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Next Gen Seats - DIY Retrofit

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Fortunately I have already reached out to him as I sent him my RCM to be flashed. I am waiting on a response about the differences in connectors. If no response by Monday (i am sure he is a busy guy) I will try to do the harness swap. I figure worst case it doesn't work and I revert to Bitron seats. Only thing that has me concerned is the 12 vs 13 wire in each connector.


Interesting that i have heard of several people doing the retrofit but no one has mentioned this issue....... I'll sort it out and hopefully make it easier for the next guy.
 
Fortunately I have already reached out to him as I sent him my RCM to be flashed. I am waiting on a response about the differences in connectors. If no response by Monday (i am sure he is a busy guy) I will try to do the harness swap. I figure worst case it doesn't work and I revert to Bitron seats. Only thing that has me concerned is the 12 vs 13 wire in each connector.


Interesting that i have heard of several people doing the retrofit but no one has mentioned this issue....... I'll sort it out and hopefully make it easier for the next guy.


That's great. He's one of the busiest guys on TMC, so I could see it taking a few days to get back to you. He's a really good guy, and helped me immensely, so hopefully you'll figure this out. Keep us all posted; the DIY crowd on TMC needs guys willing to tackle stuff like this and post their results.
 
Fortunately I have already reached out to him as I sent him my RCM to be flashed. I am waiting on a response about the differences in connectors. If no response by Monday (i am sure he is a busy guy) I will try to do the harness swap. I figure worst case it doesn't work and I revert to Bitron seats. Only thing that has me concerned is the 12 vs 13 wire in each connector.


Interesting that i have heard of several people doing the retrofit but no one has mentioned this issue....... I'll sort it out and hopefully make it easier for the next guy.

Are these the newer type seats that have the movable headrest? That would explain the extra wire. Although I would have thought it would need more than one.

Another question for everyone. I purchased a December 14 build 85 that had the front seat replaced. Apparently one of them had an airbag go off. The airbag indicator is on all the time. have reached out to @Ingineer but haven't heard anything yet. When seats are replaced does the airbag control module always have to be reprogrammed? Is this a separate issue entirely?
 
If an airbag deployed,
Are these the newer type seats that have the movable headrest? That would explain the extra wire. Although I would have thought it would need more than one.

Another question for everyone. I purchased a December 14 build 85 that had the front seat replaced. Apparently one of them had an airbag go off. The airbag indicator is on all the time. have reached out to @Ingineer but haven't heard anything yet. When seats are replaced does the airbag control module always have to be reprogrammed? Is this a separate issue entirely?

Good thinking about the extra wire/headrest. When an airbag deploys, the RCM has to be reset after the airbag has been replaced; so, in your case, if this hasn't been done it would need to be. As to the other question, swapping seats with an identical replacement when an airbag has not been deployed should not require reprogramming the RCM (for example, your leather was ripped, so you replaced the seat with the same type). The other reason to reprogram the RCM is if you swap seats with a different type. The airbag timing is affected by build options and seat type, and I believe @Ingineer has the tables for all the various builds. I imagine he would be able to get you back in business.
 
If an airbag deployed,


Good thinking about the extra wire/headrest. When an airbag deploys, the RCM has to be reset after the airbag has been replaced; so, in your case, if this hasn't been done it would need to be. As to the other question, swapping seats with an identical replacement when an airbag has not been deployed should not require reprogramming the RCM (for example, your leather was ripped, so you replaced the seat with the same type). The other reason to reprogram the RCM is if you swap seats with a different type. The airbag timing is affected by build options and seat type, and I believe @Ingineer has the tables for all the various builds. I imagine he would be able to get you back in business.

Thanks, sounds like it should have worked but not sure the owner knew exactly what he was doing. The seats do meet the description as to when it was new but I'm betting there are more variables than a guy at my pay grade understands!
 
So I haven't posted my Final thoughts yet because the RCM has not made it back to me with the new firmware tables for the Nextgen seats. But I have changed out the seats. This required to to remove the harness from my old seats and install them into the Nextgen seats. Pretty simple/straight forward and plug and play for the most part. So far everything appears to work as intended.
 
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So I haven't posted my Final thoughts yet because the RCM has not made it back to me with the new firmware tables for the Nextgen seats. But I have changed out the seats. This required to to remove the harness from my old seats and install them into the Nextgen seats. Pretty simple/straight forward and plug and play for the most part. So far everything appears to work as intended.

That's an excellent bit of news for those attempting the retrofit. It might be worth updating the DIY instructions to include that process for those who get the seats with the newer harness.
 
Did everything work for you? When you removed the old harness from your old seat to plug into the new seat, did it require cutting anything? I tried approaching a service center to do the retrofit. The Fremont SC says it isn't possible. I know they are wrong as there are seats that work with my car as I have heard of other vehicles doing the retrofit. Do you have the new seats with the adjustable headrests? or fixed?
 
