Retrofitting power/heated seats into a Golf?

Square1 said:

I'm not overly worried about the back seat or the legalities.
I was more worried about getting them to function properly.

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Got it, so you'll need the R seat rails, a handful of wiring harnesses, some console/dash bits and a bible.

The bible (torah, koran etc.) is for a backup prayer when you get into an accident and the aibags don't go off as intended (or they go off when you're not in an accident just because) and your insurance company refuses to cover you because your car couldn't be legally registered.

CB1111 said:

Got it, so you'll need the R seat rails, a handful of wiring harnesses, some console/dash bits and a bible.

The bible (torah, koran etc.) is for a backup prayer when you get into an accident and the aibags don't go off as intended (or they go off when you're not in an accident just because) and your insurance company refuses to cover you because your car couldn't be legally registered.

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Thanks for the help. Much appreciated. Any other 12 year old kids with some insight?

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Square1 said:

Thanks for the help. Much appreciated. Any other 12 year old kids with some insight?

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It's pretty clear from the other replies that you should just stop attempting to do what you're doing, because on the offchance that you do manage to get it all working, you'll have an unsafe deathtrap instead of a car.

Why don't you do some research and check the wiring diagrams?

IWMTom said:

It's pretty clear from the other replies that you should just stop attempting to do what you're doing, because on the offchance that you do manage to get it all working, you'll have an unsafe deathtrap instead of a car.

Why don't you do some research and check the wiring diagrams?

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Correct ....... perfectly clear ...... death trap ..... I'll stop what I'm doing this instant. A seat swap has never been performed.
Everybody stop modifying your vehicles!
Do you people read posts and try to add some useful input or just state useless opinions on the internet?

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Square1 said:

Do you people read posts and try to add some useful input or just state useless opinions on the internet?

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This...is your first time on the internet right?

Anyway, I don't understand why people think it'll be so dangerous. Why does changing the seat mean this guy is gonna die?

JC_451 said:

This...is your first time on the internet right?

Anyway, I don't understand why people think it'll be so dangerous. Why does changing the seat mean this guy is gonna die?

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I guess they figure there is no way he will wire in the airbags right, on the off chance the seat connectors are wired up differently. One wrong wire and boom, airbag to the face and possible death. Only slightly joking here.

You would need; a new climate control panel, and to pin and run wires from the CC panel to the seats to get the heaters to work. For the power functions it would be a matter of making sure to run power and ground to the seat connector. Most important thing is to make sure the wires in both connectors are in the right spot and match what they will be plugging into on the other connector.

Wrath And Tears said:

I guess they figure there is no way he will wire in the airbags right, on the off chance the seat connectors are wired up differently. One wrong wire and boom, airbag to the face and possible death. Only slightly joking here.

You would need; a new climate control panel, and to pin and run wires from the CC panel to the seats to get the heaters to work. For the power functions it would be a matter of making sure to run power and ground to the seat connector. Most important thing is to make sure the wires in both connectors are in the right spot and match what they will be plugging into on the other connector.

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Thank you.

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JC_451 said:

This...is your first time on the internet right?

Anyway, I don't understand why people think it'll be so dangerous. Why does changing the seat mean this guy is gonna die?

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You are the voice of reason.

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JC_451 said:

This...is your first time on the internet right?

Anyway, I don't understand why people think it'll be so dangerous. Why does changing the seat mean this guy is gonna die?

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Let me break this down into terms that everyone can understand:

The seat airbags are part of the overall airbag system.
The seat airbags expect to see a B pillar in a certain spot to work correctly
The B pillar on a 2dr is in a far different position than on a 4dr

Since this combination has not been crash tested, nobody knows what will happen - and there is no way to test it without crashing the car.

CB1111 said:

Let me break this down into terms that everyone can understand:

The seat airbags are part of the overall airbag system.
The seat airbags expect to see a B pillar in a certain spot to work correctly
The B pillar on a 2dr is in a far different position than on a 4dr

Since this combination has not been crash tested, nobody knows what will happen - and there is no way to test it without crashing the car.

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The airbags don't care, but if they are relying on the b-pillar for 'support', I can see the logic. A solution would be for Op to move airbags from 2-dr car seat to R seats to get the correct airbag for the 2-dr car. Definitely would require some finesse to make that happen.

As for wiring, I suspect the airbag sensor and actuating wiring/connectors will be the same. Most companies don't spend a lot of money to redesign small stuff like this. But would require looking at the R manual and the Golf wiring diagrams to be sure. The airbag computer will also run a diagnostic as soon as the car is powered and will output a fault if wiring is incorrect.

The only other items would be wiring for the powered portion of the seat and the seat heaters. I bet the slots exist in the fuse panel, just need to pull the appropriate wires/fuses and install switches for the heaters.

c3156 said:

The airbags don't care, but if they are relying on the b-pillar for 'support', I can see the logic. A solution would be for Op to move airbags from 2-dr car seat to R seats to get the correct airbag for the 2-dr car. Definitely would require some finesse to make that happen.

As for wiring, I suspect the airbag sensor and actuating wiring/connectors will be the same. Most companies don't spend a lot of money to redesign small stuff like this. But would require looking at the R manual and the Golf wiring diagrams to be sure. The airbag computer will also run a diagnostic as soon as the car is powered and will output a fault if wiring is incorrect.

The only other items would be wiring for the powered portion of the seat and the seat heaters. I bet the slots exist in the fuse panel, just need to pull the appropriate wires/fuses and install switches for the heaters.

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The airbag system is very finicky as we've learned from the Takata debacle. In my office garage we have a couple of cars in the basement where airbags went off improperly due to a mod.

Nobody (including the manufacturer) knows what will happen if a different seat is put in the car. The system may say "everything is OK, carry on" or it may say "Houston, we have a problem, don't deploy the seat airbag"

Swapping seats isn't as easy as it used to be.

Let's assume that the front passenger is badly injured or killed (I'm not even talking about anyone who may be in the back and can't get out). There is an investigation and the manufacturer, state police and NHTSA send somebody out to see why the injury occurred. Do you really think the insurance company is going to cover that if it turns out that you put a car from a 4dr into a 2dr?

There are some unintended consequences that affect only you and then there are some that affect others.

NOBODY can tell you how the airbag system will work. The dealership can't tell you (although they'll say don't do it), the internet can't (although they'll say "just do it") and neither can the manufacturer (except that they'll flag your car. This is probably one of the things that can actually void your warranty).

Slightly different situation.
But I've swapped MK7 GTI seats into my MK7 TSI. Airbag harness was the same, I simply swapped airbag modules to get rid of the light.

But the seats I swapped with had the exact same functionality that my car came with. So I guess I'm not much of a help here.

murtaza911 said:

Slightly different situation.
But I've swapped MK7 GTI seats into my MK7 TSI. Airbag harness was the same, I simply swapped airbag modules to get rid of the light.

But the seats I swapped with had the exact same functionality that my car came with. So I guess I'm not much of a help here.

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Out of curiosity, you had an airbag light until you swapped the modules? What modules? The ones mounted to the seats?

For context I am attempting a MK7 TSI to MK7 TDI seat swap to gain heated seats.

SKIN said:

Out of curiosity, you had an airbag light until you swapped the modules? What modules? The ones mounted to the seats?

For context I am attempting a MK7 TSI to MK7 TDI seat swap to gain heated seats.

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Yes the ones mounted to the seats.

SKIN said:

Out of curiosity, you had an airbag light until you swapped the modules? What modules? The ones mounted to the seats?

For context I am attempting a MK7 TSI to MK7 TDI seat swap to gain heated seats.

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Any luck with that?