Eyeglass holder - Third Party

[MarkH]

I missed the overhead eyeglasses holder from my former car. Fischer Automotive makes a reasonable substitute for $25:

http://www.fischerus...iversal_500.gif

[emassa15]

That's pretty slick, Thanks! I just purchased a 2015 TC wagon and it has the plastic spot for the holder but it was never punched out. .25 cent part, come on Ford!

Has anyone hacked this?

[DonShockley]

That's pretty slick, Thanks! I just purchased a 2015 TC wagon and it has the plastic spot for the holder but it was never punched out. .25 cent part, come on Ford!

Has anyone hacked this?

I had it apart when I was installing USB power ports in the riser just above that spot. There is a large recess under the cover and it looks like the drop down sunglass holder would just clip in place if you could get hold of one. I used the dead space to stow my crash emergency basics; whistle, seatbelt cutter, and glass breaker under the blank cover. I'm keeping an eye on my local scrap yard in the coming years to try to scavenge some extras like the sunglass holder.

Update: Here's a photo I took but didn't use in my thread about the USB install that shows what's under the cover above the sunglass holder. But if I recall correctly, you don't need to remove the shelf to get the blank cover removed from the sunglass holder spot. I forget if it was the front edge or the rear edge; but if you pry slightly at the edge of the microphone plate, there are just some small hooks that catch the edge and they'll release with fairly little movement. Just let the microphone plate drop down. Then that will uncover the tabs holding the sunglass blank in place and it just pulls out. Then you can see the inside for yourself. That slot where you can see the orange whistle peeking through is where it looks like the hinge would attach and then the little spot just to the left of the microphone with the double open squares is where the latch attaches. It may be possible to add a hinge and catch to the existing blank cover. The tabs that hold the cover in place are pretty small and could easily be removed to allow the cover to move freely.

Edited November 5, 2015 by DonShockley

[emassa15]

Thanks for the update, I just looked into it, it sounds like like if you want the sunglasses holder you have to either buy a titanium or replace the whole upper console. Crazy?

[DonShockley]

Crazy? Sorta, but from a business perspective it does make some sense. It's often these little convenience features that people notice the lack of more than more hidden things like engine size. So if they can get the buyer to spend a couple thousand extra to step up to the next trim package, which of course has a bundle of features, it's in their best interest. If they made it possible to just drop in that one or two convenience items you want after selecting a lower trim package, it would be that much harder to sell the higher level trim package. That's also why they don't offer the holder as a stand alone repair part. It's probably the most likely thing to break but you can't turn much profit on the small stuff. Less inventory to track and more profit to be made if you have to buy an entire subassembly of many smaller parts when something breaks.

[emassa15]

Has anyone else done any mods on this? I know some of you guys have to have a 3D printer.....

[dbv]

Working on getting my control head brackets done, but I do, and I probably will do some custom gizmos for this rig.

Printing for in-car is a challenge, it requires something like ABS for the temperatures, but ABS is very prone to warping when printed. I'm looking into other filaments that would be compatible with my printer.