So I just had a 90D loaner with the newest seats that have the motorized headrest and the 4 way lumbar adjustment.

I WANT them. They are WAY better than the first next gen seats. Can these be retrofitted on my 2015 P85D? Did you buy yours direct from Tesla?
 
Thanks for the blow by blow instructions.
I have similar issue but I want to go from the Next Gen to the older "Performance" seats.
The NG seats don't fit my back/shoulders.
I have a few questions if you don't mind -
1. Do you know if the seats are backwards compatible?
2. Did your software mods survive Tesla updates?

I came across the door panel strap In doing my map pocket mod - Check out my new door map pocket!
I puzzled over it for a bit then just cut the damn thing out.
I'll probably die....some day.
Thanks for all the info.

MDR
 
Thanks for the blow by blow instructions.
I have similar issue but I want to go from the Next Gen to the older "Performance" seats.
The NG seats don't fit my back/shoulders.
I have a few questions if you don't mind -
1. Do you know if the seats are backwards compatible?
2. Did your software mods survive Tesla updates?

I came across the door panel strap In doing my map pocket mod - Check out my new door map pocket!
I puzzled over it for a bit then just cut the damn thing out.
I'll probably die....some day.
Thanks for all the info.

MDR

It seems that at some point the NG seats got a revision and some of the hardware changed. However, from what I've read subsequent to my original post, it sounds like it should be doable. If yours are early NG seats, it is almost certainly a direct swap. If they are newer, I think you'd have to swap some plugs and harnesses around (and still reprogram the airbag module). My RCM updates did survive Tesla updates. This is why it is also important to update the build tables (my word, not an official term as far as I know), however; that way the car will apply the correct updates for your "new" build whenever you receive an over-the-air update. For what it is worth, I was told by a knowledgeable source that the airbag modules are not reprogrammed over the air, so any RCM updates would be done at the service center, in which case they would be able to see what type the seats were and shouldn't apply an update that doesn't apply to your vehicle. From what I understand, this is not something that is updated routinely anyways. The RCM is probably the one thing on the car that we don't want to be updated every 45 days; once they have it right, I imagine it is best left alone.... Good luck!

BTW: I imagine there are 100 guys on here who would pay for the entire swap (cost of labor and reprogramming both your RCMs, updating both vehicles' build tables, and installing door tethers) if you were willing to trade seats with them....
 
So I haven't posted my Final thoughts yet because the RCM has not made it back to me with the new firmware tables for the Nextgen seats. But I have changed out the seats. This required to to remove the harness from my old seats and install them into the Nextgen seats. Pretty simple/straight forward and plug and play for the most part. So far everything appears to work as intended.

The large clip is fairly simple to move over. How did you resolve the airbag wiring difference?
 
Bryan
Did you hear anything back on the airbag clip?
I have the same issue
 

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If you were replacing gen 1 seats with different gen 1 seats (say switching from leather to textile, for example), would the reprogramming of the airbag module still be necessary, or the strap in the door panel? From the description, it seems like those are only necessary due to differences between gen 1 and gen 2 seats, so swapping gen 1 for gen 1 (or 2 for 2) should be a simple unbolt/bolt and unplug/plug type swap. Is that the case?

If one of the vehicles had the cold weather package, would that be problematic when it comes to swapping the rear seats?

Thanks!
 
Can someone that has in their possession or took apart the old seats and NG seats confirm that the structure is different? I would think that the structure didn't change and just the foam and trim changed?
Would make the swap easier instead of swapping the whole seat.
 
@Jasencio did you ever finalize your NG seat swap on your 2013?
If so, would you mind sharing some info or mention the hardest challenge(es)?

I have contacted my nearest SC and was told to send it in in writings per e-mail, giving the VIN # of my own car and the donor car (which was salvaged). This I guess for them to know if they are compatible. The donor car was a '15 P85D, but I don't know if it was a pre or post Sept 16th car (my NG seats does not have adjustable headrests at least).

Speaking of generations of seats btw, please correct me if I'm wrong (I have not updated myself too much lately I must admit), but I though the generations were only 3 and to my knowledge goes as follows:
- First generation: They all had the same shape and the "Sports seats" delivered with the P-versions had a high contract edge (red on black seats). Side support are non existing its pretty pathetic calling it "Sports seat" just by adding some color. These were, if I remember correctly were produced by an Australian manufacture I cannot remember the name of.
- Second generation, a.k.a. Next Gen/NG, had much better side support and wider headrest (still non-adjustable). Produced by Recaro.
- Third generation, similar to the ones delivered in the Model X. Adjustable headrests (up-and down)?
Produced in-house by Tesla.
 

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