Re: Heated seats on E36

[alex.fadeev@xxxxxxxxxxx]

"Thomas Wachowiak" <thomas@domain.elided> wrote:
>
> while cleaning my '97 325tds (Euro spec) last weekend, I unbolted the
> frontseats to be able to vaccum under the seats properly (after almost
> 5 years of usage...amazing what you find there) and to my surprise I
> noticed wires going from both seats to somewhere under the carpet.
> There is also a black, square module with numbers on it (I took a
> picture of it but don't know how to post it here). Now, I don't have
> power seats nor heated seats, so what are these wires ?

Thomas,
Most likely you are looking at the seat belt tensioner mechanism and the
seat belt latch sensor wires.
The former fires and pre-tensions the seat belt in the case of an accident.
The latter is used by the air bag controller to figure out if you are
wearing your seat belt.

> My best instant guess was that BMW probably doesn't bother producing
> two/three/four separate seat assemblies for heated/not heated.
> powered/not powered front seats and I might have discovered that the
> heating elements and wiring is already there. Could this be correct?

I don't think so.

> How can I check if the heating elements are there ? Just connect the
> battery to it a feel if it gets warm ? I'm a bit afraid of blowing
> some fuses/relais by doing it.

Smart man.
If there no but warmer switches in front of the shifter, you don't have
heated seats.
Hooking 12V to unknown wires can get expensive and potentially very
exciting.

alex f

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