The latest ford Headunits in Fiestas include an Aux input, specifically made to take an input from an iPod. It is possible to buy most current Fiestas, Focuses and Fusions with the aux input pre-fitted. It’s a small 3.5mm jack socket which sits down between the gearstick and the cigarette lighter/power socket. Some have it as standard, and some have it as an option. Mine didn’t have one fitted though.
It is possible to have it fitted as an after-market part, but the part is fairly hard to find. I found one on eBay, and it took an age to come as it had to be back-ordered from Ford. It sat on my shelf for another couple of months before I finally sorted out getting it fitting. The fitting is pretty easy, but you do have to pull out a fair few bits to make it work. I was a bit dubious about drilling the dash though, so I got a local company to do it.
Having had it done, it turns out that the part I bought seems to be faulty! The main jack socket that sits on the dash is made of two main parts; an outer plastic cover, and an inner part with the contacts on. The outer plastic cover (which has ‘AUX IN’ stamped on it) holds the jack plug too far out of the socket, the end result being that the audio is a muffled, distorted mess. I pulled it all apart, and had a look, and it seems it has either been manufactured incorrectly, or it’s just a bad design. Having dug around online and not found much, I’m inclined to think the former.
I’ve asked for a replacement, but in the interim I’m using it without the top cap. It doesn’t look very nice, but it DOES work. Even without the top cap, it still doesn’t make a proper connection when I first insert the plug; the right speakers are often silent until I wiggle the lead.
I’m now closer than I was to having some sort of iPod connectivity though!