HYDE161
Go Kart Champion
Ok I got this all figured out after some trial and error and a lot of help from Tony. I did my best to explain the process below but I will have a photo each day over the next few days on IG: @becauseHYDE16
Sold my leather Autobahn seats to a local buyer, kept his front cloth seats for a few days to inspect and remove the necessary wiring on both seats. Below is what was needed to install aftermarket seats without any codes or issues. Make sure you disconnect the battery before disconnecting any connectors. This may prevent the need to scan/clear codes with VagCom.
Old Driver's Side Seat:
1) Seat Belt: remove the seat belt and full wiring harness. The wiring (mine was purple and brown) will run to a connector in the middle of the seat, you'll need all of the wiring past that (still purple and brown) which eventually runs all the way to the floor connectors. You will have to take a razor and cut the automotive fabric tape to separate the wiring. After the automotive tape, there is a section expandable nylon sleeving / wire loom. Cut off the two zip ties so this loom can expand and work the seat belt wire / connector out free.
2) Driver's Position Sensor: remove the driver position sensor and full wiring harness. This wire was not included in the automotive fabric tape or expandable nylon sleeving / wire loom so it's already separate. This driver position sensor is bolted to the inside of the rail closest to center console (technically the other side of where the seat belt bolts to the rail). Take a T20 to remove the one screw and the wiring.
New Driver's Side Seat:
1) Seat Belt: my Corbeau seat brackets had a threaded hole for the seat belt to accept the OEM seat belt screw. I decided to upgrade to a grade 8 hex bolt, washer between bolt head and top of the seat frame and a nylon lock nut under the seat frame. This gives me more confidence after seeing that the one OEM bolt is responsible for the entire seat belt restraint. Make sure you get the proper length bolt (get various lengths to be safe). If the bolt is too long, it will make contact with the floor under the seat bracket, not allowing the seat bracket to sit flush when bolting down the 4 major bracket bolts to the floor. Run wiring harness connector to floor connector.
2) Driver's Position Sensor: I stuffed this sensor underneath towards the back of the seat. Run wiring harness connector to floor connector.
3) Unused / Empty floor connectors: the largest floor connector will be left empty, no issues. The final connector is a yellow floor connector which is where we need to add a 3.3ohm 1/4 watt resistor. I took the resistor, bent it so both leads were parallel and pushed them into the female terminals. On the driver's side, the female terminals will run sideways along the door, the left two terminals which are closest to the pedals are the ones which get the two resistor leads, the right most female terminal lead towards the back of the car remains unused / empty.
Old Passenger Side Seat:
1) Seat Belt: remove the seat belt and wiring harness. The wiring harness will run to a connector on a white backboard. Disconnect it for now to remove the seat belt and wiring harness.
2) Passenger Occupancy Sensor / Bladder / Wiring Harness: basically, you need to remove everything electrical except one solid black wiring harness which runs up the backside of the seat (either for seat warmer or side airbag). For this one solid black wiring harness, you need to remove it from the section of expandable nylon sleeving / wire loom. Cut off the two zip ties so this loom can expand and work the wire / connector out free. Unbolt the passenger occupancy sensor box (grey box) held in by two T20 bolts but leave it connected. Remove the entire white backboard which holds several connectors in place, leaving everything connected. From the underside, work your way around the edges to lift up the seat cover and foam to get to the plastic retaining clips which hold a plastic bladder in place between the seat frame and foam. You will need to carefully slide out the entire bladder filled with liquid. It will seem overwhelming but take your time removing each area of this wiring harness. At this point the white backboard should have two empty connectors on one side (yellow and black) and one smaller empty connector on the other side (black) which you can reconnect the seat belt wiring harness at this time. When done, only the two empty connectors on one side (yellow and black) should be left open. There should also be two bundles of wires with connectors at the end which will not be reused.
