After market radio/cruise control

[Midwest Black Bird]

Hello everyone, I just purchased a low mileage 2002 soft top. One issue is that the after market radio/gps that had already been installed disables the cruise control, and other column controls (Phone etc). Is there a work around to reengage the cruise without having to find an 18 year old car radio?

[007Cruiser]

Welcome, Doug! I know that some of the aftermarket radios use another piece of hardware to allow the steering wheel controls to work. You don’t mention which radio is in the car. A company called Crutchfield specializes in car audio and may be able to help.

BTW, all of these cars are soft tops. Good luck with your new ride.

[Frank Dreano]

My one-year old Kenwood installation in my 2002 works perfectly (with GPS, hands free phone, etc) - it does use a steering wheel control adapter:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80lfEHd33vY&t=98s

The one in the video above; it has NO relationship to the cruise control; to wit; I suspect somebody mis-wired something...
The adapter sends various "pulsed" signals via a single wire to the steering wheel audio controls; if its tied into the wrong wire it would certainly cause issues....or if somebody went "rogue" and tried to get the controls working withOUT an adapter.

For a "full function" aftermarket radio installation its VERY tight behind the radio with lots of confusing wires and quite easy to get something wrong. As mentioned, Crutchfield has the best tech support in the business IF you bought the radio from them, if not, I can't say if they'll help out. They sell "pre-wired" harnesses to adapt their radio offerings to nearly any vehicle at a slight extra cost which makes for a "mistake-free" installation.

[steelblue5505]

Could your difficulty be that you do not know that the cruise control has a on/off switch built into the underside of the left spoke of the steering wheel. This needs to be switched on each time the car is started if you want to use the cruise control.
The finger tab buttons on the steering wheel give you control of cruise but it must be turned on first.

[007Cruiser]

Well he hasn’t come back yet to see whether anyone answered. Perhaps he figured it out.

[5bird7]

kind of hard to tell if he's been back or not since he posted this in the welcome forum which I think is visible to anyone?