I thought I'd post my install experience for everybody's reference. Jumping to the end result these pictures show the positioning of the front and rear cameras and screen-grabs of representative views obtained with my dashcam from those locations. The dashcam views are not those from the camera video files but screen-grabs of the movie player so don't use them as an estimate of the video quality achieved. The quality is much better than shown. BUT, I have strongly tinted ceramic film on my rear window and the camera is looking through it at an oblique angle. That removed some fidelity but it is more than enough to witness any events.







I bought a Vantrue S1 front/rear dashcam because:

• The front camera provides a 170 degree field of view. (Rear 160 degrees).
• When operating in dual-camera mode both cameras offer 1080 resolution
• It supports up to 256GB microSDXC memory cards
• The front camera has a HDR recording mode
• The temperature ratings are higher than most and I live in Arizona

I also bought the Vantrue hard-wiring kit. It would have been easy to cut-off the 12V cigar lighter plug end of the supplied cable and add any micro-sized add-a-fuse from your local auto parts store, or even half-*** it with some jury-rig into the fuse holders. Important to note: the Vantrue dashcam came with a 20-foot cable to link the front and rear cameras. I needed exactly 20 feet. Even a few inches shorter would not have worked so make sure your cameras come with enough cable. [NB: see later comments about purchasing a 9" thinner more flexible micro-USB extension].

I wanted to fit the camera as invisibly as I could because I knew that visible cables and clips would irritate me over the life of the vehicle. But, I struggled for along time figuring out how to mount the rear camera so that it would have an adequate view out of the rear window and would swing out of the way when the rear hatch was open. I found a way to route the rear camera wire through the car, through the cable boot connecting the rear hatch, and to the upper-center of the hatch surround trim.

This is what I came up with. It took me 6 hours in a 100F+ garage in mid-June Arizona. Without needing to drink gallons of water or figure it out step-by-step I think I could do the same thing again in less than 2 hours. You only need to unscrew two screws and one bolt. Everything else is push-fit and just pops off.

1. Decide where to place the front camera. The XC60 has a very intrusive equipment box at the top of the windshield containing various cameras and sensors. This is why a 170-degree angle of view for the front camera is important. I placed mine to the right of the equipment box, making sure to allow room for me to slide the camera up to detach it from the adhesive plate which attaches to the windshield. I also left a little room for the mini-USB connectors, especially the one to the rear camera. After using a little acetone to de-grease the windshield I fixed the adhesive plate & camera where I wanted it, and removed the camera so the plate adhesive would have time to cure without the weight of the camera pulling on it while I worked elsewhere. Take care not to drip any solvents on the dash!

2. Remove the plastic airbag warning bolt cover at the top of the passenger-side A-pillar and use an 8mm socket wrench to remove the bolt behind. You can remove the A-pillar trim at this point. It unclips easily with two sprung snap-clips. Detaching the lower end of the trim takes a little wiggling but there is nothing there to break or damage.


Here are some pictures of the parts removed so you can see where the clips are. My car was new so everything was plaible, but if your car is older some of the platics may be more brittle than mine and you will want to know where the clips are for when you pry at the plastics.


This is the A-pillar trim with the upper end on the right.


3. I also pulled up the door sill trim (with a plastic trim lever tool to avoid scratches, but a duct-tape wrapped screwdriver would work too) and wriggled it free of the trim to the side of the glove box. The trim to the side of the glove box, and the end-panel of the glovebox, also simply detach from snap-clips. No tools or worrying force necessary.



4. At this point I also exposed the fuse box in the passenger footwell. [This is the dumbest location for any fusebox! I cannot imagine trying to get to this fusebox except with time to hand and in bright lighting]. First of all remove the panel below the glovebox which is visible from the footwell. There are two #25 torx screws near the edge closest to the seat, a center snap-clip, and a couple of ****** posts which need to be finessed free. Once that panel and the doorsill trim is removed the carpet may be peeled back. The SIM box may be unclipped from the fusebox cover by sliding it, and the fusebox cover is articulated on hinges at the end nearest to the seat. Once the cover is swunf forward it comes free so that you can work in the fusebox.






5. Experimentally reattach the camera to the adhesive plate stuck to the windshield and run the power and rear camera cables behind the front edge of the roof liner, down the A-pillar, down past the glovebox, and continue the camera cable along the doorsill towards the rear of the car. More of that later.



6. The camera power may be attached to Fuse #13, which is the heated steering wheel fuse. I do not have that heated wheel option so it was an easy choice for me. That is a switched power source so it is off when the car is off. I do not need the parking mode in the dashcam and have had bad experiences in my BMW with a dashcam drawing enough juice to trip alarm codes so I consciously chose not to use a permanent power source. I am sure they are available in the fusebox. I also wanted to choose a fuse which did not supply something sensitive (e.g. Sensus system or any ECU) in case the camera introduced noise which would cause problems. (Something I found out the hard way on a Volvo V70).

7. The camera ground may be easily attached to the grounding block (white plastic cover) exposed under the removed door sill trim. Lever open the catches on that ground block plastic cover to flip it open and reveal a vacant docking location for the ground connector from the front camera. I gently stripped back enough of the sheathing on the open cable to take the ground to the door sill block and the power to the fuse box. Take care to make sure the ground cable isn't wrapped around the other cables and that you can run the cables tidily.

