Hello! I just got back from Circuit City with some news that doesn't make much sense to me. I was looking to purchase a permanent mounting kit for my Tomtom Go 700 and my 2005 Honda Civic.
They people at the Circuit City said that for the kit to properly mute my speakers and enable only the Tomtom's audio during directions/calls, I would need to buy an aftermarket stereo that has a mute wire; they said my stock stereo does not have one. According to these guys, only Volkswagons and after market stereos usually come with it (and "It's cheaper to buy a new stereo than a VW").
Now, here are my questions:
1) Does my car really not have the mute wire?
2) If not, why are mute wire's so rare?
3) Still if not, then would the docking kit truly not mute the radio to allow easy directions/conversations?

If anyone has recommendations, I would really appreciate it! Thanks.

 

OK I can't answer question 1, but think about question two... when have car manufacturer's ever needed a mute wire? The whole tomtom navigation thing not built into an already aftermarket deck (ie Pioneer's navi) is a fairly new concept. Also the simpler answer... it's more expensive to add the extra wiring, circuits in the deck to control the signals sent through that wiring, etc. It's not that mute wires are rare, it's that they've never been needed before.
If you attempted to hook it up ignoring the mute wire then it would be like having a three-way conversation on a phone when both people at the other end are talking simultaneously.

 

There is not a mute wire on your car. Like cicuit chitty said, its mainly featured in aftermarket systems. The whole point of a mute wire is for internal phone systems.

 

who really needs a tomtom anyway?