Maestro confusion

Been looking around for a while at head unit options to replace the non-JBL OEM in my 2018 SR5.

I'm scratching my head at Crutchfield's site. Some of the stereos in the installation bundles have the Maestro and associated harness while others do not. The ones that do not, however, still say that steering wheel controls are retained.

Is this accurate? I was under the impression that you pretty much had to put a Maestro in a Tacoma to maintain factory controls.

Examples:
https://www.crutchfield.com/p_113DMX4707/Kenwood-DMX4707S.html
(no Maestro in install kit)

https://www.crutchfield.com/p_158XAV4000/Sony-XAV-AX4000.html
(Maestro in install kit)

 

might be a better question for crutchfield.

i believe some head units like the joying handle the steering wheel controls natively. but i don't believe kenwood is one that does.

are you sure they're not including another steering wheel control interface? there's a number of different brands/models that all perform the same function

 

Yeah, I tried to chat with them but their system was down.

The install bundles for the Sony include a Maestro, but the Kenwood only has a harness and mounting kit.

 

You can use the RR for that kenwood radio, you just would not benefit from all the features the RR would allow, you basically would retain the steering wheel controls and back up camera from the RR with that kenwood model.