Seat bolsters not moving when 'S' button pressed

[bravoit]

When I press my sports button now the exhaust valves still move but my bolsters do not? Any ideas what the problem cold be? I had a video input installed to the back of my MMI this week and TV function had to be enabled. Could this have caused a problem? Straight after having his work was done the car had an EPC light displayed when i drove away from the garage but since then it's been fine i.e no light has displayed.


HD

[Spaceman_RS4]

Are the seats activated in the menu on dash bud? Could they have been reset by mistake when work was getting done.

[bravoit]

Sorted thanks. It must have been reset. I didn't even know the dash had that setting. Thanks again

[Spaceman_RS4]

Happy days bud.

[RS4_Chris]

Is it only the drivers seat that has the inflating bolsters? They're the only ones that work in my motor anyway!

I've always meant to ask but never remembered.

[Dom81]

Is it only the drivers seat that has the inflating bolsters? They're the only ones that work in my motor anyway!

I've always meant to ask but never remembered.

Yep - just the drivers one

[gareth_oau]

mine has inflating bolsters in driver and passenger seat.

the S button activitates the driver only. the passenger is operated via the two switches on the bottom/side of the seat

[nij]

I have just installed the bucket seats into my car, but the bolsters don’t inflate when I press the Sport button. My car comes with comfort seats but I had a pair of Recaro CS Sportsters put on. With these seats a resistor had to be wired into the yellow socket under the seat as it doesn’t have airbags, unlike the comfort seats.

I have now installed the RS bucket seats, but have left the resistors in the yellow sockets and have not plugged the yellow plugs into the sockets as it’s basically the same thing. I have coded for the Sport Seat option and ticked it on the DIS, yet the seat bolsters don’t inflate!

Could someone with bucket seats check what’s the airbag module coding number is? Mine was 0431612 with the comfort seats, does it need changing?

[RS4pete]

Hi Nij,

I swapped from comfort to buckets a year ago and although I recoded accordingly when the 'S' button is pressed the inflation doesn't work on my buckets either (although it works perfect in manual mode). I have been meaning to look into it a bit further but never actually got round to it. At the time if I remember correctly I recoded for the change in airbags and seat type. FYI I have plugged the yellow connector in. A lot of info came from a post by Mutantfatcat so worth a search to get the ball rolling.

Would be great to get them working properly if anyone can help!

[nij]

Hi Pete

I've read Mutantfatcat's post already, but I can't work out the seats airbags coding! He mentioned that for comfort seats it's 0434622, yet mine was 0431612 and for buckets it's 0431622. I not too bothered about the active seat, but would just like to know that it works.

Have anybody swapped comfort seat to bucket seats and made the seat active?

[PetrolDave]

Is there any coding change needed on the instruments to make the bucket seat enable option appear on the DIS menu?

[nij]

Yes, there is Dave.

To code the instrments, I've change the coding in Instrument/Adaptation/Additional Features and channel 19 (adding 2 to the last digit for fitting bucket seats, now 31302).
I have now an option in the DIS menu that shows Sport Seats, which I have ticked. Yet the seats do not inflate when the Sport button is pressed.

Have you got buckets? Could you check what is your coding for the DIS menu for the above and what is you airbags module coding number? Mine is 0431612 for the comfort seats.

[PetrolDave]

Have you got buckets?

No, I've got the Recaros - with my lower back injury the buckets made the test drive excruciatingly painful so I ordered the Recaros.

[lewisb111]

I know I am resurrecting a forum from 2012 however I think it might help some people to answer the question as I couldn't find the answer on the Internet myself when doing this!

I have a B7 RS4 that also came with comfort seats, and I bought some buckets. All went in fine and the bolsters worked using the buttons on the side, but wanted the sport button to work.

Unfortunately, cars that came with comfort seats from the factory are actually missing 3 wires that allow this function to work - found this out the hard way. Once these 3 wires are put in, and the coding has been done on VCDS, and the option turned on the DIS, then it works

So, you'll see when you put your new seats in - the red connector in the floor of the drivers side is missing 4 pins (3 of these are needed for the sport button to inflate the bolsters). Here is a picture of a car with comfort seats, and one with buckets.