New Passenger Side Seat:
1) Seat Belt: my Corbeau seat brackets had a threaded hole for the seat belt to accept the OEM seat belt screw. I decided to upgrade to a grade 8 hex bolt, washer between bolt head and top of the seat frame and a nylon lock nut under the seat frame. This gives me more confidence after seeing that the one OEM bolt is responsible for the entire seat belt restraint. Make sure you get the proper length bolt (get various lengths to be safe). If the bolt is too long, it will make contact with the floor under the seat bracket, not allowing the seat bracket to sit flush when bolting down the 4 major bracket bolts to the floor. Run wiring harness connector to the connector on the white backboard (not to the floor).
2) Passenger Occupancy Sensor / Bladder / Wiring Harness: carefully slide / stuff the bladder in the new passenger seat. Most aftermarket seats have metal wire / coil support underneath, I carefully slid my bladder between these metal wire / coil and the underside of the seat foam. Next I used zip ties to fasten the passenger occupancy sensor (grey box), white backboard and all wires to the underside of the seat. If your seats have a lever to adjust the seat forward or back, you need to make sure nothing gets pinched underneath. Run wiring harness connectors to floor connectors.
3) Unused / Empty floor connectors: on the passenger side, the only unused / empty connector is a yellow floor connector which is where we need to add a 3.3ohm 1/4 watt resistor. I took the resistor, bent it so both leads were parallel and pushed them into the female terminals. On the driver's side, the female terminals will run sideways along the door, the left most two terminals which are closest to the rear of the car are the ones which get the two resistor leads, the forward most female terminal lead towards the front of the car remains unused / empty.
Seat Brackets:
After wiring, connectors and resistors, the seat brackets are ready to be bolted to the floor. The OEM seat brackets had downward pointing hooks that went into the floor to locate the brackets (prevent lateral movement) while the 4 OEM bolts fastened the brackets (prevent horizontal movement). With these aftermarket seat brackets, I highly recommend not re-using the OEM bolts and upgrading to higher grade bolts with washers.
Stripping out the electronics off of the old passenger seat
Passenger seat occupancy sensor bladder removed successfully
Passenger seat occupancy sensor retrofitted in new seat
Passenger seat electronics retrofitted in new seat
Sold my leather Autobahn seats to a local buyer, kept his front cloth seats for a few days to inspect and remove the necessary wiring on both seats. Below is what was needed to install aftermarket seats without any codes or issues. Make sure you disconnect the battery before disconnecting any connectors. This may prevent the need to scan/clear codes with VagCom.
Old Driver's Side Seat:
1) Seat Belt: remove the seat belt and full wiring harness. The wiring (mine was purple and brown) will run to a connector in the middle of the seat, you'll need all of the wiring past that (still purple and brown) which eventually runs all the way to the floor connectors. You will have to take a razor and cut the automotive fabric tape to separate the wiring. After the automotive tape, there is a section expandable nylon sleeving / wire loom. Cut off the two zip ties so this loom can expand and work the seat belt wire / connector out free.
2) Driver's Position Sensor: remove the driver position sensor and full wiring harness. This wire was not included in the automotive fabric tape or expandable nylon sleeving / wire loom so it's already separate. This driver position sensor is bolted to the inside of the rail closest to center console (technically the other side of where the seat belt bolts to the rail). Take a T20 to remove the one screw and the wiring.
New Driver's Side Seat:
1) Seat Belt: my Corbeau seat brackets had a threaded hole for the seat belt to accept the OEM seat belt screw. I decided to upgrade to a grade 8 hex bolt, washer between bolt head and top of the seat frame and a nylon lock nut under the seat frame. This gives me more confidence after seeing that the one OEM bolt is responsible for the entire seat belt restraint. Make sure you get the proper length bolt (get various lengths to be safe). If the bolt is too long, it will make contact with the floor under the seat bracket, not allowing the seat bracket to sit flush when bolting down the 4 major bracket bolts to the floor. Run wiring harness connector to floor connector.
2) Driver's Position Sensor: I stuffed this sensor underneath towards the back of the seat. Run wiring harness connector to floor connector.
