BMW Memory Seats and Driver Profiles
Discussion
Hi there
Does anybody out there understand the correlation/interaction between the Memory seat buttons and the "Driver Profiles" stored on the Key? Are the seat and wing mirror positions stored on the key (remote control) The owners handbook would suggest not as these are not among the settings listed under the Driver Profiles/ settings which lists the settings and functions that are saved in the "active profile". However the car does recognise the user, or at least the remote control used to open the door and adjusts the seat accordingly.
The handbook also says in the controls/adjusting/memory function section that "for each driver profile two memory slots can be occupied with different settings" Does this mean that two settings can be stored on key #1 and another two DIFFERENT settings stored against key #2? If so which of the positions is applied when unlocking.
You would think that sensibly the designers would be looking to allow each of the two drivers to store their respective seat/mirror positions on EACH of the keys. In that way if say my wife starts the journey (my key remains at home) and half way through I take over, surely the idea would be that I can choose the driver #2 profile on iDrive and the car would reconfigure for me? Or would I need to do it from the memory buttons on the seat?
Is there anyone out there who really knows how the system works? Help please....
Does anybody out there understand the correlation/interaction between the Memory seat buttons and the "Driver Profiles" stored on the Key? Are the seat and wing mirror positions stored on the key (remote control) The owners handbook would suggest not as these are not among the settings listed under the Driver Profiles/ settings which lists the settings and functions that are saved in the "active profile". However the car does recognise the user, or at least the remote control used to open the door and adjusts the seat accordingly.
The handbook also says in the controls/adjusting/memory function section that "for each driver profile two memory slots can be occupied with different settings" Does this mean that two settings can be stored on key #1 and another two DIFFERENT settings stored against key #2? If so which of the positions is applied when unlocking.
You would think that sensibly the designers would be looking to allow each of the two drivers to store their respective seat/mirror positions on EACH of the keys. In that way if say my wife starts the journey (my key remains at home) and half way through I take over, surely the idea would be that I can choose the driver #2 profile on iDrive and the car would reconfigure for me? Or would I need to do it from the memory buttons on the seat?
Is there anyone out there who really knows how the system works? Help please....
It would help to know what model and year plus options your car is, especially if it's a recent model with Comfort Access and Electric Mirrors and ProNav.
On my 2016 m235i with Comfort Access and Electric Mirrors, and ProNav, plus electric seats with lumbar and as it's a convertible 2 door, a rocker switch on the top of the seat as well. This is how it all works.
There are two keys. Let's call them His and Hers.
Each key invokes one of two collections of settings for seats and mirrors plus some System things like miles/Kms, Nav map display (like split or single screen), ºC/ºF, memorised radio station buttons 1-8, vehicle nav address book etc.
I say invokes because it seems it's the car that has the two memories. The keys just identify which of the two collections to use. In the following description, when I say His or Her Key I really mean 'His Key, which invokes all the settings associated with it held by the car'.
The driver's seat has three buttons - Memory#1, Memory#2 and a 'Set'
I can also save the two groups of settings onto a USB, and move them to another car, or back to this car if I screw everything up.
We've set the driver's seat Memory#1 to my position and Memory#2 to my wife's.
By virtue of locking the car using His Key, after I've adjusted everything as I want, 'His Key' has all my settings (including nav and system as well as seats and mirrors).
By virtue of locking the car using Her Key, with my wife's adjustments, 'Her Key' has all her settings.
If I open the car with His Key after she's used it, the seats and wing mirrors move to my settings. Plus the nav, radio and system take on my settings for them.
If she opens the car with Her Key after I've used it, the seats and mirrors move to her settings etc.
If I use Her Key by mistake, there is total confusion as I may not register, and adjust the seats/mirrors to what I want manually, then lock the car using Her Key. Now Her Key has my preferences, and when she gets in the car it's all wrong - even wronger if I've reset the radio stations and fiddled with the nav. This does not go down well. The converse applies, but somehow I shouldn't complain.
This is where at least the seat memories #1 and #2 help a bit, as once you realise what you've done you can reset the seats to your preferences and lock the car with your key.
Confusion may also arise if you swap drivers on a long drive e.g. I open the car with my key. We drive for a couple of hours and pull into a rest area and turn the engine off. Then we get out the car and swap drivers. She adjusts the seats etc. and we drive on then stop again. I lock the car with His Key - oops. His Key now has my wife's seat and mirror adjustments. This is where Memory#1 and #2 come in as I can then just press Memory#1 when I re-open the car and we're back to square one. To avoid this, when swapping drivers, always lock the car with your key before opening it again with the other driver's key.
Have a fob, case or something that clearly identifies His Key as different from Her Key. So you'll not get confused.
