[jre7star]

I bought replacement OE leather seats for my ONE yesterday at Bingley hall and would like advice on the following points:

1) what to do with the air bag - do i disconnect the battery before removing the old seats and fitting the new ones?
2) can the plastic trim on the back of the front seats be replaced?
3) where are the seats fixed & how are they replaced - it was dark when i got home last nite so i couldn't see

Thanks in advance for any help/advice

[nulltty]

The place that took out the seats in my MCS didn't disconnect the battery*. Under the seat (at least on MCS), there's 3 cables, one is for the air bag, 2 for the seat belt buckle. Those all get unplugged. I believe the seat base are Torx bolts, 4 of them, at each corner slider rails.


*That's what this place did, you may need to verify with dealer if you do / do-not need to disconnect the battery.
Not sure if the there's pyro pretensioner's, so be careful.

[Racer]

jre7

1) Do not disconnect airbags until you have removed the fuse - otherwise the airbag light will stay on - When replacing re-connect airbag befre replacing fuse

2) Yes - You need to remove both of the levers that control tilt and entry the back then unclips - be warned the clips are tough and take some force BUT not localised - Use your hands on the top one each side and give a good strong push

3) 4 Torx bolts (very inconviniently placed) hold the seat runners to the chassis - You need a bit of patients and sliding of the seat to reach all four - Loosen ALL of them before finally removing - The tilt mechanism causes the runners to move independently otherwise and it is a pain at the least and makes removal difficult

Hope that helps

Racer

[jre7star]

Thanks - i shall be having a play around with them this afternoon

[AidenL]

Quote:

Originally posted by jre7star
Thanks - i shall be having a play around with them this afternoon

I've been looking for replacement seats myself !

Mind me asking, how much did they cost, and who was selling them? Was it a breaker?

[nulltty]

Originally posted by Racer

Quote:

1) Do not disconnect airbags until you have removed the fuse - otherwise the airbag light will stay on - When replacing re-connect airbag befre replacing fuse

Racer,

Do you know the ohm to the airbag sensor?

[Tom F.]

I don't know about Mini's but on every other car with airbags that I have worked on, it is not enough to simply disconnect the battery and/or fuse.

Airbags I know about use an electric charge stored in a capacitor for ignition. Dusconnecting the battery or removing the airbag system fuse will not discharge the capacitor, so the airbags can still go off. There is typically anothe connection between the airbag and the capacitor, that is what you have to disconnect.

Maybe I am wrong and the Mini has a different setup, but please be very cautious and make sure the system is properly deactivated before proceeding.

[Racer]

Quote:

Originally posted by nulltty
Originally posted by Racer


Racer,

Do you know the ohm to the airbag sensor?

ohm ??? (Guess that means no ) - Maybe we have different acronym in the UK the only ohm I can think of is measure of resistance -

Let me know what you need and I'll try and help

R

[nulltty]

Yes, ohm resistance. I've changed out the seats, trying to figure out what to do about the airbag light. :-( Got suggestions? Thanks

[Phat_Mini]

Hi all

I have Cobra Seats and my Air Bag light is on all the time as far as i am aware no one has made a by pass connector yet

Phat

[Phat_Mini]

Pic

[jre7star]

The seats are now fitted and i was still a little unsure what to do with the airbags so i spoke to the Mini bodyshop who advised just swapping the connections over with the ignition off - this has worked fine with no warning lights appearing.

As for price - they were a steal, they are the black "profile" leather seats and i got the set for £395 (would have cost over £1k new i think). The plastic trim wasn't too good and they weren't height adjustable but i have now swapped the trim over and the adjustable seat bases so all is sorted.

Thanks for all the advice

EDIT:

Quote:

I've been looking for replacement seats myself !

For sale..... one set of standard MINI ONE seats - rough plastic bits etc

[ModoMini]

Concerning the airbag warning light when changing seats. The seat airbags can be disabled by your local Mini service department as long as the following procedure is done.
First - Fill out the required de-activation form. (BMW uses the exact same form if your Service advisor cannot locate one)
Second - Fax said form to Mini Corporate. Your service advisor should be able to contact them for the correct phone number.
Third - Mini will fax back the de-activation code which will need to be installed in the system by the service technician.

I have Sparco Milanos installed in my Mini. Took three trys but the Airbag light is now off fo good. no extra wiring needed since it's all software related.

[nulltty]

Just about all of the Calif dealers won't do it due to liability, most just say they know nothing about the form or that their techs said it needs a closed loop. I guess it's easier with Lauderdale MINI; funny how they haven't returned my call. I even told the MINIUSA rep who called to do the dealership survey that my issue with trying to deactivate the side airbag sensor as my only complaint.

[ModoMini]

It's really funny since most are concerned about being sued if they refuse!
This is a simple issue as I had a something similar with my M5. The rear side air bags came from the factory de-activated and you had to fill out the very same forms to "have" them activated.
These dealers in California are so worried about being sued I'm surprised they can wipe there behinds without worrying about a toilet paper company coming after them for abuse!