How to remove this part? "Stop switch" on back of sport seats..

'01 Roadster 3.0i. Took the seats in today for the reupholstery job. We removed the plastic / vinyl "clam shell" backs on the seats, in order to remove the seat back's seat cover. We found a yellow "strip" that is 6" wide and a half inch high, mounted to the middle of the seat back. It's right behind the point where the listing is (the indentation in the seat back, looking at it from the front. Mid-way up the seat back). It's mounted on there with these two black 1/4" thick buttons (surprisingly thick). There is an electrical cable running off of it and down under the seat. Sorry, I don't have a picture.

The yellow strip says, "Mayser electronic safety system" on it. The parts counter looked up the number (61 31 8 407 551) and got the name, "Stop switch, sports seat". The mechanics had never pulled apart a Z3 sports seat before, so they didn't know what it was. The regional BMW parts house (my dealership called them) said it's a switch that detects when the seat is being motored back too far and encounters something behind the seat, and then shuts off the motor. Locally.. we're having a hard time believing that one. The black buttons on either end of the strip definitely look like sensors of some kind, but it seems like there'd have to be a ton of back force on the seat to activate them. Remember.. they're in between the seat and the clam shell once everything is assembled. By the way, the drawing that comes up on the TIS system at the parts counter shows 4 additional sensors "inside" the yellow strip, that look like they're pointing forward, towards the occupant of the seat.

We've also hypothosized that it's some kind of sensor that works with the air bags, feeding back information as to whether there's someone in the seat or not... information to be used for the system to decide whether to deploy the bag or not for an empty seat, or, how "hard" to deploy the bag. But the thing is, both seats have this sensor strip. Usually, air bag stuff is only on the passenger seat (as there is always a driver in the car). By the way, the parts boys say it's definitely not pyro-technic. It is not, in itself, any kind of deployment system. It's a sensor.

So any way, exactly "what" it is, is still up for grabs (anybody know??), but the main question I really need an answer for is; How do I remove it? Screwdriver / pop it off of there??

It's on the outside of the fabric backing that hold the seat cover on, and goes right through the backing fabric and into the seat itself. We can't unzip the backing fabric and remove the upper seat cover, without first removing this device. Anybody have any experience with this strip and how to remove it?

Thanks.

Reply » How to remove this part? "Stop switch" on back of sport seats..

Can't help much without a pic. TIS may have instructions (I doubt it) but I can't check from work.

I assume they are on both seats (a) for economies of scale on the assembly line and (b) so the airbags will not deploy of the car is running, not moving, and no one is inside and it gets hit. Or maybe the car is running, no one is inside, and it rolls in neutral into a brick wall down a hill. Pretty unlikely scenarios however.

Reply » How to remove this part? "Stop switch" on back of sport seats..

Quote:

The yellow strip says, "Mayser electronic safety system" on it. The parts counter looked up the number (61 31 8 407 551) and got the name, "Stop switch, sports seat".

That's what it is. Shuts down the seat movement when the back of the seat hits the hump.
Move the seat forward. From outside of the car start moving it back. When you touch the back with your hand it will stop.
I've never tried to remove it.

Reply » How to remove this part? "Stop switch" on back of sport seats..

The black buttons just hold the strip on. They aren't part of the sensor it's self. I just pried them off with a screw driver, being careful not to bust the sensor in the process.

Reply » How to remove this part? "Stop switch" on back of sport seats..

Quote:

The black buttons just hold the strip on. They aren't part of the sensor it's self. I just pried them off with a screw driver, being careful not to bust the sensor in the process.

Ok, thanks. Yeah, the buttons are kinda weird looking; Black on their perimeters, then semi-transparant gray / white-ish in the middle, but then with a tiny black "dot" right in the center. They have a funny, sorta rubbery feel to them too. With all that.. they kind of suggest themselves to the un-initiated, that they are sensors ("push in / contact" buttons).

Oky doky, .. we'll gently pop them off of there with a flat blade screwdriver.

Reply » How to remove this part? "Stop switch" on back of sport seats..

Jon, can I ask you another question...

While the upholsterer (weird word. I want to keep adding even more erererer..s) has the seats, I'm going to pull the door panels and see if I can remove the door leather trim pads, with the goal being to also take them down to the guy and re-cover them as well.

I have the new set of door handles (Been over that one. Thanks, btw). But I was wondering, have you ever removed the leather covered panels before, and maybe have some tips??

More specifically, I've got to study how the airbag section pad is attached / deployed. Trying to figure out how to remove it, re-cover it, and then re-install it... all without "approaching" any of the side airbag deployment mechanisms. I'm thinking... if it looks very unique and "don't mess with me", I'll just leave that panel be, and possibly only recover the forward most panels (same color.... just better leather

). I saw a picture once, of a deployed side air bag, and it looked like the panel hinges downward, and possibly has nothing to do with the airbag itself (the blast from the airbag simply forces the panel open and to hinge downward). Have you ever worked on one of these pups?

Page 1 of 2