So my roommate got into a little fender bender with his WRX a while back and afterwards picked up a dash cam. He highly recommended it to me and the video quality I saw off of it was stellar. Below is the Amazon link for the camera I got. I got it on Cyber Monday on a lightning deal for $120. It shoots in 1440p if only the front camera is being used, and 1080p when both the front and the rear are being used and audio too. Great for hopefully never accidents, recording shady traffic stops, and trips to Mexico. I'm still learning how to actually use the camera and know it's ins and outs, but I figured I'd make an install thread. The kit I bought didn't have the power cord and they refunded my account $6 to buy a 10' mini USB to standard USB cord. You'll see later the way I routed and placed my front camera, I needed 15' or more. It also comes with a sweet trim tool to help with hiding cables.
https://www.amazon.com/Z-EDGE-S3-Du...id=1513087415&sr=8-6&keywords=dash+cam+z-edge
I used the below link for help, it's a generic how-to for dash cams, but ironically it's on a FiST so things will be similar. The camera I linked doesn't need a fuse tap, it uses the 12v cigarette lighters, but you can certainly follow the instructions to fuse tap another 12v behind the glove box and plug the camera in there.
https://howtune.com/articles/170-install-the-wiring-for-a-dashcam-on-a-2014-ford-fiesta
Overall install time was about an hour I think. I split it up. I ran the cabling while on my lunch at work and had my roommates help me with the camera placement. You can do camera placement first if you want or cabling it doesn't matter, just if you do cabling first, obviously have an idea of where you want your camera and leave enough cord there so the camera can be plugged in but not too much such that you have an annoying amount of excess wires dangling.
Overall notes about camera placement. You'll want it level, and you'll want something on the car in view for reference. In the front, I have the hood and leveled by using the windshield sprayers. In there rear I leveled via the black dots that surround the window at the top and kept a little of the wiper in frame. Each lens' angle can be adjusted too.
Front
Rear
I got pretty lucky on my camera placement. I originally put my camera behind the mirror on the left side of it, but when I put the mirror back to see how well it was hidden, the camera blocked the mirror from going back all the way to where I needed it. I panicked because the 3M gel tape they use is pretty serious stuff so I thought I was going to chisel it off. Thankfully it didn't set completely yet and I was able to pull (pretty hard) it off. You can see where it ended up and I'd recommend this spot to others.
If your doing the fuse tap, route the wire along the right side of the windshield, I routed it around the left for now and into the armrest. I didn't want to wire it to the front 12v because my radar detector is plugged in there and the cord isn't long enough to make it to the armrest. Since it's just USB I tried plugging it into the front USB jack, but the front one is only 1v or something. Whatever it is, it's not strong enough to power the camera so it can't be used.
Top of Driver's side A pillar. The head liner is a little stubborn and doesn't hold the cable too well. When I take the camera off the cable falls out, so just try your best to really jam it in there. Then wrap through the plastic of the A pillar to the weather stripping in the door jamb and down from there.
My thumb is where it wraps through the A pillar plastic.
Here's where it comes out of the weather stripping. Yes, I know my car is filthy, piss of.
Here's where the 15' cable is needed. It's not long enough to route all the way under the steering wheel or under the seat. So it's just kind of hanging from the steering wheel to the armrest. I can feel it on my leg, but the more annoying part is it rides along the hand brake right now and I have to be careful not to yank it. When I get the longer cord I'll route it under the seat.
To route the rear camera cabling, I tucked along the passenger side and it was all super easy to tuck.
Passenger A pillar, same as the drivers side. Tuck along headliner then wrap around behind A pillar plastic.
Max images per post is 10 so I'll add more in next post.
https://www.amazon.com/Z-EDGE-S3-Du...id=1513087415&sr=8-6&keywords=dash+cam+z-edge
I used the below link for help, it's a generic how-to for dash cams, but ironically it's on a FiST so things will be similar. The camera I linked doesn't need a fuse tap, it uses the 12v cigarette lighters, but you can certainly follow the instructions to fuse tap another 12v behind the glove box and plug the camera in there.
https://howtune.com/articles/170-install-the-wiring-for-a-dashcam-on-a-2014-ford-fiesta
Overall install time was about an hour I think. I split it up. I ran the cabling while on my lunch at work and had my roommates help me with the camera placement. You can do camera placement first if you want or cabling it doesn't matter, just if you do cabling first, obviously have an idea of where you want your camera and leave enough cord there so the camera can be plugged in but not too much such that you have an annoying amount of excess wires dangling.
Overall notes about camera placement. You'll want it level, and you'll want something on the car in view for reference. In the front, I have the hood and leveled by using the windshield sprayers. In there rear I leveled via the black dots that surround the window at the top and kept a little of the wiper in frame. Each lens' angle can be adjusted too.
Front
Rear
I got pretty lucky on my camera placement. I originally put my camera behind the mirror on the left side of it, but when I put the mirror back to see how well it was hidden, the camera blocked the mirror from going back all the way to where I needed it. I panicked because the 3M gel tape they use is pretty serious stuff so I thought I was going to chisel it off. Thankfully it didn't set completely yet and I was able to pull (pretty hard) it off. You can see where it ended up and I'd recommend this spot to others.
If your doing the fuse tap, route the wire along the right side of the windshield, I routed it around the left for now and into the armrest. I didn't want to wire it to the front 12v because my radar detector is plugged in there and the cord isn't long enough to make it to the armrest. Since it's just USB I tried plugging it into the front USB jack, but the front one is only 1v or something. Whatever it is, it's not strong enough to power the camera so it can't be used.
Top of Driver's side A pillar. The head liner is a little stubborn and doesn't hold the cable too well. When I take the camera off the cable falls out, so just try your best to really jam it in there. Then wrap through the plastic of the A pillar to the weather stripping in the door jamb and down from there.
My thumb is where it wraps through the A pillar plastic.
Here's where it comes out of the weather stripping. Yes, I know my car is filthy, piss of.
Here's where the 15' cable is needed. It's not long enough to route all the way under the steering wheel or under the seat. So it's just kind of hanging from the steering wheel to the armrest. I can feel it on my leg, but the more annoying part is it rides along the hand brake right now and I have to be careful not to yank it. When I get the longer cord I'll route it under the seat.
To route the rear camera cabling, I tucked along the passenger side and it was all super easy to tuck.
Passenger A pillar, same as the drivers side. Tuck along headliner then wrap around behind A pillar plastic.
Max images per post is 10 so I'll add more in next post.