Seats & Covers

Treat it as urgent. A seat that moves under acceleration or braking has either loose floor fixings, worn rail components, or a cracked cushion frame, and all three compromise the anchorage the restraint system depends on. Check the floor bolts first with the correct torque figure, since they are sometimes simply loose after a previous repair. If the movement is in the rails or the frame itself, the frame is the part to order, and it is catalogued here separately from the complete seat.

Often yes, and it is worth doing when a bolster has collapsed while the trim is still sound. Cushion pad assemblies are listed here separately, and the job involves releasing the trim cover hog rings or clips, lifting the old foam off the frame and fitting the new pad. Use the correct part rather than generic foam, since pad density is specified for crash behaviour as well as comfort. If the trim cover itself has worn through, order that at the same time to save doing the work twice.

Use the interior colour name on the listing and confirm it against the vehicle build record, since factories name their shades with descriptions such as Beige 1 rather than numbering them. Photographs are unreliable for interior colours, particularly greys and beiges, and a shade that looks right on screen is often obviously wrong beside your existing seats. A dealer can confirm the name from your vehicle identification number, and it is worth doing once and applying it to every trim part you order.

Because the seat is part of the restraint system on most cars. Front seats carry a side airbag in the outer bolster, an occupant sensing element in the cushion, a buckle switch, and often a position sensor, all connected through plugs beneath the seat. Disturbing any of those with the ignition live, or leaving one unplugged, sets a fault immediately. Always disconnect the twelve volt supply and wait for the capacitor to discharge before unplugging a seat, and have the codes cleared once everything is reconnected.

Mechanically often, electrically frequently not. A single model may have been built with manual and electric adjustment, with and without heating, ventilation, memory and lumbar support, and with different occupant sensing hardware, all sharing one mounting pattern. Fitting a seat with a different connector or a different sensor type leaves the restraint system reporting a fault that no amount of code clearing will fix. Match the OE number, confirm the option content, and use the quote form if the reference brings back nothing.

The armrest assembly, in most cases. Rear armrests fold into a recess in the backrest and are held by a detent or a friction hinge, and once the hinge wears or the plastic housing cracks, the armrest drops under its own weight. The armrest assemblies are listed here for left and right, with armrest bracket trim covers available separately where only the cover has broken. Check which has failed before ordering, since the cover is the cheaper part by a wide margin.

The spread is one of the widest in the catalogue. Adjustment buttons, bracket trim covers and side end cover panels sit right at the bottom. Cushion pads, armrests and side trim panels are modest. Complete front seat assemblies sit at the very top, since they are heavy, contain airbags and motors, and ship as bulky freight. The live minimum and maximum are shown in the band at the top of this page. Ordering the failed component rather than the seat is nearly always the better route.

It is a two person job with a safety procedure attached. The seat is heavy and awkward, the floor bolts are torque critical, and the connectors underneath belong to the restraint system. Disconnect the twelve volt supply, wait for the capacitor to discharge, then unbolt, unplug and lift the seat out with help so the trim and the door aperture survive. Reverse the process, torque the fixings to specification, and have the fault memory checked afterwards. Never move a seat with airbag connectors live.

As bulky freight rather than parcels. A front seat assembly is large, heavy and easily damaged, so it is crated or heavily boxed and its shipping class reflects its dimensions as much as its weight. Expect a longer lead time than for small parts, and inspect the packaging before accepting delivery. If a workshop is fitting the seat, have it delivered there. Where a seat has no standing price, the quote form returns the delivered figure including transport before you commit.

It depends what failed. Worn fabric or leather over a sound frame and foam is a good candidate for retrimming, and a specialist can often match the original pattern. A cracked frame, a collapsed pad or a fault in the heating mat is not, since retrimming addresses none of them. Retrimming a seat containing a side airbag also needs care, because the tear seam in the bolster must be reproduced correctly, and that is work for a trimmer who has done it before.

Look at the element and its wiring before condemning the switch. Heating mats sit under the trim in the cushion and the backrest, wired in series through a thermostat, and the usual failure is a broken element at the front edge of the cushion where the mat flexes every time somebody gets in. A single dead position with the other side working normally points there rather than at the control module. Have the circuit tested first, since the repair involves lifting the trim either way.

Yes. Complete seats are quoted almost without exception, because they are heavy, they ship crated and the trim material and colour combination is specific to the vehicle. Send the number with the interior code and say which seat, since driver and passenger frames differ where one carries the occupant sensor and the other does not. Ask about the sub components too. Cushion pads, head restraints, side trim panels and adjustment buttons are separate references, and a worn bolster or a broken switch is usually a part rather than a seat.