I'm trying to hard wire a Nextbase dashcam to a 2020 UK Skoda Scala 1.0 TSI. I'll position the camera on the passenger side to the left of the mirror (avoiding obstructing the daylight sensor on the back of the mirror). Then piggyback off the rear wiper fuse in the box under the steering wheel.

 

Which route do people take for the cable? I've looked at running it (untidily) over the mirror (see pic) to the driver's side, under the roof lining, inside the trim of the windscreen pillar; uncliping the panel on the end of the dashboard and then to the fusebox. However, when I peel back the pillar trim, it looks like an airbag is running continuously all the way down from above the headlining and down the door pillar (see pic). I don't want to obstruct it. How do people get from the headlining to the fuse box without crossing this airbag?

 

Is there an airbag in the rear view mirror area? (In which case I should probably route the cable the other way to the passenger's windscreen pillar and then find a way behind the glove compartment to the fuse box.) But I'll still need to avoid crossing the door pillar airbag.

 

What's your experience?

 

By the way, there's no USB port on the mirror!

 

 

Edited 26 November, 202426 Nov by bee4dee
typo

RHD car guidance. I ran my dashcam cable on the passenger side, firstly under the headlining and then by removing the A pillar trim and running the cable behind the airbag. The trim on the left end of the dash (i.e. on the side of the glovebox) is easily removed, then I piggybacked on a suitable fuse. Top tip - if you unplug the passenger airbag switch in order to move the trim right out of the way, don't switch on the ignition with it disconnected. I did, and it generated a fault code which I had to clear using OBDEleven. Hint - put zip ties on the dashcam cable to keep it from slipping out from behind the headlining. Just zip tight and cut the end short, and the 'blob' will keep the cable neatly tucked away. 

Thank you. I'll route the cable via the passenger side. It seems I need to pull the A pillar trim off completely and get the cable behind the airbag. I did have a quick go today at pulling off the trim but so far without success - I'll do a bit of digging for tips on the direction of pull etc.

 

Thank you for your tips about the passenger airbag switch and the cable ties.

Edited 2 December, 20242 Dec by bee4dee
added a word

All done now. Getting the pillar trim off was a challenge. Having unseated it from the door seal, I ended up pushing the top part from outside the car parallel with the windscreen. I was thinking I was going to damage it and then the upper section loosened off. Pulled it upwards towards the roof and with some hard wiggling it came off.

 

I ended up routing the cable from behind the glove compartment on the passenger side to the fuse box on the driver's side by pushing the cable in the join between the lower bit of the console and the upper part. I couldn't find a way to feed it through round the back.

 

Piggybacked off fuse 43 - rear windscreen wiper.

 

At first the camera wouldn't power up when the ignition switch was turned to the powered position. I measured the voltage at the bullet connector - 11.7V. Thought I'd got a faulty hard-wire kit. Then I remembered something about the dashcam only being powered if more than 12V is available. Turned the engine on and the dashcam powered up!

I just ran a cable to one of the USB-C ports. I had to add a 'data blocker' to stop the car/dashcam thinking that a USB drive had been attached. To fit the cable around the back of the glove box to the camera took about 5 minutes.

Hi

I just installed the cable in the pillar trim next to the fuse box (left side for me). As the cable was slim enough, the hardest part was removing the trim panel. Pushing the trim towards the roof so that it can slide out it's not as easy as it sounds. That's because the trip fits quite snuggly at the bottom. I was also very careful in how I pulled as I didn't want to damage anything, not knowing what's behind with the airbag.

Now after I did it the first time, I feel much more comfortable.

Below you can find pictures with my installations. Hope it helps other people as it would have helped me if I would have had them :)

How I did it:

• Detached a bit the top part, until the first metal claw of the clips. Basically you need to pull perpendicular until you get it over the resort part

• Then pull the trip towards the roof until the other clips is in the larger part of the hole

• Remove speaker cable and trim

• Run an insulated rigid copper cable (or any other cable pull helper) from next of the speaker cable to the bottom part of the fuse box. There's a lot of space to have an easy an tidy pul

• Pull back from the top the camera cable

• Fix with camera cable with slim cable ties, not over tightening (white in my pictures) to the main cable on the outside

• Run the camera cable under the headliner just by slightly pushing it under. Also under the mirror case

You'll notice a picture with a broken clips. My car is second hand, I recently bought it. This clips was already damaged, possibly forced by a previous installation. Now I have to replace it https://www.skoda-parts.com/spare-part/8p0867276-spring-clip-skoda-32789.html

And as a followup question to my post above, can someone tell me which fuses can I use for:

• Permanent power

• Switched with ignition power?

I have a parking mode Garmin camera.

Lastly, can I use the bolts left/right of the fuse box as negative connection? Or is there a better alternative?

Hi, I'm going to do this install in the weekend (also with a Garmin)

Yes, the bolts circled will be fine for 'Earthinbg'

If you have a multimeter, you can touch the fuses already plugged in and find out which ones you can use for permanent and switched.

People advise to use Wipers, USB power or 12v plug fuses and nothing important like any car safety/Computer/Airbags etc as you don't want a short with these.

Let me know which ones you use, I will update on here when i've done mine, also

On 31/05/2025 at 18:13, asterixmic said:

Hi

I just installed the cable in the pillar trim next to the fuse box (left side for me). As the cable was slim enough, the hardest part was removing the trim panel. Pushing the trim towards the roof so that it can slide out it's not as easy as it sounds. That's because the trip fits quite snuggly at the bottom. I was also very careful in how I pulled as I didn't want to damage anything, not knowing what's behind with the airbag.

Now after I did it the first time, I feel much more comfortable.

Below you can find pictures with my installations. Hope it helps other people as it would have helped me if I would have had them :)

How I did it:

• Detached a bit the top part, until the first metal claw of the clips. Basically you need to pull perpendicular until you get it over the resort part

• Then pull the trip towards the roof until the other clips is in the larger part of the hole

• Remove speaker cable and trim

• Run an insulated rigid copper cable (or any other cable pull helper) from next of the speaker cable to the bottom part of the fuse box. There's a lot of space to have an easy an tidy pul

• Pull back from the top the camera cable

• Fix with camera cable with slim cable ties, not over tightening (white in my pictures) to the main cable on the outside

• Run the camera cable under the headliner just by slightly pushing it under. Also under the mirror case

You'll notice a picture with a broken clips. My car is second hand, I recently bought it. This clips was already damaged, possibly forced by a previous installation. Now I have to replace it https://www.skoda-parts.com/spare-part/8p0867276-spring-clip-skoda-32789.html

This is Very useful!

Thanks