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Find a replacement seat or bottom seat cushion. You can definitely find one cheaper than a new replacement. It doesn't even need to be the same color as long as it has the mat in it. I had this happen to me on a convertible I bought. I managed to find a bottom seat cushion with the sensor mat and heated seat element which I needed for my hardtop. Had to take the seats apart and the C- clip upholstery staples are not a-lot of fun to get off or reinstall but it's doable with some determination. Airbag sensor mat was plug and play no reprogramming needed. Used seats aren't all that hard to find. If I had to do it again I wouldn't hesitate to buy a set of "upgrade" seats. In my case the cushion alone was cheap and was worth a shot. I got lucky. Its easy to see when you get the mat out how the thin film transistor construction can easily be damaged by weight or moisture.
thank you for the response. I've already committed to having the work done at the dealer. Actually I have an appointment this afternoon and the car will be ready by closing time today. I'm under a little pressure because I am driving to Texas in a week with the vehicle. However I think it's great that others will read this post for the future and make their own choice. For me, I'm not sure I would really feel 120 percent comfortable doing the job as I'm not a mechanic but pretty handy on many things. The dealer will reprogram and test everything and make sure everything is 100% working. Also they tell me there will be a two-year . For myself, even though I don't want to spend this much money ($1300), I just feel I have no choice to be 100% sure that the airbag will deploy in case of an accident. The risk was just too high if I try to do it myself. Not saying that someone that does this kind of work everyday can't do the job well, but I don't have the confidence in myself to make sure it would be right. I appreciate the comments here because it does show you that there are other possibilities, that exist. They seem to really have you in their Court when they tell you it needs to be "reprogrammed" (as the manual recommends)... because when you go to any other shop and discuss the repair, they all will tell you that if something needs to be reprogrammed, that they cannot do it because BMW does not give them that information. Anyways thank you so much for the comments. So I will be correcting this problem this afternoon and paying the price for it.
Great thread. I have the 93C3 code which is intermittent, but mostly staying on. I have an ‘08 MCS with 214K miles on it so I’m sure Mini service will laugh at me in regards to the NHTSA 2019 bulletin. I’m going to use Jakomcbean’s advice. I found a 2011 seat on car-parts.com for $225. Hell, I’ve done a lot of work on the pepper white hardtop and have this problem to fix and the comfort access.
Reply to myself and any other interested parties to this thread. I just ordered part #52107498442 which is the seat mat and occupancy sensor for the r56 sport seat. I ordered the part from Seattle Mini. They cross referenced my original part number and it’s been discontinued, most likely due to the recall. The part number I addressed previously doesn’t show up on their website so I ordered over the phone and they gave me their web price of $281. I decided to go this route instead of buying a seat from a wrecking yard. Will update as I replace and see if airbag module needs to be programmed.
Replaced the seat cushion and cover. It wasn’t that hard dealing with the hog rings. I have a new error code 93C5. In googling it seems I need to recode the airbag module. Any suggestions before I cough up the $$ to Mini?
Just an update, I finally found all the internal part numbers for the Oc3 Sensor fix. Good for people out of warranty and don't want that dang light on.
Just an update, I finally found all the internal part numbers for the Oc3 Sensor fix. Good for people out of warranty and don't want that dang light on.
Sport Seat:
I'm thinking about doing this, but I'm not sure what seat cushion matches mine. I've got the satellite grey lounge leather on a 2013 Cooper S which looks like:
It looks closest to the sport since it has raised sides, but mine doesn't have the little half circle.
There appears to be a fourth type of seat cushion labeled as a piped seat cushion, but I can't find any pictures of it.
Ok so lounge leather shows sport seats option, so my guess is that on the back of the fabric/leather side of the original cover then have a filler that continues with that bump. Like the bump is their it just has foam or material on the seat cover that continues it side too side.
Replaced the seat cushion and cover. It wasn’t that hard dealing with the hog rings. I have a new error code 93C5. In googling it seems I need to recode the airbag module. Any suggestions before I cough up the $$ to Mini?
I have a 2013 roadster R-59 with a bad air bag occupancy sensor. Did you end up at a mini dealer to get re coded? What tool did you use on the hog rings?
Update the R55-R59 Sport Seats OC3 pad/sensor just went on back order. You will need to remove the sensor from the pad on another version of the seat and fit it to your original seats.