The seat memories only record the seat settings. If you confuse the two keys and want to get back to Square 1 you'll have to manually reset the radio buttons, nav display, system units etc. or go back to the USB backup:
It's worth backing-up all the settings and in-car data to the USB. This will include in-car Nav addresses, seat settings, etc. some of which may have taken some effort to record e.g. destinations not in the Nav which you record when you 'use current location' to set up a new contact: for example, we've done this with the Eurotunnel checkin at Coquelles: the BMW nav doesn't have Eurotunnel in its database (would you believe?). It doesn't do any harm to have it backed up, plus it's transferable to another BMW.
If you lend the car to someone then obviously, you're going to have to accept confusion as they change the seat and everything else to what they want, then hand you the car and keys back with everything changed.
Keys & The Boot - Finally, one some models and years, it's possible to lock the key in the boot. I can't do this - it refuses to re-lock the car (which is good) and flashes/beeps. There are threads on most BMW Forums discussing this at length, because the behaviour doesn't seem to be consistent to a particular model. It may be related to having Comfort Access, which can detect the location of the key inside/outside the car versus not, but not always - some CA owners report they can lock the keys in the boot. So it's uncertain and worth checking (obviously, only if you have the 2nd keys also to hand :-).
Hope this helps.
On my 2016 m235i with Comfort Access and Electric Mirrors, and ProNav, plus electric seats with lumbar and as it's a convertible 2 door, a rocker switch on the top of the seat as well. This is how it all works.
There are two keys. Let's call them His and Hers.
Each key invokes one of two collections of settings for seats and mirrors plus some System things like miles/Kms, Nav map display (like split or single screen), ºC/ºF, memorised radio station buttons 1-8, vehicle nav address book etc.
I say invokes because it seems it's the car that has the two memories. The keys just identify which of the two collections to use. In the following description, when I say His or Her Key I really mean 'His Key, which invokes all the settings associated with it held by the car'.
The driver's seat has three buttons - Memory#1, Memory#2 and a 'Set'
I can also save the two groups of settings onto a USB, and move them to another car, or back to this car if I screw everything up.
We've set the driver's seat Memory#1 to my position and Memory#2 to my wife's.
By virtue of locking the car using His Key, after I've adjusted everything as I want, 'His Key' has all my settings (including nav and system as well as seats and mirrors).
By virtue of locking the car using Her Key, with my wife's adjustments, 'Her Key' has all her settings.
If I open the car with His Key after she's used it, the seats and wing mirrors move to my settings. Plus the nav, radio and system take on my settings for them.
If she opens the car with Her Key after I've used it, the seats and mirrors move to her settings etc.
If I use Her Key by mistake, there is total confusion as I may not register, and adjust the seats/mirrors to what I want manually, then lock the car using Her Key. Now Her Key has my preferences, and when she gets in the car it's all wrong - even wronger if I've reset the radio stations and fiddled with the nav. This does not go down well. The converse applies, but somehow I shouldn't complain.
This is where at least the seat memories #1 and #2 help a bit, as once you realise what you've done you can reset the seats to your preferences and lock the car with your key.
Confusion may also arise if you swap drivers on a long drive e.g. I open the car with my key. We drive for a couple of hours and pull into a rest area and turn the engine off. Then we get out the car and swap drivers. She adjusts the seats etc. and we drive on then stop again. I lock the car with His Key - oops. His Key now has my wife's seat and mirror adjustments. This is where Memory#1 and #2 come in as I can then just press Memory#1 when I re-open the car and we're back to square one. To avoid this, when swapping drivers, always lock the car with your key before opening it again with the other driver's key.
Have a fob, case or something that clearly identifies His Key as different from Her Key. So you'll not get confused.
The seat memories only record the seat settings. If you confuse the two keys and want to get back to Square 1 you'll have to manually reset the radio buttons, nav display, system units etc. or go back to the USB backup:
It's worth backing-up all the settings and in-car data to the USB. This will include in-car Nav addresses, seat settings, etc. some of which may have taken some effort to record e.g. destinations not in the Nav which you record when you 'use current location' to set up a new contact: for example, we've done this with the Eurotunnel checkin at Coquelles: the BMW nav doesn't have Eurotunnel in its database (would you believe?). It doesn't do any harm to have it backed up, plus it's transferable to another BMW.
If you lend the car to someone then obviously, you're going to have to accept confusion as they change the seat and everything else to what they want, then hand you the car and keys back with everything changed.
Keys & The Boot - Finally, one some models and years, it's possible to lock the key in the boot. I can't do this - it refuses to re-lock the car (which is good) and flashes/beeps. There are threads on most BMW Forums discussing this at length, because the behaviour doesn't seem to be consistent to a particular model. It may be related to having Comfort Access, which can detect the location of the key inside/outside the car versus not, but not always - some CA owners report they can lock the keys in the boot. So it's uncertain and worth checking (obviously, only if you have the 2nd keys also to hand :-).
Hope this helps.
Edited by msej449 on Thursday 9th August 01:00
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