So I have the last generation Saab 9-5, which is built  upon Epsilon I platform! Car is Electric similar so the Buick Regal/Opel Insignia etc.

Unfortunatly nothing has been updated since 2011 and I like to modernize it as given how great this platform is, I really want to keep the car alive for as long as possible. It’s got the feel and design of a modern vehicle with some electric-like qualities but lacking, so I’m wondering:

• Retrofit HMI Possible?  Currently it's running the Denso Navigation
• Intellibeam and Traffic Sign Recognition? I currently have TSR and my understanding it's not possibe to have both enable at the same time
• Updating BCM, Adding features (?)
  • Auto DRL(?)
  • Auto Heated seats (?)
  • What more is avaiable?
• What more fun can we do ?

 

I'm completely green to how the "modern" GM plattform works and retrofitting on these, so don't know what's needed etc😅 (I've retrofitted alot of other brands and on older saabs). 

Hello amazingjoey, welcome to the forum.

 

Not very often I've seen a Saab vehicle and I don't usually have an opportunity to do any kind of work on them.

 

I do know that HMI 2.5 is possible to retrofit, with bit of custom work around the trim and lots of wiring work to be done. As I don't have access to Saab TIS, I couldn't check the wiring diagrams. 🙂

If its a Global A platform, you can do "anithing" Saab was a bit peculiar with its design, very different from the rest of the GM range of vehicles, such as Opel, Chevrolet... But don't let that stop you from investigating. Changing the speedometer for a fully digital from Cadillac etc. etc. etc.

 

Here there are a Local Tis2Web for saab, until 2011

https://onedrive.live.com/?authkey=%21ABW3UHrUqQF97ug&id=11E494836C93BFD1%214724&cid=11E494836C93BFD1&parId=root&parQt=sharedby&o=OneUp

 

and to activate:

Online key tool, paste your key after "=":
http://z90.pl/s_aab/gtis.php?x=

40 minutes ago, Opelinsignia1985 said:

Hello amazingjoey, welcome to the forum.

 

Not very often I've seen a Saab vehicle and I don't usually have an opportunity to do any kind of work on them.

 

I do know that HMI 2.5 is possible to retrofit, with bit of custom work around the trim and lots of wiring work to be done. As I don't have access to Saab TIS, I couldn't check the wiring diagrams. 🙂

 

I have access to the eletrical and what each pin does! ! 🙂 Eletriclly it should be exactly the same as an insignia!

For example:

12 minutes ago, Arbe_gtc said:

If its a Global A platform, you can do "anithing" Saab was a bit peculiar with its design, very different from the rest of the GM range of vehicles, such as Opel, Chevrolet... But don't let that stop you from investigating. Changing the speedometer for a fully digital from Cadillac etc. etc. etc.

 

Here there are a Local Tis2Web for saab, until 2011

https://onedrive.live.com/?authkey=%21ABW3UHrUqQF97ug&id=11E494836C93BFD1%214724&cid=11E494836C93BFD1&parId=root&parQt=sharedby&o=OneUp

 

and to activate:

Online key tool, paste your key after "=":
http://z90.pl/s_aab/gtis.php?x=

That's what I like about it! It's more unique so I want improve it as much as possible as OEM+! 😁

Current plans is learn and see what's possible in the Global A and what can be retrofitted, what's possible via the BCM and other modules! Just a bit hard to find information 😅

 

Also upgrading the engine and transmission, it has the A20NFT and I plan to get 400HP+ and a TCM tune!  

 

I looked into a digital dash and i would have been cool but the Dash design is so unique as uses rings:

 

So modifying it gonna be hard to get good looking😅

10 minutes ago, amazingjoey said:

 

I have access to the eletrical and what each pin does! ! 🙂 Eletriclly it should be exactly the same as an insignia!

For example:

 

 

Great, in theory you just need the display screen, K74 HMI module and A11 Radio Module (IO6) and lots of wires to make up the MOST circuits, power, ground and all the speakers along with mini USB between display/USB and K74.

Great! There's a 2016 insignia with MHI 2.5 in the local junkyard, I'll try to pick everything up there 😁

So I know I'm going to necro an old thread, but given that this is really the ONLY thread that Saab 9-5 comes up on, I figured I'd post here.

>Platform: 2011 Saab 9-5 NG (YS3G) — Global A / Epsilon II platform

>Head Unit: Denso TSC Gen 3/4 with internal 40GB Hitachi HDD

>Market: US (firmware U803, software version U40D→U803)

Hi all — I've been reverse-engineering our head unit and confirmed the nav uses NDS Classic on SQLite (ZipVFS compressed). The HDD is removable and Henrik Blom (hblom.se) has proven the swap concept works for EU-market units with his pre-loaded HDDs — you pull the factory drive, drop in his, and it boots with 2021 European maps. The filesystem is not cryptographically bound to the radio.

The problem: we're in the US. We want 2026 North American maps. The options I see are:

Option 1: Buy the last US map disc (23175134 v.2014 or 23286275 v.2016) — but that's a decade stale.

Option 2: HMI 2.5 swap — works but expensive and changes the whole infotainment system. The TSC's nav is fine, we just need fresh map data.

Option 3: Build our own HDD image with modern NDS Classic data — this is what we need help with.

What I'm asking:

1. Troy: Do you have DPS theft-lock or VIN-change files for the Denso TSC Gen 3/4 specifically? (The generation before HMI 2.0 — early 2010s GM nav with internal HDD, shared across Saab 9-5 NG, Cadillac SRX 2010-2012, Buick LaCrosse/Regal, Opel Insignia.) If your HMI 2.0/2.5 DPS files use the same SSP protocol, is there a chance they also work on the TSC generation?

