Rear Radio Controls

[Adam E B]

We just got our 2018 Expedition that we ordered on Monday. Finally converted my wife over to driving a Ford. She is coming out of a 2011 Tahoe that had rear radio controls and our son could plug in headphones and listen to a different source than we were listening to over the car speakers. So if we were listening to the FM radio he could listen to a CD or whatever. I saw the rear radio controls in our new Expy and just figured it worked the same way. We have a Limited with the Sync 3 but don't have the built in DVD player and screens. It now seems that those rear radio controls are just that. Is there no way to hook up headphones so kids in the back can listen to a different audio source. I just assumed it would work with Bluetooth headphones since I didn't see the headphone jacks like the old Tahoe had. Surely the 7 year old Tahoe didn't have a better radio than the new Expy does, or did Ford drop the ball on this one.

Secondly, why would you want the second row passengers to be able the change the radio stations, source, volume...

 

[Uturn]

Secondly, why would you want the second row passengers to be able the change the radio stations, source, volume...

Because sometimes my wife rides in the back and I do not have to have her asking "can you change the station", "turn up the volume", etc. It would be nice though if you could listen to alternate sources in the back.

 

[mquick5]

Gesh, my 05 Suburban has the same features as your 11 Tahoe had. So if the Expedition just let's rear change volume and stations. Is there a lockout feature up front, so kids can't mess with it? I know there's the option for this on temp and fan speed.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G870A using Tapatalk

 

[pwsiiiesq]

As far as I cannot find - no lock out for rear rail controls

Buttons are just in range of my kids toes

 

[Adam E B]

So far this is the only big disappointment I have. My four year old likes to likes to listen to his Disney cds and chipmunk cds and I don't want to listen to it. Seems like if Ford is reading these forums this is something they could fix, even in existing vehicles. Software update could make the sync system allow Bluetooth headphones and output a different source to them that is controlled by the rear controls.

 

[MyExpedition2016]

Yep so I've been in a number of 2018's and just got off of a 4 day rental with one and looked in all 3 versions of the manual. Major miss by Ford Engineers. I have a 2010 Expy currently and it has the split feature you are talking about with head phone options or just the option to allow the rear sound only and also ability to lock out read audio controls. I think Ford carried this over but someone didn't do their homework and add the correct features to Sync to make this any use. Completely useless as far as I'm concerned now.

 

[Yukon Joe]

I couldn't find a lock out feature either. Kinda sucks.

@Yukon Joe

 

[18-FX4-GUY]

It does suck when my teenage girl loves to keep changing station on me or raise the volume up. She loves to battle me when it comes to music and volume of said music.

 

[JohnT]

Mine doesn't because she finds it hard to adjust the volume while walking home.

 

[Adam E B]

I tried to pair some Bluetooth headphones hoping that it would magically change those rear controls over to operate the headphones but of course it didn't work. It would pair to the headphones and then Sync would say this Bluetooth device doesn't have any Sync compatible features and it would disconnect from them.

Wishful thinking.

Does anyone know if anybody from Ford reads this forum? Maybe if they do they could put there 2 cents in as to why this functionality isn't available. Or why the rear controls even exist.

Seems like it could be a big distraction to the driver if someone in the backseat is jacking with the radio volume. Seems like in this lawsuit happy world some lawyer out there could use that as grounds for a lawsuit if someone had a wreck and said they were distracted by the radio cause their kid cranked up the volume and there was no way to lockout the rear controls.

 

[Sammy]

We just got our 2018 Expedition that we ordered on Monday. Finally converted my wife over to driving a Ford. She is coming out of a 2011 Tahoe that had rear radio controls and our son could plug in headphones and listen to a different source than we were listening to over the car speakers. So if we were listening to the FM radio he could listen to a CD or whatever. I saw the rear radio controls in our new Expy and just figured it worked the same way. We have a Limited with the Sync 3 but don't have the built in DVD player and screens. It now seems that those rear radio controls are just that. Is there no way to hook up headphones so kids in the back can listen to a different audio source. I just assumed it would work with Bluetooth headphones since I didn't see the headphone jacks like the old Tahoe had. Surely the 7 year old Tahoe didn't have a better radio than the new Expy does, or did Ford drop the ball on this one.

Secondly, why would you want the second row passengers to be able the change the radio stations, source, volume...

I dont know if you ever found the answer.... I did so I'm sharing.... I had the same issue with my 2019. Heres how I took care of it: remove the dual cup holder directly above the rear controls. Not very hard to pull it off. Can't break anything, so pull with force. That will give you access to the rear part of the controls. Then simply disconnect the plug directly behind the radio control module. That's it. Takes 2 minutes. It won't affect radio functionality.