DS3 seat change

[Macavity]

Hallo all,

I would be grateful for advice on repairing or changing the front passenger seat in a 2010 DS3. The car was broken into & the seat has been forced forwards without using the lever. The bottom lever (the one in line with the pivot of the seat back) is detached from the seat. The top lever (up near the headrest) just flops around. I've tried refitting the bottom lever but without success. The seat and the seatback currently don't lock into position so the seat is unusable as is.

Are there spare parts available for the seat? I suspect probably not, in which case I'm looking at a secondhand seat from eBay. Is it straightforward to change? There appear to be 4 bolts that anchor the seat runners to the car floorpan. There's a plug and socket for the wiring. Given that the seat contains an airbag, and possibly other things connected to the ECU, I'm wondering if the new seat will just plug and play or whether it will be necessary to clear fault codes etc. and if so, how to do that.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Chris

[GiveMeABreak]

Hi Chris.

Although there are certain parts available for the seat, like the handles and trim, I think you'll find if it has been forced, then the internal mechanism (s) have been damaged and will likely need a seat replacement. Most of the spares are just the runner release cable and then as said the actual plastic trim shells and handles.

I suspect the top part is the lever to unlock the seat for tilting the seat forward - so if the trim handle does not look broken, then they have likely damaged the mechanism
The lower lever is probably the seat back lever control if the passenger side (as I think only the driver's side has the height raising option.

If you are considering replacing the seat, then you do need to get one from a DS3, but make sure if you have a DS3 'Racing' model, the seats are different, so get one from a non-racing model if you don't have this version.

You'll probably find most breakers will only sell the complete seat., whereas Citroen sell the the various parts like the squab cushion the seat back and then all the trim and various parts.

As for the Airbag, the replacement seat should just bolt into the runners and will connect up to the existing connections. Just make sure you disconnect the battery before starting this following the BSI Reset / Battery Disconnect / Reconnect Procedure when disconnecting and reconnecting the battery. This will allow the airbag ECU and the vehicles networks to sleep / discharge prior to removing the seat and replacing it. When you reconnect the battery after fitting, the Airbag ECU should detect the airbag and there should be no warnings. Just make sure the replacement seat you get has not had the side airbag deployed though!

[Macavity]

Marc,

Thanks for your very useful reply. I can't see a way of easily dismantling the seat so it does look like a seat change will be the simplest solution and it's good to know how to deal with the car electronics. The car is my neighbour's however and she may want me to try the dismantling route so I'm wondering if there's an exploded diagram available anywhere online? Thanks in anticipation.

Chris

[GiveMeABreak]

It's a very long winded process, stripping down the seat - but caution is advised as you also have the seat belt pretensioner buckles bolted to the seat frame as well as the airbag and electrical connections. There isn't a simple diagram as the whole thing has to be stripped down systematically and in order to get to the internals. You'd be far better off just getting a second hand seat from a breaker. There are some for about £100:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/294341110899 ... SwFBNhG4MU