2. Anyone: What's the actual source of NDS Classic map data for the US? HERE still provides NDS over-the-air to newer GM head units, but can we extract it from another source? Are there third-party NDS map compilation tools, or is it HERE-toolchain only?

3. Re the HDD: Does anyone know the exact filesystem used on the US-market Denso TSC HDD? I'm trying to avoid pulling the unit until I know what adapter I need.

4. Has anyone tinkered with the GlobalTIS offline calibrations for the TSC radio module? Looking for the latest GM map data part numbers that were released for the US-market TSC units.

5. Any other thoughts on getting 2026 NDS Classic data onto this generation of hardware? The OSM conversion path was discussed on SaabWorld in 2019 but seemed to stall — did anyone make progress?

Happy to share what we've found so far (NDS SQLite schema, ZipVFS decompression, the U803 firmware files, full head unit pinouts). Thanks!

@dlasher 

Regarding Point No.1 - please share a VIN of this (or similar) vehicle. Also HW part number of this multimedia unit could be useful.
I will check and post files for this radio unit later, by the end of the day, if you can provide the info I'm asking.

2 hours ago, pupu14 said:

@dlasher 

Regarding Point No.1 - please share a VIN of this (or similar) vehicle. Also HW part number of this multimedia unit could be useful.
I will check and post files for this radio unit later, by the end of the day, if you can provide the info I'm asking.

Happy to send it via DM/PM, would rather not post publicly.

I don't have the HW part on the radio, looking.. However, it looks like this :

What IS in the U803 firmware that I installed on this radio:

- Denso model code: DENSO0400 (closest thing to a model number)

- Audio variant: Harman_Saab/ — confirms our Aero trim is correctly matched

- Internal serial: W0L000036T1000085DENSO0400 (Opel WMI + Denso manufacturing code)

- Build date: 2014-08-25 (when this U803 firmware was compiled)

- Region code: "09 GLOBAL_A-MAIN" (09 = US/North America, GLOBAL_A = global region)

- Display resolution: 800x480 (5:3 aspect, matches the Saab 9-5 NG head unit)

- All 23 supported languages (European-focused, suggests this is a multi-region firmware)

2 hours ago, pupu14 said:

@dlasher 

Regarding Point No.1 - please share a VIN of this (or similar) vehicle. Also HW part number of this multimedia unit could be useful.
I will check and post files for this radio unit later, by the end of the day, if you can provide the info I'm asking.

CQ-FG5963YC

It's the same unit as all the other GM ones. Nothing special

As for Retrofitting HMI is possible and not that expensive, I did it on mine and was around 350 USD with used parts. But you need to retrofit and modify the BCM to get it working.

I decided instead to develop my own Android headunit instead

7 minutes ago, amazingjoey said:

CQ-FG5963YC

It's the same unit as all the other GM ones. Nothing special

As for Retrofitting HMI is possible and not that expensive, I did it on mine and was around 350 USD with used parts. But you need to retrofit and modify the BCM to get it working.

I decided instead to develop my own Android headunit instead

Thank you!!

When you say "retrofitting the HMI" -- what do you mean in this case? Newer head unit? And what mods to the BCM are required? I'm trying to stay as original looking as possible, but I have heard really good things about the GROM VLINE2 -- but that's my last resort.

For now I'm just exploring updating maps. :)

1 minute ago, dlasher said:

Thank you!!

When you say "retrofitting the HMI" -- what do you mean in this case? Newer head unit? And what mods to the BCM are required? I'm trying to stay as original looking as possible, but I have heard really good things about the GROM VLINE2 -- but that's my last resort.

For now I'm just exploring updating maps. :)

Yes the HMI 2.5 from a 2017 GM car, You will need build a wire harness adapter, change the VIN in the HMI, You also need a BCM from a Facelifted Lacrosse/Insignia/regal that has the same configuration as your car and modify the firmware.

Grom Vline2 is just a box in the middle, not recommended to use as it's very old hardware as well as the low resolution of the OE Screen

As for maps, you can get newer maps from the Chevy volt etc but they will still be dated. as the Denso unit was used 2008 - 2012 and GM stopped updating it circus 2019 for USMA

8 hours ago, amazingjoey said:

Yes the HMI 2.5 from a 2017 GM car, You will need build a wire harness adapter, change the VIN in the HMI, You also need a BCM from a Facelifted Lacrosse/Insignia/regal that has the same configuration as your car and modify the firmware.

Interesting --- anyone have a build log/parts-list/etc? that sounds like a useful project to try.

8 hours ago, amazingjoey said:

As for maps, you can get newer maps from the Chevy volt etc but they will still be dated. as the Denso unit was used 2008 - 2012 and GM stopped updating it circus 2019 for USMA

2019 would still be a huge jump. Any idea if those are in the "NDS Classic" format? (Given that the volt came out in 2010, I'm thinking yes?) I'd love to get my hands on an update DVD (ISO) to disassemble, see how hard the ingestion process is going to be.

9 hours ago, dlasher said:

Happy to send it via DM/PM, would rather not post publicly.
I don't have the HW part on the radio, looking.. However, it looks like this :

There should be no problems to remove theft-lock from a second-hand unit.

P.S. it is also more similar to 1st gen Ampera/Volt headunit than to much later released HMI 2.0 units..