What Is a Steering Wheel Audio Control Adapter?

Steering wheel audio control adapters aren't as well known or understood as flashier car audio system components. Still, they're becoming increasingly important as more and more cars come from the factory with some type of steering wheel audio controls with every new model year.

What Are Steering Wheel Audio Controls?

Steering wheel audio controls make it less dangerous to interact with your car radio when you're driving. The basic idea is to use these controls without taking your hands off the steering wheel or taking your eyes off the road.

Specific controls vary from one vehicle to the next, but they often allow you to adjust the volume, switch from the radio to auxiliary inputs, change channels, skip songs, and more.

When a factory car stereo system includes Bluetooth connectivity, the steering wheel audio controls typically include a button, or buttons, that you can use to place calls, hang up, and perform other functions with your phone. If the vehicle has voice controls, there is usually a button for that.

Since these controls are helpful and can increase your safety on the road by making it easier to control the radio without taking your eyes off the road, the idea of losing access to the steering wheel audio controls prevents many people from upgrading their car stereo systems.

Upgrading Your Car Stereo Without Losing Your Steering Wheel Audio Controls

The proliferation of steering wheel audio controls has created a situation where something that was once a rare luxury is quickly becoming a real headache for anyone with a late model car and a desire to upgrade their head unit.

The easy solution is to ditch the steering wheel controls altogether instead of building a premium sound system, but it doesn't have to be that way.

Fortunately, there are ways to upgrade any factory head unit without losing essential features, and steering wheel audio controls are no exception. Here, the key to tying factory steering wheel controls into a new head unit is a component known as a steering wheel audio control adapter.

These adapters function by essentially sitting between the steering wheel controls and your new head unit and interpreting the commands that the one sends to the other.

Steering Wheel Audio Control Head Unit Adapter Compatibility

Aftermarket head units aren't universally compatible with steering wheel controls, but the major manufacturers offer good coverage.

Most high-end navigation head units include this functionality, and a sizeable chunk of the other aftermarket units out there do as well. You can't take it for granted that any head unit will work with steering wheel controls, but they are out there. The important thing is to do your research and check for compatibility before you buy.

To check whether a head unit is compatible with steering wheel audio controls, check the features list on the box. Head units that are compatible with steering wheel controls typically list something like wired remote control input or SWI, (which stands for steering wheel input) as a feature.

Some head unit feature lists also specify either SWI-JS, SWI-JACK, or SWI-X. These are specific types of steering wheel audio controls that both original equipment and aftermarket car radios use.

• SWI-JS: Stands for Steering Wheel Input Jensen and Sony. Found in Jensen and Sony head units and other head units that use this standard.
• SWI-JACK: Stands for Steering Wheel Input JVC, Alpine, Clarion, and Kenwood. Used by these four large manufacturers and some smaller ones as well.
• SWI-X: This is a universal standard that is found in some aftermarket head units.

Choosing a Steering Wheel Audio Control Adapter

Although there are a lot of aftermarket head units that are wired to accept remote inputs, they don't know how to interpret the commands from the different original equipment steering wheel audio control setups out there. To allow a head unit to understand those control inputs, you need an adapter to act as a middleman.

There are a couple of companies that make these adapters, and each one takes a slightly different approach. These manufacturers offer good coverage, though, so you should be able to find a compatible adapter for any car that has steering wheel controls.

Some steering wheel audio control adapters work with a specific subset of head units, which is where SWI-JS, SWI-JACK, and SWI-X come into play.

Some audio control adapters are specifically designed to work with either SWI-JS or SWI-JACK head units, so you can choose the correct adapter by looking at that information. Sometimes, you may also need a separate CAN adapter between the steering wheel controls and the adapter.

On the other hand, some steering wheel audio control adapters are universal, which means they can be used with a head unit that accepts remote inputs, regardless of which type of SWI it is. The key is to figure out the kind of SWI you're dealing with so that you get your hands on a compatible steering wheel audio control adapter.