rds?

ok look here is the deal what is rds on radios and is there a possibility of the airbags going off if you install an aftermarket radio? because when i worked at best buy the told me that it would i think they are full of shhh just to try and get extra money out of people that dont know any better.

RDS stands for Radio Data System and is information encoded into a VHF or FM transmission.  It is used for many things, but the way most people "see" it is if an FM radio station encodes information like the artist and title of a song they are playing, an RDS capable head unit will display the encoded information.  Or a user may program and RDS radio to "seek" for specific types of radio stations such as "jazz" and the HU will automatically tune to the preferred station type.  As far as airbags deploying if a factory HU is removed, there is no vehicle I know of that uses the radio to control the airbags.  Other vehicle functions, yes, but not a safety system.

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When I first started working in the install bay at circuit some of the guys always told me that if the radio said rds on it then it has to be relocated. Well I am still reseaching this because i dont know what to beleive anymore. But I would most definitly agree with DYohn about what he says. But my opinion on this anymore is that, when you turn the car to the on position, turn the radio off and hold in the tune button, and if anything like fog lights or anything else appears on the radio then it has to be relocated.

Why would it have to be relocated it shouldent do that if it does you dont need to relocate it. If that were to happen to me which i doubt it would but lets say it did i would run a wire to the igntion switch using a relay and id run a wire to my battery and run it through the stock harness so it looks factory.

The id take the wires the car needs like say it needed to complete the fog light circuit which would be stupid id just wire them into the radio harness i made cuz id be using relays and so it wouldent kill anything.

And yes of course it would all be fused

In some vehicles (especially from GM, but also from other manufacturers) the vehicle data system must find the factory radio present in order to function.  The computer inside the radio is part of the vehicle and certain functions will not work without it.  In these cases, the OEM head unit must be kept in the car, and this means relocating it if the owner wants a different head unit in the dash.

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ahhh makes sense. Thats messed up. I saw what your talking about at work today in the 2005 suburben with the navigation and the sceen and everything. It was a nice unit tho I would have kept it like the owner decided to do. She just had us use 2 line out converters. We used an amp on all the door speakers which were replaced with components and we used another amp for a single 10 inch sub.