2020 Ford Escape SE 1.5 AWD: 2017 Escape SE 2.0 AWD: 2013 Ford F150 Supercab: 2020 Escape SE
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I have successfully retrofitted a heated steering wheel to my 2020 Escape SE AWD (Am I the first in the world to do it to a 2020+? I hope so! Anyway I hope this helps others), My escape has the standard features for the SE, no other options added. Based on the diagrams I have seen this should also work for the maverick, Explorer, Bronco Sport, and Explorer, and Kuga too for the european folks. You will need Forscan or IDS to program some things as well. I want to start off by saying that in order for your vehicle to be plug and play, no wiring needed to be added you must check to see if your harness has the following connector and fuse. No disassembly was required to verify in my case. First Check if you have the connector on the back of the SCCM which attaches to the back of the clock spring, I was able to feel it by moving the tilt column lever down and felt the 2 connectors, one has 7 wires and one has 2 wires running to it, This 2 wire connector was there on mine even though the SCCM does not have the pins for it but this is the power wires to heat the wheel. If your harness has this then you are in luck, next move to the fusebox under the hood, look for fuse 35 for bronco sport and escape, or if you have maverick its fuse 33 this fuse is for the heated wheel only. Mine had the blue 15 amp fuse installed already and I checked for the pins as well and they were there. I also checked the back of the HVAC controls and had all the wiring needed there as well so I went ahead and bought the parts as shown below. Based on your features you may need a different part but again this worked for me and they all interchange with the exception of the explorer which uses a different steering wheel.
Steering wheel: LJ6Z-3600-JB
SCCM: LB5Z-3F791-SB
Clock spring: GN1Z-14A664-E
Here are the install instructions
1. Save your SCCM and APIM ASBuilt as a backup as you may need to load the values into the SCCM when you are finished.
2. Disconnect battery, and wait 5 minutes for airbag system to power down.
3. Start with wheels straight ahead, turn steering wheel 90 degrees and use a pick or small screwdriver to unclip airbag from the back of the wheel, next turn it 90 degrees from straight the other way and unclip that side.
4. CENTER THE STEERING WHEEL AT THIS TIME TO PREVENT ANY ISSUES WITH CLOCK SPRING POSITION.
Remove the orange tabs from the yellow and blue airbag connectors then pull the connectors out. Unclip the white connector at this time as well. Set the airbag aside.
5. Unclip the connector for the steering wheel harness and remove the bolt for the steering wheel using a 24mm socket, an electric impact works great for this. Now remove the wheel making sure you do not spin or turn the clock spring, if for some reason you need to put it back on and it has been turned 360 degrees in the wrong direction you will get errors for ABS and have problems. Put tape on it to ensure it stays in the straight ahead position.
6. Remove the column plastic covers. Use a 7mm socket and unscrew the 2 bolts located on the bottom. Wiggle the covers and they will come apart. The top one is connected to the cluster trim and you can just move it out of the way or unclip it your choice.
7. Using a T25 torx remove the 4 screws holding the SCCM and Clock spring assembly on. There should be 3 connectors also, remove them now and slide the assembly off.
8. Install the new SCCM and Clock spring assembly, the 3 connectors and 4 screws. Make sure the clock spring is straight ahead or is taped and cant spin around.
9. At this time if the new wheel you have bought has a different type of cruise control button than yours (such as adaptive cruise or vice versa) you will change that out now and use your original. Pop off the bezel with the switches and disconnect the connectors, now using a small torx remove the 2 screws holding the button on and swap them. Reinstall in reverse order.
10. Remove the tape holding the clock spring in position if necessary. Install the wheel, bolt and connectors including the new connector you will now have for the wheel heat.
11. Install the airbag connectors and push the airbag into position until it is secure.
12. Install the column covers.
13. Hook up the battery
14. Get your laptop ready with forscan or IDS, clear any DTCs you may have and you will now have to enable some things to get this to work. Go into the APIM, you need to enable "heated steering wheel" this will place the icon on the radio screen, also enable "Remote start heated wheel" so your heated wheel will come on when you remote start the car. Next go to the HVAC module and enable "heated wheel" this is necessary as you wont have the hard button but the HVAC still needs to send the signal between the wheel and APIM. Note: The car must be running for the heated wheel to come on, it wont come on if you are in accessory mode.)
