Manual base seats to Manual sport seats swap

[e34brian]

Hi All,

I swapped my manual base seats in my 128i to manual sport seats from another 128i a few weeks ago. I didn't read well enough before I did the swap and I didn't swap the seatbelt buckle from the original seats to the new sport seats.

I now have an airbag and seatbelt light on and I sold the original seats.

What is my best course of action?

TIA for any help!

[brake-fade]

Did you check codes? Check connector under the seat? I don't think the seatbelt receptical would throw a code unless it had deployed previously due to an accident, or had some other damage. I'm guessing there would be physical signs on the receptical that the pyrotechnics activated, but not sure. Do the new seats have seat position sensors on them? If not that would cause an SRS code fore sure. If all checks out you can buy new recepticals.

[JimD]

Either call the guy you sold the old seats to or visit the junk yard to find the part. I doubt you need to find a 1 series, a 3 series in the right color interior should be fine and other BMWs might work.

[ml26]

Did you unplug the battery before you did the swap? If you didn’t, it can trigger those lights.

[e34brian]

Originally Posted by brake-fade

Did you check codes? Check connector under the seat? I don't think the seatbelt receptical would throw a code unless it had deployed previously due to an accident, or had some other damage. I'm guessing there would be physical signs on the receptical that the pyrotechnics activated, but not sure. Do the new seats have seat position sensors on them? If not that would cause an SRS code fore sure. If all checks out you can buy new recepticals.

Originally Posted by JimD

Either call the guy you sold the old seats to or visit the junk yard to find the part. I doubt you need to find a 1 series, a 3 series in the right color interior should be fine and other BMWs might work.

Originally Posted by ml26

Did you unplug the battery before you did the swap? If you didn’t, it can trigger those lights.

Thank you for all for the replies! I did unplug the battery first, which is why I knew something was wrong when the lights came on

I checked my car and it does look like the driver side seatbelt buckle tensioner is squished - makes sense since I got the seats from a part out! Just ordered a new belt buckle tensioner for the driver side from eBay. I figure the guy who bought the base seats from me wants a good seatbelt buckle tensioner on theirs!

The passenger seat, on the other hand, is throwing a code for the seat occupancy sensor. I am going to pull the passenger seat back out to see if there are any loose connections, but otherwise, it seems like my best course of action is to bypass the occupancy sensor to make sure it goes off in an accident?

[e34brian]

Wanted to update in case it helps anyone else in the future!

Basically had two issues. Seems like both seatbelt tensioners were squished, replaced both.

For the seat occupancy sensor, I got the bypass on eBay and installed - watched a YouTube video first and it was straightforward.

Dash has no lights now. Thanks everyone!