Swapping Comfort Seats into my E70 BMW X5

I swap my factory X5 Sport seats for the optional Comfort seats

[@juanaguado3451]

hi, I bought comfort seats (lumbar, electric front bench… no ventilated) to my x6 e71 and don’t work anything. The old seats only had heated, memory and electrical regulation. How can i make them work? I would greatly appreciate it

[@chesapeakemotorwerks]

Assuming the seats came out of the same approximate vehicle, your e71 likely needs to be coded for the features of the new seats. I'll try to make a video on it although I have my e70 apart for repairs right now. It will help if you have the VIN for the vehicle the comfort seats came out of. You can use an online VIN decoder to find the option codes for the features your seats have. These option codes need to be included in the vehicle order which is then used to code the the ECUs in your E71 so they know how to use the seat features correctly. I don't know if there's a more straight forward way to do this.

[@andresgonzalez8074]

Hi, I have a X5 207, my seats had lumbar support, but they are really bad in appearance. I got other seats that are better, but the other seats had the two yellow connectors, my BMW only has the big one. I connected as you did, but the seats won't work at all. I checked the connector, and mine has even more cables, but all the wiring on the seat is on my harness connector, and on the same order, do you have any suggestion?

[@chesapeakemotorwerks]

2007 X5s are unique because they're the earliest version of that body style X5 and the early ones lack some of the safety features found in later X5s. The small yellow connector is used for headrest crash protection, but early X5s don't have that. It should be fine to leave disconnected and afaik, is no less safe than a factory early X5. More details are needed about your factory seats (are they the base seats - not sport or comfort?) and your replacement seats (what year X5 did they come from, are they base, sport or comfort, does the passenger side have a seat module?). The seat modules are the plastic boxes with the the wiring connectors located under the seat. I believe base seats might not have seat modules on the passenger side while upgraded seats have modules on both sides. The easiest swap is to swap seats without seat modules for seats without seat modules, or seats with the modules for seats with the modules. I briefly touched on this in the video but probably didn't make it clear. The way the seats are controlled is different between the version with the modules vs without so I suspect this is what you're running into. I'm not sure how to move from the seats without the modules to the upgraded version, I think the wiring may actually be different so it's probably more complicated than simply coding the vehicle.

[@clarkireland3318]

Are you located in Chesapeake, VA? I need someone with experience to help me with my new to me x5.

[@chesapeakemotorwerks]

Sorry, I'm not. I'm from MD but in the process of moving.

[@tomasa6343]

can I swap seats from 2011 to 2009 model? Both are comfort seats.

[@chesapeakemotorwerks]

To be honest, I don't know. That's taking an LCI seat, which is different, and installing it in a pre-LCI E70. My guess is that the signals are probably compatible but it might not work out of the box (plug/wiring difference). I do have access to an LCI E70 with comfort seats but since it's not my personal vehicle, there's a limit to what I can inspect. I'll update this reply if I find more info. Good luck!

[@flexol]

You didn’t bother cleaning that cat before thinking of making a tutorial?

[@chesapeakemotorwerks]

I decided to make the video at the last second. KZbin is weird and it ended up getting a decent number of views.

[@Almenning1]

Do x6 comfort Seats fit in a x5 e70 with sport Seats?

[@chesapeakemotorwerks]

Honestly I don't know but I would think so.

[@Kahnv]

I didn’t get the last bit. Does the heated seats still work?? Headrests go up and down too???

[@chesapeakemotorwerks]

The heated seats do still work. On factory comfort seat equipped vehicles, they can also adjust the heat distribution which means you can tell the seat to make the back area warmer or colder relative to the bottom area. Right now my seats heat evenly like the sport seats did. I'm not sure about the headrests although I would think they do work. I can check for you later but I'm not currently near the X5.

[@zoltanfarkas7034]

4:21 what is this connector because i want to replace my seats but this connector is not match Sorry my english is bad

[@chesapeakemotorwerks]

It's an explosive or pyrotechnic device for the headrest that is used with the airbag system. Early X5s (like mine) don't have that feature.

[@alpineibex5596]

I found a clean e70 x5 that has standard seats. Any opinion on that? Whats the milage on your e70? Happy so far? Thank you so much.

[@chesapeakemotorwerks]

I think BMW seats, even their standard seats, are very comfortable. Just be sure you are comfortable and if taking long trips, make sure it has lumbar support which is sometimes optional. I'm not sure if you mean total miles on the car or fuel economy. Mine has something around 120k miles on it and while I love it, the 4.8 is a model to avoid unless you are ok with occasionally steep repair bills or can DIY some large jobs. For example, mine is currently leaking coolant from the valley of the engine, leaking oil from a valve cover gasket (the previous owner replaced *one* bank), and the V8s usually need valve stem seals done around this mileage which is a big job. Once all that is done, I expect it to deliver another 100k relatively trouble free miles. Fuel economy has been around 18-20 mpg average depending on wheels/tires and driving style for me. The massive summer wheels I have on now certainly hurt economy, but they look mean and perform well. Overall, my X5 is probably my favorite vehicle in the fleet for delivering a balance of comfort, performance, and utility.

[@VivaLaHamer]

Hey, I got an error of that sensor on passenger seat so what do I need to make it disappear?

[@chesapeakemotorwerks]

Is it for the airbag? The sensor mats frequently go bad. There's a device sold on eBay that plugs in and will clear the error, but your passenger airbags will always fire in an accident. My replacement seat came with one of those devices.

[@maxscholes5787]

Nice

[@ibo6712]

Have the comfort seats massage function?

[@chesapeakemotorwerks]

It's an option. Mine doesn't have the massage feature, just heat.

[@thomasiles5809]

What do you mean by heated seat distribution

[@chesapeakemotorwerks]

On comfort seats, it's possible to move where the heat is applied from the bottom seat or back area rather than equally heating the whole seat. For example, you can tell the seat to only heat your back if you want.

[@BIMMERZEITT]

@@chesapeakemotorwerks interesting... is the heated seat switch by the center console different for comfort seats to allow that function?

[@chesapeakemotorwerks]

@@BIMMERZEITT The switch is identical, that function is controlled exclusively through idrive.

[@cosmini5180]

Can I swap G05 X5 confort seats into an G01 X3?