Well, I was all excited about my new JCW seats. When I talked to the dealership in the UK, I was promised they were plug and play... no fuss, no muss.

When I installed the seats this weekend, I was left with an SRS airbag light on. No big deal, it probably needs reprogrammed, I'll check into it next week.

Well, Oscar is at the dealership and they can't reprogram it. The one sensor that was on the driver's seat (position sensor) does in fact need to be reinstalled.

The occupancy weight sensor on the passenger seat also needs to be installed. I'm not real fond of taking the seat to an upholstery shop to have them undo my brand new seat so I'm going to check into the resistor idea first...

Not an overly big deal, it's what happens when you deviate from the manufacturer's format but it is what it is...

Guess I better get to work on it.


Mark

 

What seat belts are you going to get? 4 or 5 or 6 points?

 

I already have a set of Corbeau 4pt harnesses here. (I ordered them months ago) I just need to get the seat problem fixed first.


Mark

 

Sorry to hear Mark!

 

Damn dude sorry to hear about that that really suxx! Hey but I hope you get that figured out w/o having to take the seats apart ya kno? Well good luck dude n once again love the MINI!

 

How much did they set you back? Shipped from the UK I presume... Got any pics of them in?

PS. It's not really that big a deal to put in the weight sensor, as the seat base is pretty easy to pull the cover off. If you were in L.A. I would give you a hand with it. I used to do auto upholstery when I was younger.

 

The seats were 3700 in US currency and yes, they were shipped from the UK. Here's pics.

I think I have a cure for the problem.

I bought a complete set of front and rear seats from a wrecked '09 mini.
I'm going to take part of the harness from the driver's seat for the seat position sensor.

I'll take the occupancy sensor from the passenger front seat.

And last but not least, I'm taking the rear seats to an upholstery shop so they can make them look like this and match the front JCW seats.




Seats should be here tomorrow so hopefully by this weekend, I'll have everything fixed. (as far as fronts)

Mark

 

 

For a second there I thought you got these seats... I like the one ones you got a million times better!!!!!
The back seat idea is ok, but I've seen better.

How do your seats go tilting forward to let rear passengers in/out?
I had a (cough) Beetle for a few weeks when my mini was in getting fixed and the seats it them kinda lift up like an old person lazyboy. Makes it way easier to get in/out. Someone should make a kit to make the mini seats do this.

Here's an idea for ya...

 

Mark

Recaro sell matching leather for the seats .

 

You mean matching rear seats, or leather to match Mini's leather trims?

 

Thanks G, I'll check it out...


Mark

 

Unfortunately the passenger side weight sensor cannot be defeated with a resistor. There is a fairly sophisticated Hall switch. I installed a set of Sparco's in my car and had to cut out the mat and install it in the seat. You can see a write up I did on the install here:http://www.motoringalliance.com/foru...exclusive.html

 

Thanks B, GREAT write-up.

So tell me again why I can't fool the weight sensor with a resistor? I took the junkyard seats apart and pulled the heating/weight sensor pad out of it. There are 3 wires to it... I'm assuming one is for the power to the seats and the other two I'm still determining.

I've got a schematic I'm attempting read now... GOD, BMW is RIDICULOUS with their wiring... holy crap.

I've got an upholstery guy coming to the shop tomorrow, if he can pull apart the JCW seat, I'll just replace the heating pad with the US version.

Thanks,

Mark

 

recaro sell leather that can be used to recover the rearseat to match the jcw recaro front seats .

 

First off, let me caveat the following statements. Most of the things I am about to say are a result of gathered info. They are not facts per se, just things as I understand them.

The weight sensor is looking for more than an open/closed loop. This works with the air bags (both in the seats as well as the steering wheel) because they are looking for a nominal amount of resistance and once the ECU sees that it is happy. With the Hall effect switch in the weight sensor, there is actual communication occurring between the circuits and the ECU. So, ECU sends a particular signal and expects a certain response. I also believe that the weight sensor is coded to the vehicle, so that would preclude you being able to take the sensor from another car and installing it in yours without getting it reprogrammed by the dealer.

I know several techs at my local MINI dealership and when I asked them about this, they did indicate that when they replaced a seat weight sensor (i.e. replaced the whole seat) there was some programming that had to occur.

Keep us updated on your progress, I searched high and low to find out if I could just get a weight sensor from a wrecked car without any definitive answers. In the end, I just ended up cutting the one out of my stock seat.

 

Thank you... I completely understand... however, your knowledge on this is more than what I have to work with.

I did just get back from an electrical genius.

The pad I have is the occupancy weight sensor.

This one.




I was under the impression that the weight sensor and heated seats were part of the same harness. Upon checking out my seats, I completely understand now that we're definitely dealing with two items.

And yes, there is no doubt it would have to be reprogrammed because the module does have a chip in it (as in computer)

I'm going to take apart the recaro pass. seat and see if it's just a matter of installing (and reprogramming) the occupancy weight sensor.

I'll be back soon enough...


Mark

 

Hey I was looking at Recaro suppliers in the states, and you can get these for $1600each. BUT! they don't have airbag, heater, or any of the electrical stuff. You are way better off getting the ones made for the Mini from England!!!! But I doubt my wife would ever let me spend that kind of money on seats :( (especially since they don't have height adjustment and she is 5')

 

you can buy a pair of jcw recaros from denmark for 2700 usd shipped

 

REALLY???? link? For that price she could sit on a booster seat!

 

Well, I took everything apart.


Got the weight sensor installed.



Had to take the covering off the lower part of the seat and as I installed it, I ran into a problem. (go figure)

The bolts that the lower composite seat are screwed into broke loose. (not the bolts, the "glued" nuts)

So now, after I'm all done and was going to take the car into the dealership to get reprogrammed, I'm going to have to completely disassemble the seat again.
&$!?);:@ blanketity blank....

So I guess what I'm doing all day tomorrow.

One step forward, two steps back.


Mark

 

http://www.schmiedmann.com/

 

That sucks. You'll be a pro at it though.

 

Is that the same seat though? there are no pics and it doesn't mention recaro at al just JCW sports seatsl... Hmmm

 

It will all be worth it when you are done. It's amazing how quickly I forget what a pain in the a$$ most things I have done with my MINI are.