Driver's seat frame is loose. Need advice.

[RSnider]

Under the front of the driver seat, there's a cross bar that connects the two seat rails to each other and the seat frame is attached to that cross bar with a few rivets on each side. The rivets (at least I think they're rivets) on the left side of the driver seat are loose which allows the seat to move up and down. The rivets on the right side of the seat are tight and have zero movement. Is this a common problem and is there a simple solution that doesn't require removing the seat? My plan is to drill the rivets and replace them with screws and nuts but that requires removing the seat so I just wanted to ask, has anyone else has encountered this problem and is there a solution that doesn't require removing the seat? I haven't tried it yet, but I'm 99% certain there's not enough room to get a drill in there to drill those rivets (maybe I'm wrong?).

[JDStrickland]

It is not a problem that I have ever heard of before. I'm not visualizing where your issue is, but I cannot see how you can cure it without taking the seat out. 4 screws (two screws and two nuts) and the connectors for the occupancy mat and seat motors, and the seat comes out easily.

DO NOT SET THE IGNITION ON (POSITION II, RUN) WHILE THE SEAT IS OUT ELSE YOU WILL TRIP AN SRS FAULT THAT CANNOT BE RESET WITHOUT THE BMW DIAGNOSTIC TOOL.

[themusgrat]

Don't you get the SRS fault even if you don't touch the ignition? I took my seat out to replace a gear, and it threw the SRS warning light.

Sorry I can't be of any help. I only have my memory from the seat being out, but certainly you will want to do that with the seat out. It is not hard.

[JDStrickland]

Don't you get the SRS fault even if you don't touch the ignition? I took my seat out to replace a gear, and it threw the SRS warning light.

Sorry I can't be of any help. I only have my memory from the seat being out, but certainly you will want to do that with the seat out. It is not hard.

The SRS (airbag) fault will only come if the ignition is switched to Position II (RUN) before Start. If the ignition is not moved past ON, Position 1, then the car won't know that the seats are removed.

When the key is moved to RUN, the SRS goes out and polls all of the components to see if they are ready, if any component fails to check in (as in a seat being removed or a door car being off of the car if so equipped) then the SRS fault is tripped. Due to the nature of the system (safety of flight, that sort of thing) and the inability of the user to make repairs, then there is no SRS reset tool available to the public. Of course, this is not entirely true, but the point is valid and explains why you cannot find the reset tool at Autozone or O'Reilly's. In this case, the SRS light does not indicate that the system is unreliable right now, it indicates that it was unreliable in the past. The light does not mean that the SRS will not fire for all seating positions, it means that it may not fire in some seating positions. Since the missing (at one time) component has been returned to service, then the light itself is not reliable. Get it?

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Peake Research makes a diagnostic scan tool that gives loads of diagnostic information, and includes an SRS and OBD reset feature. The trouble is, they went out of business so the only Peake tool you will find is used on places such as eBay.