Car radio label - what does this mean?

Grug

Having problems with the car radio, so looked at it. The label says "Ford Audio Systems" and has "MAR 07" in the top right box. Is this the date of manufacture (ie. March 2007), or is the similarity to a date a red herring and it means something completely different? (that's the only thing I need to know). Hope someone knows. Thanks!

AdrianC

I'd certainly assume "MAR 07" on it to be a manufacture date. I presume that there's something "odd" about that that's making you ask, though?

Grug

Yes, the "odd" thing is that the car is 2002, and the radio should be the original, unless the pesky garage has changed it .......

AdrianC

There y'go, then. Mebbe an upgrade from cassette to CD?

jimjames

Grug wrote: »

Yes, the "odd" thing is that the car is 2002, and the radio should be the original, unless the pesky garage has changed it .......

I'd expect the radio supplied in a 2002 model to be different to one from 2007.

Can you check what the original spec radio was meant to be? Maybe Google the model number etc?

Grug

I think I'm being misunderstood .... I have had the car from new. I have not asked for the radio to be changed. It looks the same. However, when it failed we noticed this label and we are trying to find out whether it is theoretically possible it has been changed, eg. swapped by the garage for a failing one of the same model but later manufacture date. Personally, I suspect that "MAR 07" is NOT a date, and means something completely different - does anyone know what this abbreviation means?

molerat

When was your car manufacture date, around Mar02 I reckon. My Ford radio has "Dec09" on it and the car was manufactured in Dec 04. The text box is marked End so probably some sort of manufacturers warranty / use by date.

AdrianC

Grug wrote: »

I think I'm being misunderstood .... I have had the car from new.

Not so much misunderstood, as that's the first time you've thrown that particular piece of information in...

I have not asked for the radio to be changed. It looks the same. However, when it failed we noticed this label and we are trying to find out whether it is theoretically possible it has been changed, eg. swapped by the garage for a failing one of the same model but later manufacture date.

It's theoretically possible. ANYTHING is theoretically possible. But it's vanishingly unlikely.

OK, so it's probably not a manufacturing date. It's something else entirely... No, I don't know what, either. Maybe it's just easiest to accept that after a decade and a bit, the stereo's curling up it's toes. Time for either a replacement OEM stereo from eBay, or a facia adapter plate (cheaply/widely available) if required and a generic head unit.

mrmot

I've noticed this on Ford radios, they always have a label on them with a date stamp on it that's a date some years after the radio was manufactured. I'd say that its' normal and nothing to be concerned about.