3) Unused / Empty floor connectors: the largest floor connector will be left empty, no issues. The final connector is a yellow floor connector which is where we need to add a 3.3ohm 1/4 watt resistor. I took the resistor, bent it so both leads were parallel and pushed them into the female terminals. On the driver's side, the female terminals will run sideways along the door, the left two terminals which are closest to the pedals are the ones which get the two resistor leads, the right most female terminal lead towards the back of the car remains unused / empty.
Old Passenger Side Seat:
1) Seat Belt: remove the seat belt and wiring harness. The wiring harness will run to a connector on a white backboard. Disconnect it for now to remove the seat belt and wiring harness.
2) Passenger Occupancy Sensor / Bladder / Wiring Harness: basically, you need to remove everything electrical except one solid black wiring harness which runs up the backside of the seat (either for seat warmer or side airbag). For this one solid black wiring harness, you need to remove it from the section of expandable nylon sleeving / wire loom. Cut off the two zip ties so this loom can expand and work the wire / connector out free. Unbolt the passenger occupancy sensor box (grey box) held in by two T20 bolts but leave it connected. Remove the entire white backboard which holds several connectors in place, leaving everything connected. From the underside, work your way around the edges to lift up the seat cover and foam to get to the plastic retaining clips which hold a plastic bladder in place between the seat frame and foam. You will need to carefully slide out the entire bladder filled with liquid. It will seem overwhelming but take your time removing each area of this wiring harness. At this point the white backboard should have two empty connectors on one side (yellow and black) and one smaller empty connector on the other side (black) which you can reconnect the seat belt wiring harness at this time. When done, only the two empty connectors on one side (yellow and black) should be left open. There should also be two bundles of wires with connectors at the end which will not be reused.
New Passenger Side Seat:
1) Seat Belt: my Corbeau seat brackets had a threaded hole for the seat belt to accept the OEM seat belt screw. I decided to upgrade to a grade 8 hex bolt, washer between bolt head and top of the seat frame and a nylon lock nut under the seat frame. This gives me more confidence after seeing that the one OEM bolt is responsible for the entire seat belt restraint. Make sure you get the proper length bolt (get various lengths to be safe). If the bolt is too long, it will make contact with the floor under the seat bracket, not allowing the seat bracket to sit flush when bolting down the 4 major bracket bolts to the floor. Run wiring harness connector to the connector on the white backboard (not to the floor).
2) Passenger Occupancy Sensor / Bladder / Wiring Harness: carefully slide / stuff the bladder in the new passenger seat. Most aftermarket seats have metal wire / coil support underneath, I carefully slid my bladder between these metal wire / coil and the underside of the seat foam. Next I used zip ties to fasten the passenger occupancy sensor (grey box), white backboard and all wires to the underside of the seat. If your seats have a lever to adjust the seat forward or back, you need to make sure nothing gets pinched underneath. Run wiring harness connectors to floor connectors.
3) Unused / Empty floor connectors: on the passenger side, the only unused / empty connector is a yellow floor connector which is where we need to add a 3.3ohm 1/4 watt resistor. I took the resistor, bent it so both leads were parallel and pushed them into the female terminals. On the driver's side, the female terminals will run sideways along the door, the left most two terminals which are closest to the rear of the car are the ones which get the two resistor leads, the forward most female terminal lead towards the front of the car remains unused / empty.
Seat Brackets:
After wiring, connectors and resistors, the seat brackets are ready to be bolted to the floor. The OEM seat brackets had downward pointing hooks that went into the floor to locate the brackets (prevent lateral movement) while the 4 OEM bolts fastened the brackets (prevent horizontal movement). With these aftermarket seat brackets, I highly recommend not re-using the OEM bolts and upgrading to higher grade bolts with washers.
Stripping out the electronics off of the old passenger seat
Passenger seat occupancy sensor bladder removed successfully
Passenger seat occupancy sensor retrofitted in new seat
Passenger seat electronics retrofitted in new seat
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