Recaro Sporster CS install mk7 gti

[EpicTech]

Yup… do the swap as complete as you can, and get the passenger seat bottom /sensor/heater. On my corbeaus I was even able to put it under the seat foam (didn’t have to fully remove the upholstery) and still have the occupancy portion fully functional when a person was or wasn’t in the seat… if you skip this step your leaving passenger at quite the risk without the dash bag deploying.

What did you use for seat rails? My Corbeau's sat on the floor and after a few months of trying to get used it, I just couldnt deal with it. My only option was Corbeau seat rails, because the planted technology were out of stock, and stayed out of stock the entire time I had the seats.

 

[manu97]

Yup… do the swap as complete as you can, and get the passenger seat bottom /sensor/heater. On my corbeaus I was even able to put it under the seat foam (didn’t have to fully remove the upholstery) and still have the occupancy portion fully functional when a person was or wasn’t in the seat… if you skip this step your leaving passenger at quite the risk without the dash bag deploying.

Does the system not revert to assuming a passenger's presence? That seems like a gross oversight if it doesn't.

 

[EpicTech]

Does the system not revert to assuming a passenger's presence? That seems like a gross oversight if it doesn't.

Im going to say no it doesnt, because my light has been on for several months.

 

[manu97]

Im going to say no it doesnt, because my light has been on for several months.

I meant in the event of an accident, wouldn't the airbag automatically trigger? The light being on is just saying that the sensor isn't working, but in the absence of the sensor, wouldn't the car assume a passenger is present?

 

[El_bigote_AJ]

I meant in the event of an accident, wouldn't the airbag automatically trigger? The light being on is just saying that the sensor isn't working, but in the absence of the sensor, wouldn't the car assume a passenger is present?

Unless you have the sensor in and operating , I’d assume you have a inoperable airbag. I do know that with the sensor retrofitted in the corbeau seats they system does indeed talk to each other cause the seat belt sensor works too when some one sits in the seat without the belt clipped the warning comes on.

 

[Cuzoe]

@manu97 I don't think so... the front air bag supposed to not deploy for persons (children, generally) under a certain weight, or if no one is in the seat. I'm not saying that I would put a child in the front seat personally, even one too big for a child seat, but I think that's the point of occupancy sensor.

If I was designing the system, from a safety and liability perspective, default operation would be airbag does not deploy. That would be the behavior if the occupancy sensor failed as well. And that's why you have the warning light in the middle of the dash. I would only want the airbag to deploy if the sensor could positively identify (within reason) that a large enough passenger was in that seat.

ROW cars get a switch... not sure if retrofit-able. The physicals install and wiring part is simple I suspect, but our NAR airbag module may not support the function.

 

[manu97]

@manu97 I don't think so... the front air bag supposed to not deploy for persons (children, generally) under a certain weight, or if no one is in the seat. I'm not saying that I would put a child in the front seat personally, even one too big for a child seat, but I think that's the point of occupancy sensor.

If I was designing the system, from a safety and liability perspective, default operation would be airbag does not deploy. That would be the behavior if the occupancy sensor failed as well. And that's why you have the warning light in the middle of the dash. I would only want the airbag to deploy if the sensor could positively identify (within reason) that a large enough passenger was in that seat.

ROW cars get a switch... not sure if retrofit-able. The physicals install and wiring part is simple I suspect, but our NAR airbag module may not support the function.

Ah that makes sense. I didn't consider lighter people in my thought process. Thanks!

 

[El_bigote_AJ]

What did you use for seat rails? My Corbeau's sat on the floor and after a few months of trying to get used it, I just couldnt deal with it. My only option was Corbeau seat rails, because the planted technology were out of stock, and stayed out of stock the entire time I had the seats.

Yeah the corbeau mounts are silly and flat, I’ve seen how low the seats are on them.

I used these (planted knockoffs) but they are no longer available.

