Fitting folding buckets from a LHD car
Discussion
Interesting postscript...
It's now a year or so since I fitted the folding buckets and I haven't regretted that move at all - whether driving on track, short hops or even on a recent 2,600 mile Eurohoon.
During that time the car has been back to my OPC for routine servicing and no issues were thrown up at all until earlier this week when the car was subjected to the 111-point check to allow renewal of the extended warranty. On this occasion (a more thorough examination) it seems that some VAL (Vehicle Activity Log) errors were thrown up as a result of the car 'looking for', and failing to find, the original 18-way electric seats. Interesting!
One solution would have been to code the car to reflect the new folding bucket seat spec but this would have meant issues when re-fitting the 18-ways (including the possibility that the electric adjustment wouldn't function fully). I want to retain the ability to swap seats over as and when - it's just a 30 minute job now I am practised at it. In the end the OPC took a pragmatic approach, based on the new seats being pukka Porsche items, and having checked that the seats were correctly installed gave the car a pass on the 11-point check, simply noting the ongoing VAL flags.
Just shows how detailed the electronics have become in modern Porsches. Whilst I was focused on making sure that seat belt warning and thorax airbag functionality was 100% correct, I never thought that substituting a mechanical seat for an electric one (in effect, simply not using the electric seat functionality built in to the car) would cause further issues. Every day is a school day...
James
It's now a year or so since I fitted the folding buckets and I haven't regretted that move at all - whether driving on track, short hops or even on a recent 2,600 mile Eurohoon.
During that time the car has been back to my OPC for routine servicing and no issues were thrown up at all until earlier this week when the car was subjected to the 111-point check to allow renewal of the extended warranty. On this occasion (a more thorough examination) it seems that some VAL (Vehicle Activity Log) errors were thrown up as a result of the car 'looking for', and failing to find, the original 18-way electric seats. Interesting!
One solution would have been to code the car to reflect the new folding bucket seat spec but this would have meant issues when re-fitting the 18-ways (including the possibility that the electric adjustment wouldn't function fully). I want to retain the ability to swap seats over as and when - it's just a 30 minute job now I am practised at it. In the end the OPC took a pragmatic approach, based on the new seats being pukka Porsche items, and having checked that the seats were correctly installed gave the car a pass on the 11-point check, simply noting the ongoing VAL flags.
Just shows how detailed the electronics have become in modern Porsches. Whilst I was focused on making sure that seat belt warning and thorax airbag functionality was 100% correct, I never thought that substituting a mechanical seat for an electric one (in effect, simply not using the electric seat functionality built in to the car) would cause further issues. Every day is a school day...
James
Edited by short-shift on Thursday 19th September 06:27
short-shift said:
Interesting postscript...
It's now a year or so since I fitted the folding buckets and I haven't regretted that move at all - whether driving on track, short hops or even on a recent 2,600 mile Eurohoon.
During that time the car has been back to my OPC for routine servicing and no issues were thrown up at all until earlier this week when the car was subjected to the 111-point check to allow renewal of the extended warranty. On this occasion (a more thorough examination) it seems that some VAL (Vehicle Activity Log) errors were thrown up as a result of the car 'looking for', and failing to find, the original 18-way electric seats. Interesting!
One solution would have been to code the car to reflect the new folding bucket seat spec but this would have meant issues when re-fitting the 18-ways (including the possibility that the electric adjustment wouldn't function fully). I want to retain the ability to swap seats over as and when - it's just a 30 minute job now I am practised at it. In the end the OPC took a pragmatic approach, based on the new seats being pukka Porsche items, and having checked that the seats were correctly installed gave the car a pass on the 11-point check, simply noting the ongoing VAL flags.
Just shows how detailed the electronics have become in modern Porsches. Whilst I was focused on making sure that seat belt warning and thorax airbag functionality was 100% correct, I never thought that substituting a mechanical seat for an electric one (in effect, simply not using the electric seat functionality built in to the car) would cause further issues. Every day is a school day...
James
Good to know and it make sense. You were lucky with the dealer, they could have made it more difficult.It's now a year or so since I fitted the folding buckets and I haven't regretted that move at all - whether driving on track, short hops or even on a recent 2,600 mile Eurohoon.
During that time the car has been back to my OPC for routine servicing and no issues were thrown up at all until earlier this week when the car was subjected to the 111-point check to allow renewal of the extended warranty. On this occasion (a more thorough examination) it seems that some VAL (Vehicle Activity Log) errors were thrown up as a result of the car 'looking for', and failing to find, the original 18-way electric seats. Interesting!
One solution would have been to code the car to reflect the new folding bucket seat spec but this would have meant issues when re-fitting the 18-ways (including the possibility that the electric adjustment wouldn't function fully). I want to retain the ability to swap seats over as and when - it's just a 30 minute job now I am practised at it. In the end the OPC took a pragmatic approach, based on the new seats being pukka Porsche items, and having checked that the seats were correctly installed gave the car a pass on the 11-point check, simply noting the ongoing VAL flags.
Just shows how detailed the electronics have become in modern Porsches. Whilst I was focused on making sure that seat belt warning and thorax airbag functionality was 100% correct, I never thought that substituting a mechanical seat for an electric one (in effect, simply not using the electric seat functionality built in to the car) would cause further issues. Every day is a school day...
James
Edited by short-shift on Thursday 19th September 06:27
I'm looking at doing some work on my car where I need to take the seats out. I understand that the recommended approach is to disconnect the battery before disconnecting the yellow plug under the seats. It may seem an odd question, but were there any issues with that (did the electronics complain)? Did you lower the windows first (as they normally drop to clear the door frame)? Thanks for your thread!
If you disconnect the battery before removing the seats (or, more accurately, before disconnecting the yellow plug and socket under the seat) then you won't have any issues with the airbag warning lights coming on after you have reinstalled the seat and reconnected the battery. If you leave the battery connected then, even with the car keyed-off, the airbag warning light will come on and need to be reset after you have removed and reinstalled the seat (simple enough to do, though - just buy a scanner/reset tool).
I tend to drop the window before removing the seat as it just gives you a bit more room to manouvre it out of the car! I seem to recall that I had to go through the window reset procedure at some time or other (can't remember what it is without looking it up - just a sequence of cycling up and down or similar) but that's all trivial to carry out.
James
I tend to drop the window before removing the seat as it just gives you a bit more room to manouvre it out of the car! I seem to recall that I had to go through the window reset procedure at some time or other (can't remember what it is without looking it up - just a sequence of cycling up and down or similar) but that's all trivial to carry out.
James
Edited by short-shift on Thursday 19th September 11:18
NBTBRV8 said:
Good to know and it make sense. You were lucky with the dealer, they could have made it more difficult.
Indeed - very impressed with their attitude which was "how can we resolve this?" rather than the more usual jobsworth attitude that one hears mentioned so many times. They were very helpful - and they have a very satisfied customer as a result.James
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