sure why you wouldn't be able to though.
main reason is that with most of the Ford systems, the audio control buttons are routed to the main radio unit all through one wire (with varying resistances per button) and the sync buttons all go through a different wire to a separate Sync module.
now a lot of SW control adapters can be used or modified to utilize these buttons, but you will have to find that second wire (and often ground a second reference wire) either at the Sync module or at the steering column itself after it exits from the clockspring and run that into the SW control module. if this kit has the SW control module built into the radio integration module (which is sometimes inside the dash kit itself at the buttons) then to do this, you would have to not use the integrated SW controls and add a stand alone module. metra's SW controllers usually don't allow for this (but their standalone modules can be setup to do it) but some like Maestro's can accept multiple channels. long story short, its probably possible but its going to cost a bit more and be a pain in the ass to do.
I asked him if it retained USB/Aux
- No, you'd have to run your separate cables.
and because of the type of USB cable connector Ford uses, you can take the OEM USB port (only the front one since hubs are not supported) out and trim out some of the rubber on the new USB cable, stick it back into teh hole and glue it into place for a perfect OEM look.
for example, this is one I did for a friends 2nd gen escape (yes different panel but its does the same way for a focus)
![Wood Lock]()
first the new USB cable needs to be trimmed back so that the connector can be inserted deep enough and stick out perfectly flush like the OEM did
![Cameras & optics Camera accessory Point-and-shoot camera Camera Audio equipment]()
this this is with that new USB cable inserted and glued in to the OEM panel