Even with these/planted ones the seats sat to low and at a bad angle to me, so I added a 1/2 spacer at the backs and 2 (1”) at the
fronts to mimic the stock angle of the seat bottoms cause when it was flat I didn’t like the sliding forward feeling at all.

You can see here when compared to the center console and even the stock passenger seat I used for the original reference how the heights of mine are much higher than most aftermarket applications.

I’m only 5’8” also so I didn’t need any special headroom

 

[scrllock]

@manu97 I don't think so... the front air bag supposed to not deploy for persons (children, generally) under a certain weight, or if no one is in the seat. I'm not saying that I would put a child in the front seat personally, even one too big for a child seat, but I think that's the point of occupancy sensor.

If I was designing the system, from a safety and liability perspective, default operation would be airbag does not deploy. That would be the behavior if the occupancy sensor failed as well. And that's why you have the warning light in the middle of the dash. I would only want the airbag to deploy if the sensor could positively identify (within reason) that a large enough passenger was in that seat.

ROW cars get a switch... not sure if retrofit-able. The physicals install and wiring part is simple I suspect, but our NAR airbag module may not support the function.

the weight requirement is not as strict as you're thinking. I've set a light-ish laptop on the seat and it will set off the occupancy sensor (you know this by the seat belt reminder). it doesn't know how much you weigh, just if there's enough pressure to trigger the sensor. which is not much.

 

[El_bigote_AJ]

the weight requirement is not as strict as you're thinking. I've set a light-ish laptop on the seat and it will set off the occupancy sensor (you know this by the seat belt reminder). it doesn't know how much you weigh, just if there's enough pressure to trigger the sensor. which is not much.

I think it’s temperature based too, in the Passat,Tiguan,my gti’s oem seats - my cell phone face down will set it off too when in the center area

 

[manu97]

the weight requirement is not as strict as you're thinking. I've set a light-ish laptop on the seat and it will set off the occupancy sensor (you know this by the seat belt reminder). it doesn't know how much you weigh, just if there's enough pressure to trigger the sensor. which is not much.

Well shit, if that's all it is, then I've set it off too with my phone just sitting there.

 

[EpicTech]

Yeah the corbeau mounts are silly and flat, I’ve seen how low the seats are on them.

I used these (planted knockoffs) but they are no longer available.

Even with these/planted ones the seats sat to low and at a bad angle to me, so I added a 1/2 spacer at the backs and 2 (1”) at the
fronts to mimic the stock angle of the seat bottoms cause when it was flat I didn’t like the sliding forward feeling at all.

You can see here when compared to the center console and even the stock passenger seat I used for the original reference how the heights of mine are much higher than most aftermarket applications.

I’m only 5’8” also so I didn’t need any special headroom

View attachment 260798View attachment 260799View attachment 260800View attachment 260801

Thanks that helped a lot !

 

[Levani]

simplest/safest thing would be to put an occupancy sensor in... especially if you plan on having passengers riding in the car.

thanks for everyone's reply, one person told me that The Phirm in the UK, I got rid of the dash bug with VCDS, the problem is that I'm pretty far away from them...so there has to be some way to do it. with vcds and that way you don't remove the sensor from the OEM seats... is the occupancy sensor a blue connector? and how should i remove that? it seems to have a board connected to the connector

 

[replicate]

thanks for everyone's reply, one person told me that The Phirm in the UK, I got rid of the dash bug with VCDS, the problem is that I'm pretty far away from them...so there has to be some way to do it. with vcds and that way you don't remove the sensor from the OEM seats... is the occupancy sensor a blue connector? and how should i remove that? it seems to have a board connected to the connector

Just buy another sensor, the ROW version you have pictured is pretty cheap. Reuse your harness. But it’s actually pretty easy to get out. Yes the blue plug.

 

[LVE2DRV]

Curious has anyone tried fitting any recaro seats from other European cars into US based models. I know in Europe various models came with recaro CS and are way cheaper to buy than nee CS.
Been toying with idea of going that route