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Have asked this on a T5 forum with no real luck so i thought id try on here
So my T5 has a manual operated seat and i wish to replace the seat with a bettter one
Ive been given an Audi seat but its fully electric adjustment (back & forth, backrest, lumbar support, heated, air bag etc...)
Now the airbag is useless to me so need to worry about sorting that, so i can just leave that plug on the seat alone, also im not fussed about the heated seat function (had heated seats in previous cars, never really used them) so thats another plug i can leave alone, so that just leaves me the main seat movement function & lumbar
Now my thinking is i could just wire up the seat's live wire to a iginiton live and run an inline fuse and then run the seat's ground to a ground point on the van's floor
Would this then allow me to move the seat back and forth and adjust the back rest?
What would i have to do to get the lumbar working?
Can you leave the airbag not wired in?
Could it be triggered in a certain condition?
My understanding is that if the yellow air bag connector on the seat is not connected into the van's wiring loom then it not linked into the van's air bag system and thus wont deploy and as my van dosent have a air bag seat as standard means ill get no warning lights on the dash etc...
T5 seats are pretty comfy. Sounds like a lot of hassle for not a lot of gain.
Tilting seat squab is a major advantage over the manual seats. Afaik it’s not just a case of wiring power into the motors. You need a separate control module that interfaces with the BCM and the remote keys to make the whole shebang function. The seat adjustment switches talk to the control module and bcm to instruct the motors to spin, with no direct link between them. The three memory buttons on the side do similar but instruct the control module to read how much the encoders have spun so you get the seat to an appropriate memory position.
The key remotes instruct, again via the BCM, the motors to spin to the memory position stored the last time that particular key unlocked the car. Hence my 5’2” wife can unlock the van with “her” keys, just jump in and have everything move to her settings (apart from the mirrors as VWs brainless dorks failed to integrate that bit) when it’s previously been set for my 6’1” frame.
It’s probably doable, but you need to do more work than you think: power wiring; control module; CAN connection; possible upgrade to BCM and finally coding.
Yep. Do it like you describe. I actually have mercedes leather seats in my t5 with electric adjusters. Just simple live wire feed to the appropriate wire and an earth and way to go. Just be careful you don't go sending 12 volts to the automatic headrest forward deployment wire. Ask me how I know!
T5 seats are pretty comfy. Sounds like a lot of hassle for not a lot of gain.
Very helpful thanks! i find T5 seats very unsupportive, coming from 20+ years of sitting in sport seats like Recaro's which hug you and hold you place the T5 seats feel like utter rubbish
@Hot_fiat not fussed about memory position etc.. simply need to be able to move the seat back and forth & move the back rest to set the seat up for me
@welshfarmer cheers, will give it a go running power to the live connection and grounding the seat, just need to find out if i can get the lubar support working or not (not too fussed if i cant)
Test it with a long wires from a 12 v battery before you go to the hassle of removing your seat.
Each to their own, sounds like the cornering forces in my T5 aren’t enough to require a sports seat.
It’s not a sportline though so it drives like a van.. 😉
I would say no, you can't wire it to 'an ignition line'. Best case is it can cope with the current draw from the seat (but you'll need to check the existing loads), middling is the original fuse on the ignition live pops, worst case, you damage the wiring (smoke and fire).
You need to check the current draw for the seat, and then use said ignition live to switch a relay with it's own feed from the battery, or a spare slot on the fuse board that the handbook shows would be fitted with a sufficient fuse i.e a slot for a heated seat option or rear window demist, for example.
Can you leave the airbag not wired in?
Could it be triggered in a certain condition?
Not many cars around anymore where the airbag is a self contained unit, certainly not one new enough to have side airbags in the seat. Chances of it deploying are remote to say the least. Probably worth taping the plug up and tucking it away inside the seat itself though
Afaik it’s not just a case of wiring power into the motors. You need a separate control module that interfaces with the BCM and the remote keys to make the whole shebang function.
Depends how old it is, and if it has memory. If it's just an electric version of a mechanical seat, it'll just need power (of suitable capacity), if it's got memory etc, it's probably going to need CAN comms.
Also, does the current seat use a pressure sensor to indicate driver prescence, many cars use the sensor to alter airbag deployment strategies. You might need to connect the Audi one to your VW loom. Make sure all the seatbelt doohickeys clear the underside of the seat as well, buckles, pretensioner, inertia reel etc
So update time
As a quick check i decided to remove the seat base's motor plug and connect a spare battery to the seat motor's terminals via some wiring and spade connectors
Hey presto the seat moved forwards, swapped the wires over on the battery and the seat moved backwards
Im guessing i can also do this for the backrest part of the seat which means worst case scenario i can fit the seat into the van and then just connect up the spare battery to the seat motors to set the seat up for me and then just not have the seat plugged in at all
You could just wire this to the battery via it's own fuse and a couple of two way switches, I don't think there is any need for an ignition switched feed
Following with interest for our transporter
What is the situation with insurance - does it constitute a modification?
That's a point. Mine are run directly from the leisure battery beneath the passenger seat via a fuse in the BlueSea fuse box I have under there. Much easier than trying to wire into the canbus system.