Car Stereos: In-dash GPS and parking break wire, lot camping, gps unit


Question
QUESTION: Hi,
I'm aware that is illegal to bypass the parking break swich mechanism to enable athe features of a in-dash GPS/DVD system when the car is moving. There are a lot of info on that over the net.
What I would like to do is different and I hope that is not against the law, if it is I will not do it.

I would like to install on the passenger side, under the panel a button that, when pressed, will unlock all the features on the GPS (bypass the parking break) and when is released will work as normal (lock the features when the car is moving). This is to allow the passenger to make changes on the GPS (while the button is pressed).

If this is ilegal please let me know.

If it's not illegal, how can I accomplish that?

Why I would like to do that?
We travel a lot, camping, and change address in the middle is very important for us, specially when the kids need to go to bathroom or we need to go eat somewhere. Some times we cannot just stop on the side of the freeway with a trailer or wait for the next exit to go out of our way to be able to park the car to find the closest rest area or macdonalds.


ANSWER: Marclo, There are two ways to do that.  First, there is a software patch that is available to unlock the GPS controls.  Second, there is a hardware board that can be installed that overrides the signals that the radio is getting from the car.  Overriding the navigation controls on your car is not illegal.  It is illegal for the manufacturers to produce a unit that works while the car is moving, but it is not illegal to use a GPS unit while your car is moving.  It is fine to unlock these features, and it is not against the law.  Many local officials may think that it is unwise to try running the navigation while going down the road, but they have not put any rules into law pertaining to that.  Hope this helps, Scott

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thank you for your prompt response.

Can I accomplish that just connecting the park break wire (from GPS) to the black one instead of the one that is currently connected?

I have a Lincoln Navigator and I see that the parking break wire from GPS is connected to a wire that goes to a (looks like a) swith (on the parking break pedal). This "switch" have two wires, can I assume the other one is a negative and connect the parking break wire to that one?
I have a JVC KW-NT1. If there is any code/update that will unlock at least the GPS options will be great...

Answer
You are correct.  That switch is either normally open or normally closed.  First, I would just unhook the wire and try it.  If that doesn't work, then go ahead and hook it up to the negative wire and try it.  That should do the trick.  I bought an adapter for mine to bypass the switches, and it works great.  If, for some reason, your gps doesn't let you make changes on the move (after the rewire), you may want to look into one of those wiring adapters on ebay.  Good Luck, Scott