8. Fiddle the rear camera cable so that just enough is left at the camera end and zip-tie it to the other cables down the A-pillar. Take care to place and tie the cables so that if the airbag in the A-pillar ever deployed it would not be hindered by the camera cables. Do not constrict the yellowish plastic sunroof drain pipe. Zip tie together the surplus power cable and fit adjacent to the fusebox where there is plenty of room.

9. Run the camera cable to the rear of the car through the front and rear door sills. The rear door sill trim unclips similarly to the front door sill trim, and the trim to the side of the rear seat trim also unclips. I didn't need to remove the trim at the foot of the B-pillar and was able to use a simple fish to pull the cable through.

[NB - when I posted this picture I noticed the displaced rubber door seal behind the rear passenger door. Don't drive around like that - I did and I had to finesse the trim back in place].



10. The lining and trim to the right-side of the trunk unclips and allows a longer fish to be pushed through to the edge of the rear seat. Use that to pull the cable through into the trunk, and then up behind the C-pillar trim.

11. The rubber boot between the hatch door and the vehicle body simple pops off each end when a trim tool or other thin lever is used. Be careful of the paint. With both ends of the rubber boot exposed the camera cable may be fished through.




12. Fishing the camera cable through that boot is the worst part of the whole job. I struggled mightily. But here is the trick - it will only take you 5 minutes! I found some 1/4" plastic irrigation tubing. Anything pretty stiff but flexible which you can push hard will do. Use a very little liquid soap on that tubing to it slips through the rubber boot easily. I did not want to use anything oily lest it have long term consequences on the wrapping of the cable loom. After you have fished through the plastic tubing, or whatever you improvise with, duct-tape the end of the cable to it, lightly soap the camera cable, and pull it through. Once you have the knack it is easy. I took a good 2 hours pondering and trying different fishing materials.

13. Pry off the trim panel above the rear window and run the cable through. You will have about 6" spare - just enough to address the camera without pulling on it.



The above, for reference, shows where the clips are behind the trim. Refer to the rounded-rectangular slots the clips mate with in the rear hatch, below.



14. Decide how you will bring the cable through the removed panel. I had a dremmeling accident and made my hole too large. If I were doing it again I would cut a little notch just wide enough for the cable diameter from the edge of the panel rather than trying to cut a hole large enough for the mini-USB connector to pass through.



15. Make sure the routing of the cable through the trim leaves enough to allow the camera to move, and not pull on the camera. Clean the plastic trim (check the rear of the trim with your solvent to make sure it doesn't discolor or damage it). Place the camera. You are almost done - do not rush it. Let the rear camera adhesive cure for an hour or two before loading it with weight of camera and cable.

16. Put everything back together while you wait for the rear camera adhesive to cure. Be careful when refitting the A-pillar trim that no wires or cables are trapped under the clips or under the bolt when you tighten it. There is plenty of room away from the airbag.

ADDENDUM: In the Arizona heat the adhesive used to attach the rear camera to the plastic trim gave way. I used some countersunk stainless steel M3-05 screws and bolts to better attach the camera mounting plate to the plastic trim. When the Earth spirals into the Sun the last two things to separate will be that mounting plate and that trim. They are now SOLID. I also bought a short (9-inch) mini-USB (female) to right-angled mini-USB (male) extension which uses a much thinner and pliable cable to remove some of the strain on the connector where it attaches to the camera, and a 15mm rubber firewall grommet to tidy-up the hole I butchered through the Volvo trim. Now it is looking much tidier.

- Frank.
[I had to remove some images to meet the 20 max limit - see my XC60 Dashcam album for others showing position of clips behind panels]

 

With thanks to the explanations of Frank, I would like to expand the explanations regarding the unclipping of the (right-side) rear door sills and back trim. As Frank mentions, the trim at the foot of the B-pillar does not need to be removed if one uses a fish to pull the cable through.
The rear-seat trim removal starts by removing the cover on top of the seatbelt which has 4 clips:




The next part has 3 clips and a bolt which is located under the seatbelt:



Next part to remove is the fabric-covered trim next to the rear-seat backrest, this cover has clips but also a plastic pin thus remove upwards. The plastic pin settles in the steel square opening marked on the next photo:




Then remove the backseat cushion, the seat is withheld on both sides and you need to push firmly (inwards) on the release latch:


The remaining plastic trim parts are also clipped to the frame:




The cover behind the rear seat can be unclipped and trunk side-cover can be slightly pushed back to obtain good access to thread the cable:



Last part to remove is the tail trim which has 2 screws:



As Frank mentioned, fishing the camera cable through the rubber boot between hatch door and body is a fiddly process, but I managed quite quickly (the rubber boot on the other side is definitely less packed with cables).



Finally remove the cover panel above the rear window which is also has several clips:



I installed a BlackVue 900X and the cable for the rear-camera is probably less thick than Frank’s Vantrue S1 if I compare the photos. Thickness is an issue trying to fish the cable via the rubber boot!

The hardest part was the unclipping of the fusebox cover and obtaining enough working space by peeling and pushing the carpet away from the fusebox. Indeed, getting to this fusebox is a pain!