Front seats “shifting”

[Wanwansuii]

Hello all,

Last week, my car has developed the very annoying & infamous front seat shifting problem. It’s gotten to the point that any turn I make, the seat shifts to the opposing side of the turn, and I’m highly annoyed given how much we pay for these vehicles.

Has anyone tackled this DIY? I’m prepared to set aside some time on a weekend to Remove the seats to replace the railing or whatever causes this issue.

Any help or info would greatly be appreciated! 😊

[Chaos236]

Active Bolstering? CLS has this feature. You should be able to turn it off?

[Wanwansuii]

No, it’s not that. It’s an actual defect in the design of the seat that many owners within our platform complain about.

Any strong g-force while turning allows the seat to move from side to side. The passenger seat also rattles in certain positions over rough pavement because of this issue, and I consider it to be highly unacceptable in a vehicle of this caliber.

[Chaos236]

Yikes, better take some hard corners and see if mine does it...

[Walt White Coupe]

I had the same problem and the solution was to replace the entire seat frame. Check out this link for a long discussion about the problem. See my post #50

https://www.bimmerfest.com/threads/s....662882/page-3

[brad850csi]

I had BMW replace my driver seat frame or whatever parts it was. They weren't sure about it initially and I said well as the seatbelt is attached to the seat I don't want the seat and me attached to it to all go flying somewhere out of the car.

That shut them up instantly and I got it fixed. If your car is out of warranty I'd have a crack at saying that and see how they react

[Opie55]

Originally Posted by Wanwansuii

Hello all,

Last week, my car has developed the very annoying & infamous front seat shifting problem. It’s gotten to the point that any turn I make, the seat shifts to the opposing side of the turn, and I’m highly annoyed given how much we pay for these vehicles.

Has anyone tackled this DIY? I’m prepared to set aside some time on a weekend to Remove the seats to replace the railing or whatever causes this issue.

Any help or info would greatly be appreciated! 😊

Somebody posted a DIY fix not very long ago - maybe a month or two - with pictures. I don't think you'll get BMW to do it for a car out of warranty and you sure as heck don't want to pay them to swap a new seat frame. Find that post and you will then have an understanding of what causes it. I recall thinking that I might come up with a more elegant technical solution than the poster, but it was very helping to see exactly what the issue is.

[Wanwansuii]

Originally Posted by Opie55

Somebody posted a DIY fix not very long ago - maybe a month or two - with pictures. I don't think you'll get BMW to do it for a car out of warranty and you sure as heck don't want to pay them to swap a new seat frame. Find that post and you will then have an understanding of what causes it. I recall thinking that I might come up with a more elegant technical solution than the poster, but it was very helping to see exactly what the issue is.

Hmm I’ll do some digging to find the post you are talking about. From what I have been reading in the thread posted above, folks have either replaced the seat frame (over $3-4k) or spray Teflon-based grease in the bushings underneath the seat. I’ll try the Teflon spray first

[Wanwansuii]

I have a bumper-to-bumper extended warranty, but I’m not sure if it would pay for that?

[Wanwansuii]

Originally Posted by brad850csi

I had BMW replace my driver seat frame or whatever parts it was. They weren't sure about it initially and I said well as the seatbelt is attached to the seat I don't want the seat and me attached to it to all go flying somewhere out of the car.

That shut them up instantly and I got it fixed. If your car is out of warranty I'd have a crack at saying that and see how they react

I might try this! Cause it is a safety concern, especially with its design.

[Walt White Coupe]

Below is what was reported by the Dealer to fix the same problem. What I reported to them was that I was getting side to side movement on turns.

They ended up replacing the "seat frame". I've never seen a mechanical wear problem solved by a lubricant.

[Opie55]

^^ Agree. Lubricant will not solve a movement problem. It may muffle a sound for a while, but it will still move.

[Walt White Coupe]

Originally Posted by brad850csi

I had BMW replace my driver seat frame or whatever parts it was. They weren't sure about it initially and I said well as the seatbelt is attached to the seat I don't want the seat and me attached to it to all go flying somewhere out of the car.

That shut them up instantly and I got it fixed. If your car is out of warranty I'd have a crack at saying that and see how they react

I don't see how that argument could work since the seatbelt is attached to the body of the car not the seat.

[dagoo98]

I can confirm that Teflon spray will indeed work. You will need to lubricate every couple of months. What I found to be an even better and long term solution is brake caliper pin lube/anti-seize. It has a thicker consistency which is why I'm assuming that solution has lasted longer for me. It has been about 6 months since I tried the brake caliper lube and no issues.

[Mnfamilyguy2020]

Originally Posted by Walt White Coupe

I don't see how that argument could work since the seatbelt is attached to the body of the car not the seat.

On my 2016 650 GC the seatbelt and its mechanism is definitely mounted to the seat.

[Thewrench86]

Originally Posted by dagoo98

I can confirm that Teflon spray will indeed work. You will need to lubricate every couple of months. What I found to be an even better and long term solution is brake caliper pin lube/anti-seize. It has a thicker consistency which is why I'm assuming that solution has lasted longer for me. It has been about 6 months since I tried the brake caliper lube and no issues.

Could you kindly take a picture of the exact area u lubed up cheers

[Walt White Coupe]

Originally Posted by Mnfamilyguy2020

On my 2016 650 GC the seatbelt and its mechanism is definitely mounted to the seat.

Apologies, you are right. I was going on past knowledge of other cars.

[brad850csi]

Originally Posted by Walt White Coupe

Apologies, you are right. I was going on past knowledge of other cars.

Mounted to the seat on the E31 and the F06/12/13 and I think that is about it from BMW. Maybe some oddities like a Z1 or something, but for main production cars I think it is just those two.

I happen to have both


But yes, my statement was around the fact that if the seat base is loose and the seatbelt is attached to the seat so there is potentially a big safety issue.

[Qsilver7]

Originally Posted by brad850csi

Mounted to the seat on the E31 and the F06/12/13 and I think that is about it from BMW. Maybe some oddities like a Z1 or something, but for main production cars I think it is just those two.

I happen to have both

Somewhere in the recesses of my memory...I think BMW may have used seat belts incorporated into the seat instead of being mounted to the body of the car..if you look at some of the convertible models.

So the Z models (Z3/Z4/Z8)...and some of the convertible 3 & 4 series may have front seats with incorporated seat belt restraints.

[dagoo98]

Originally Posted by Thewrench86

Could you kindly take a picture of the exact area u lubed up cheers

I'm unable to take a pic now but i can easily describe it.

Easiest way to access the "bushings" is the move the seat to the furthest position backward and raise the front of the lower seat cushion to its highest position.

Now look under the front of the seat and you will see a bar running horizontally with 2 "closed horseshoe" looking bushings toward either end. You need to lubricate the area where the bushing travels on the bar when the seat shifts. Hope this helps.

[Skibag]

I used some WD-40 Specialist Anti Friction Dry PTFE Lubricant on my bushing 6 months ago and worked. Just after doing it again there because it started to shift

[Skibag]

Here's a pic from another thread showing what to lube