[markp]

So after an abortive attempt with some TT Mk1 seats where we could not get them to work with my short daughter, I have put in a pair of A1 S-Line half leather. As someone said somewhere else on this forum, they are higher than standard, probably by about 25mm. They also tilt back slightly more.

This is what we did:
Steel plates bolted to the existing fixing points
The inside plate is 50mm wide then outside 85mm side shaped slightly to the rear.
1 short button-head bolt on the inside plate at the rear tapped and fixed with Loctite so that it become a stud.
Bolt the wide plate to the outside seat runner
Now fit the seat and the front inside is the original fixing hole. The rear inside is on the stud.
The outside is fixed to the original seat fixings.
Under the rear of each plate is a packing piece about 10mm thick to lift the rear of the seat.

Under the seat the airbag connector is the same.
The seat belt & heated seats need the connectors changing but that is simple.
For the occupancy sensor in the passenger seat and additional common wires needs adding as the original Audi fitting is all seat belt & sensor in a 3 pin connector.
I left the Audi seat belt clips on but you can remove them and put the original ones on but they are lower down.

The colours are pretty close with the main grey an almost perfect match and the centre panel close.
This is a 2016 5 door High Up! although the seats are from a 3 door but it does not really matter in this direction

 

[RedTSi]

Nice project and good looking seats!
... just wondering how much additional weight was added by the seats.

 

[AT999]

Yes nice seats! How is the new driving position, being 25mm higher?

 

[markp]

Driving position is pretty good, it does feel slightly high compared to what it was with the seat on the lowest setting. I had to raise the steering wheel slightly to compensate but other than that, it has been a neat conversion, The goal of improved support and comfort has been achieved with very little compromise.



In answer to RedTsi, the seats are a little heavier, I don't know exactly by how much but I need to take the passenger side out again when some connectors arrive to split the seat belt passenger occupancy sensor wires so it is connected properly. When I do that I will weigh then and compare to the old.

 

[RedTSi]

In answer to RedTsi, the seats are a little heavier, I don't know exactly by how much but I need to take the passenger side out again when some connectors arrive to split the seat belt passenger occupancy sensor wires so it is connected properly. When I do that I will weigh then and compare to the old.

Sweet! Looking forward to the results.

 

[markp]

I took the passenger seat out today to sort out the Seat Occupancy Sensor now the connector has arrived so here are the seat weights:
Up Driver Seat: 18Kg
Up Passenger Seat 16Kg
A1 Seat 26Kg (both)
So yes they are heavier and the A1 seat includes the 4mm plates I used to make the rail fixings work in the Up. I am guessing some of the weight is the leather, then there is more padding and lumbar adjustment. The underlying sub frame is not that different but the runners are a different design that is clearly heavier.

Now for the less good news......
I cannot get rid of the seat belt alert when the Seat Occupancy Sensor is plugged in. It turns off when you put the passenger seat belt in so it is working from a logic perspective. Looking in the Airbag section of Odbeleven Pro, it shows as "Reserved". I try to make it active and get "31, not allowed". I try to reset the serial number and get the same.

Does anyone have any idea how to sort this out as it clearly knows the Seat Occupancy Sensor has been changed?

 

[RedTSi]

Thx for posting the results! The difference is not that bad (especially compared to a full-leather interior of a mini about a decade ago + 80kg).

Wish i could help you. Sry, no experience with OBDeleven (VCDS, and so on).

 

[markp]

The Airbag Module is being identified:
Address 15: Airbags
Identifier: J234
Description: VW10Airbag01S
Hardware Number 1S0959655B

An older version of VCDS suggests the code is 20234 however this is rejected so it is clearly not that. Any suggestions welcome.
The options as I see it are:
Leave it unplugged however I am not sure of the impact on the airbag deployment
Dismantle both the Up seat & A1 seat swap the sensor
Buy a new sensor (although the prices varies from "What!" to "You must be joking!!!!)
See if I can find a service workshop and pay then to reset it.......
Make a simple pressure switch in the Audi seat that completes the circuit so mirroring unplugging and plugging the connector.

 

[markp]

Okay, this is more hopeful, a call to my local ( and always very helpful) VW dealer resulted in:
"Oh, the sensor can be swapped out really easily, you don't have to dismantle the seat. Just squeeze the two plastic retaining pins, put your fingers between the metal plate and foam base then carefully slide it out."

5 minutes later I now have the VW sensor out. I just need to see if fitting it into the Audi seat is as easy. At least replacing it is simple as well. A new sensor is £41 for a VW original part and apparently they are passive, not coded so the issue is that the Audi one is a different resistance (higher) and I cannot get it low enough to still work properly as a parallel resistor swamps the change in the sensor. Further updates to come......

 

[markp]

Finally sorted everything so that it works as it should......
The sensor from the Up would not really go into the A1 seat as the apertures were the wrong size and the foam was too tight against the base. Back with a meter measuring the resistance and I decided that it was worth a punt trying the original A1 sensor again. My initial measurements had been incorrect as the battery in the multi-meter needed changing. It appeared that something between around 3.3k to 3.9k might sort things out. That was no good so I wired a spare 5k adjustable in one side. Eureka, I could now get it to work, even better I could use a small 1k multi-turn preset that I had in my box of stuff. Now all wired up and heat-shrunk so that the preset can be tweaked if required. It is very sensitive and two turns of the 10 turn preset is the adjustment between the extremes of not working.

So a bit of a faff the first time round but dead easy to do now the problems are resolved. The big winner is the airbag connector as it did not need changing, no coding or anything. From what I understand resetting the seat occupancy sensor controller would have worked but the code to enter the module to recalibrate does not appear to be available.

 

[The_ASH]

Interesting and detailed guide Mark.

It’s a shame it adds more weight but extra comfort and support is a good trade off for that. The added height to the seating position would kill it for me as I do like to sit as low as possible in a chassis. Also the loss of the tartan upholstery finish is a negative as I’ve always felt that adds to the sense of occasion when you open the door and get in being a reminder that ‘you are driving a GTi’ it’s somehow part of the character of the car… of course… you can’t see the pattern once you are sat on it but there’s a logo on the steering wheel for that.

People do a similar mod to the Panda 100hp, the original seat bases collapse over time so some fit 500 Lounge seats which are softer and more sponge like, more comfortable but somehow robs the car of something. The other route is fitting Abarth 500 cloth seats which are very similar to the originals comfort wise, the leather ones being more plush looking but rock hard to sit on.