Working on a '98 BMW 328i with electric sports seats.
Pulled both seats tonight to do the seat bun swap. Was planning to use the passenger side seat bun on the drivers side (which has a bad bolster but good leather) and swap the drivers side over.
When I pulled the bottom seat cushion on the passenger side, I noticed an electrical connection coming off the back of the foam. I wrongly assumed that someone had put a heated seat in at some point, and happily swapped the bottoms. Feels great to have fresh foam!
Well I'm on REALOEM and I realize that's actually a mat sensor for the drivers side airbag! Gah. Is that seat sensor required to be plugged in? Anyone dealt with this before and what did you do?
Thanks!
Last edited by Corellian Corve; 12-02-2016 at 01:54 AM.
1987 L6
1997 840ci
2000 740i Sport
2000 M Roadster
2001 M5
2002 540i Sport
2002 X5 4.6is
2003 530i Sport
2003 M3
2003 Z3 3.0
2005 X5 3.0 Sport
Hi
I don't know if I understand correct
You have only one sensor mat ??
There should be two, on both seats
Check wiring under seat, how it is connected. If you need pictures of sensor mats connection i can send you.
If sensor mat is not connected, airbag error light shows up (except compact, which does not use sensor mats)
Maybe someone has connected sensor emulator on one side ?
Last edited by fold; 12-02-2016 at 04:06 AM.
Yes, only the passenger side seat has the sensor. It's a thin wire looks like a seat heater element.
Is there a defeat for this?
First tell Me, does airbag light works as it should in your car?
If yes, then someone Has attached sensor emulator and you can leave it like that. If you want to do it right, you should buy working sensor for second seat and connect it.
Do you have any diag tool? Check airbag unit for errors
Ps. I've got spare sensor, if you are interested send me pm
I'm confused. Again. The driver seat does not need an occupancy sensor because without a driver the car is not going anywhere. If there's a chance that the airbag might be needed, there will be a driver in the seat. This is a guaranteed condition. There may or may not be a passenger, but there will always be a driver.
When you pulled the passenger side seat bottom and found a connector, this is the seat occupancy sensor for the passenger seat. Are you asking about the same connector existing on the driver seat bottom? It might just be me, but your post is confusing.
JD is right, there is only a sensor on the passenger seat.
Caprica Junkie
I have disassembled on my own seats from 2 bmws with side airbags
Both had sensor mats on driver seat
Realoem info is also confusing...
That's all i know
Ok sorry if this was confusing. I've solved the problem so I'll start again.
I wanted to swap seat foam bases in my '98 328i. I've read the DIY's that said it was simple so I pulled the seats to swap.
What the DIY's didn't mention is that some passenger seat bases have SRS seat sensors. So I wasn't sure what to do since I'd already re-installed the drivers seat with passenger foam base and was hoping to not have to reverse the procedure.
Well my car did have an intermittent SRS warning light come on occasionally. Most likely due to a faulty seat sensor per INPA. I just didn't put 2+2 together.
I decided to install one of the SRS seat sensor delete plugs from eBay. I'm not going to spend the $$ to replace the mat, I won't have kids sitting in the front seat of this car only adults so should be fine.
So I guess that's the answer. If you want to swap passenger-to-drivers seat cushions, you either need to swap the seat sensor OR install one of the SRS bypass plugs.
Last edited by Corellian Corve; 12-03-2016 at 02:02 PM.
1987 L6
1997 840ci
2000 740i Sport
2000 M Roadster
2001 M5
2002 540i Sport
2002 X5 4.6is
2003 530i Sport
2003 M3
2003 Z3 3.0
2005 X5 3.0 Sport
I was just about to (and glad I didn't) try swapping seat cushions because the Vader driver's side bolster is not in as good a condition as the passenger seat cushions (seat and back). Old thread, I know, but I have not read about this SRS sensor detail anywhere else. I'd like to know who else has successfully done this cushion swap while retaining the SRS sensor on the passenger side.
Update: 2 yrs later, still no problem with the SRS light coming on after installing a SRS delete plug off of Ebay as mentioned above. I did the seat cushion swap, as well as the back/bolsters, and refinished the leather with a water based dye. Everything came out sweet, but it was a ton of work. I should mention that I do have a laptop setup to use INPA and other tools to reset the SRS fault code, but it kept tripping. The SRS delete plug was the economical solution, which I understand makes the passenger side airbags deploy in an accident regardless of whether there was a passenger sitting in the seat. Is that a bad thing? I'd like to know.
Last edited by trading10; 06-08-2020 at 08:42 AM. Reason: Update
The occupancy sensor is under the cushion so if you're swapping over the cushions only you don't need to touch the sensor at all.
In the event that you screw up the sensor somehow you can get a plug in bypass on eBay for about $8.
If you're going to disconnect the sensor make sure you disconnect the battery first so you don't trigger the airbag/SRS light.
'96 M3, S50B32, 6MT
+ good stuff
Just to be clear, there is no driver's side occupancy sensor mat, regardless of side airbags or not.
As mentioned, if the car is moving, there is a driver inside.
The part is also designated "Sensor mat f co-driver's seat identif." / quantity 1.
If you find one in your driver's seat, someone swapped it in.
And to add, my car has side airbags and no connector for the little black control box that is under the passenger's seat.
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