15. Test to see if the button on your sync screen turns on and off with the car running, I had enabled everything prior to the swap and the button did in fact turn on and off. If you already installed the parts than you should have heat.
16. Check for any DTCs again, at this point your cruise control may not work as in my case I had to load my asbuilt for my old SCCM because the settings were for the adaptive cruise switch and mine does not have it so the buttons didn't work.
17 thats it, enjoy your new heated wheel. I will add pics of the install as well but I cannot promise they will be in order.
A couple other notes I should add, if you get a used clock spring from a vehicle with deployed airbag the connectors for the airbag will be melted due to the deployment and will need repair. Also if the SCCM has the wrong stalks, say for the wipers with auto and yours doesn't they can be swapped. The only difference I can tell between the stalk with rain sensing and without is just the letter A printed on the stalk for "auto" so either should work.
Steering wheel: LJ6Z-3600-JB
SCCM: LB5Z-3F791-SB
Clock spring: GN1Z-14A664-E
Here are the install instructions
1. Save your SCCM and APIM ASBuilt as a backup as you may need to load the values into the SCCM when you are finished.
2. Disconnect battery, and wait 5 minutes for airbag system to power down.
3. Start with wheels straight ahead, turn steering wheel 90 degrees and use a pick or small screwdriver to unclip airbag from the back of the wheel, next turn it 90 degrees from straight the other way and unclip that side.
4. CENTER THE STEERING WHEEL AT THIS TIME TO PREVENT ANY ISSUES WITH CLOCK SPRING POSITION.
Remove the orange tabs from the yellow and blue airbag connectors then pull the connectors out. Unclip the white connector at this time as well. Set the airbag aside.
5. Unclip the connector for the steering wheel harness and remove the bolt for the steering wheel using a 24mm socket, an electric impact works great for this. Now remove the wheel making sure you do not spin or turn the clock spring, if for some reason you need to put it back on and it has been turned 360 degrees in the wrong direction you will get errors for ABS and have problems. Put tape on it to ensure it stays in the straight ahead position.
6. Remove the column plastic covers. Use a 7mm socket and unscrew the 2 bolts located on the bottom. Wiggle the covers and they will come apart. The top one is connected to the cluster trim and you can just move it out of the way or unclip it your choice.
7. Using a T25 torx remove the 4 screws holding the SCCM and Clock spring assembly on. There should be 3 connectors also, remove them now and slide the assembly off.
8. Install the new SCCM and Clock spring assembly, the 3 connectors and 4 screws. Make sure the clock spring is straight ahead or is taped and cant spin around.
9. At this time if the new wheel you have bought has a different type of cruise control button than yours (such as adaptive cruise or vice versa) you will change that out now and use your original. Pop off the bezel with the switches and disconnect the connectors, now using a small torx remove the 2 screws holding the button on and swap them. Reinstall in reverse order.
10. Remove the tape holding the clock spring in position if necessary. Install the wheel, bolt and connectors including the new connector you will now have for the wheel heat.
11. Install the airbag connectors and push the airbag into position until it is secure.
12. Install the column covers.
13. Hook up the battery
14. Get your laptop ready with forscan or IDS, clear any DTCs you may have and you will now have to enable some things to get this to work. Go into the APIM, you need to enable "heated steering wheel" this will place the icon on the radio screen, also enable "Remote start heated wheel" so your heated wheel will come on when you remote start the car. Next go to the HVAC module and enable "heated wheel" this is necessary as you wont have the hard button but the HVAC still needs to send the signal between the wheel and APIM. Note: The car must be running for the heated wheel to come on, it wont come on if you are in accessory mode.)
15. Test to see if the button on your sync screen turns on and off with the car running, I had enabled everything prior to the swap and the button did in fact turn on and off. If you already installed the parts than you should have heat.
16. Check for any DTCs again, at this point your cruise control may not work as in my case I had to load my asbuilt for my old SCCM because the settings were for the adaptive cruise switch and mine does not have it so the buttons didn't work.
17 thats it, enjoy your new heated wheel. I will add pics of the install as well but I cannot promise they will be in order.
A couple other notes I should add, if you get a used clock spring from a vehicle with deployed airbag the connectors for the airbag will be melted due to the deployment and will need repair. Also if the SCCM has the wrong stalks, say for the wipers with auto and yours doesn't they can be swapped. The only difference I can tell between the stalk with rain sensing and without is just the letter A printed on the stalk for "auto" so either should work.
