E60 seats in not a BMW
 

Hey guys, been lurking for a while trying to get some info on these E60 seats I picked up. I work at a small company called Icon 4x4 (maybe you've heard of it haha) I have 2 project cars getting them, one set are M5 seats the other are 528 seats, both from a 2008 E60. I have the underseat modules, switches etc etc and I've pinned out most of the wiring. Power and ground to the module and seat switches respectively, but I just figured out the switches arn't even attached to the seat modules, but to a center switch module via the K-line.

So my question is, since these seats are not in a BMW, can I just get the center switch module and wire it in? K-line to the seat switches, power and ground and what not. Think it would work totally stand alone without recoding or anything? If I cant make this work its gonna be a disaster of custom switches and relays and I do not wanna go down that route. Any info would be greatly appreciated!!

Mark

I don't think you have a chance at all in pulling this off. There is little to no reason to suspect the switch module will work directly to the seats without the gateway modules and when other signals are missing such as is the door open?, is the car moving?, etc.

Likewise, going totally manual and creating you own harness straight to the motors may require fighting with hall position sensors, etc. As you said, the seat buttons are not "switches" per se. They have the switch module send canbus signals. If you do make it work, you will need to create a switch panel as well that doesn't look some sort of frankenstein race car switch panel.

As a point of reference, I retrofitted Active Backrest motors and controllers into my E60 seats and it required 110 custom connections in my cables. That was just the backrest motors and modules.

-Jim

Oof yeah, I know its a shot in the dark. I looked a little deeper into the gateway module because that was the other one I was concerned about causing issues. I got the center switch modules from the wrecked cars the seats came from, so Im gonna play with em tomarrow. All I need em to do it move, dont care bout the active stuff, just need the manual adjustments from the switch panel.

Do the seats not move with the door closed and ignition off in the E60? I know some germans would do this, benz was one that comes to mind in the 80s and early 90s. No seat action unless the door was open, or the ignition on.