While looking deeper into a new Escape Hybrid, I wonder how easy it is to run a cable from the battery thru the firewall to connect a ham radio somewhere in the cabin. This is in the event the cars electrical system fails, the ham radio will still work independly from the system. (Happened once before on another car) Is there some where that something can be unfastened, removed, moved over, etc, to slip the cable thru. If worse comes to worse, I could drill a hole in the firewall to stick it thru, but I do not like to do that. Or is it possible to go between the fender and the body to slip around the door hinges and maybe drill just thru the kick panel, or even remove that to get to something? Does a Ford Escape manual tell of such remove and replace procedures around the engine to get thru the firewall,or is this a fly by the seat of my pants operation?

 

Generally there's always a harness grommet ect. that can be 'tapped' for wiring to pass through the firewall on just about any model..

 

Whatever you do I'd stay away from leading wires in from the door by way of the fender. It compromises the door seal and leads to leaks. You're better off drilling your own hole than that. At any rate usually there's no place to run cable easy unless you cut a slit or hole in a fairly large seal and lead it through - then silicone sealer over the edges of the cut/hole.