Here is the connector on your new bucket seat (drivers side). Red/white wire is 12V+, Brown is ground, and the other 3 are for the sport button function (and also diagnostics).

So to the important bit.

These 3 wires that need to be put in are basically connecting those 3 wires on your seat (green, green/yellow, purple/black), to different wiring harnesses under the dash. NOTE: All wires/locations you will tapping into already exist. This is not like most retrofits where you are inserting pins into un-used locations on plugs. So 2 of the wires are being spliced onto wires that are on the blue 32 pin connector going into the back of the dash, and the other wire is spliced into a wire on the diagnostic plug. See below for specific instructions and wiring diagrams:

For this job you will need:

3 x lengths of electrical wire (I would get 2m to be safe) - colour code if you really want.

3 x vag wiring harness pins (male), to go into the red plug in the floor. These can be bought from TPS or ebay. I'll find the part number and edit this post later. Alternatively you can splice into to the wires on the plug on the seat, and splice into the wires under the dash, and just run them under the carpet- essentially connecting what has not been put in at the factory - all depends how oem you want it.

3 (or 6) x wire taps/splice terminals, so you can connect your new wires to existing wires. Available on ebay or somewhere like maplins.

Tools to crimp wiring terminals etc, and the same tools you used to put the bucket seats in.

Procedure:

Remove the trim under the steering wheel (3 x 10mm hex bolts), careful with the OBD port and footwell light.

Remove the 4 x seat bolts and unplug wiring. Either remove the seat from the car, or lean it back (easier to remove). Remove sill trim and pull carpet back to uncover the plugs in order to put new wires in. Alternatively if you're just going to splice the wires on the seat, you can just run them under the trim along the sill.

Wiring:

FYI - T10o is the red plug/connection, and the number after it is the pin number of that plug. Once you have a good look at the wiring diagrams you'll understand what is going on.

1. The Purple/black wire (T10o/6) needs to be connected to Pin 17 on the Blue connector going into the back of the dash/dials (T32/17). From memory this is a green/orange wire. Hence you use a splice terminal to connect your new wire to this, ie joining up the purple/black wire to the green/orange wire.

2. The Green wire (T10o/7) needs to be connected to Pin 18 on the same blue connector (T32/18). From memory, this is a green/brown wire.

I connected both of these right next to the blue connector, and taped them up to make it look nice.

By the way, you will have to unplug the blue connector to do this, as it is on the bottom of the connector where it tells you which pin is which.

3. The Green/Yellow Wire (T10o/9) needs to be connected to pin 15 on the OBD diagnostic plug (T16/15) - basically just splice into the wire that is already going into pin 15 on the obd plug.

Here are the two wiring diagrams that are relevant for this, I have circled the important bits!

Here is a bad quality picture of the blue connector you will be splicing into two wires coming from it:

So, once you have connected those wires from the seat, to the 3 wires under the dash, tuck it all away nicely and maybe even use some wire tape to make it look oem - plug the seat back in and bolt it all back together.

Turn the ignition and get VCDS out.

Go to module 17-instruments, then go to 10-Adaption. Another screen will pop up. In the dropdown menu, go to additional features.

Once in there, you will have a certain number in the box. Add 2 to this number, and enter it in.

Mine was 31300, and I made it 31302 and saved that. This change turns the sport seat option on in the DIS menu.

Once that is done, use your buttons on your steering wheel to go through the options on the DIS. There should now be one at the end saying sport seats - check that option on.

VOILA - you should now have working bolsters on the sport button!

I was a bit disappointed with how much it pulls you in, however if you use the buttons on the side first, then use the sport button after that, it remembers where it was set and inflates from there, and this retrofit is completely worth it.

Any questions - give me a PM. Just completed an auto light/dimming mirror/coming home light retrofit too, using information given to me by other members - I have realised there isnt really a full DIY how to on this either so will work on that next.

[pete62]

Nice write up, very useful