Retrofit memory seats ??

jumbojake · July 9, 2016

I have a 2012 200d (Advance) and it has electric seats and mirrors, but does not have the memory option.

Has anyone investigated what the upgrade involves? .... ... is it just the switch panel in the door, or a few extra bits?

Just wondered if its worth a trip to a scrapyard to find a few bits....

steve2006 · July 10, 2016

If you are the only/main driver I would ask why you need this facility, converting the existing system would probably not be cost effective for the benefit of 2 driving positions at the push of a button.

Linas.P · July 11, 2016

It would be impractical as the memory unit is not in the seat or door, but rather in one of "body" ECU's. To make your seats memory you would need to replace that particular control unit + door piece which has memory controls and bunch of cables. P/X to the car which already has memory seats would be much cheaper and in many ways better. Not to say it is not possible to do, but would require a lot of know how and time.

jumbojake · July 11, 2016

Thanks, that's the detail I wanted to discover..... not worth it.

I know sometimes all you need is a couple of bits (like just adding the stalk to give cruise control on an avensis) .... but sounds like this isn't one of those cases!

...... I'll just have to ban my wife from driving my IS

jackcramerr · July 11, 2016

I have noticed is250, you cannot retrofit anything almost. So anyone reading this and possibly going to buy am is250, get one with all the buttons. At some time of life, one wants it.

Linas.P · July 12, 2016

13 hours ago, jackcramerr said:

I have noticed is250, you cannot retrofit anything almost. So anyone reading this and possibly going to buy am is250, get one with all the buttons. At some time of life, one wants it.

That is true, but as well Lexus made IS with very comprehensive basic trim and when comparing price with BMW, Audi and MB, you can easily get fully loaded IS250SEL for the price of pretty basic 3-series, A4 or C-Class.

ColinBarber · July 12, 2016

On 11 July 2016 at 9:37 AM, Linas.P said:

It would be impractical as the memory unit is not in the seat or door, but rather in one of "body" ECU's. To make your seats memory you would need to replace that particular control unit + door piece which has memory controls and bunch of cables. P/X to the car which already has memory seats would be much cheaper and in many ways better. Not to say it is not possible to do, but would require a lot of know how and time.

Even worse is the fact that the seats probably don't contain the positioning sensors on them, so you would need new seats, wiring looms, seat/door ECUs, switch gear and trim panel.

Linas.P · July 13, 2016

12 hours ago, ColinBarber said:

Even worse is the fact that the seats probably don't contain the positioning sensors on them, so you would need new seats, wiring looms, seat/door ECUs, switch gear and trim panel.

That is true as well. I didn't go to much of the detail, but the main point is that it would require to replace half of the car and it is definitely not cost effective.

In the other hand, I think replacing ECU is not necessary, most likely it will either be standard for all cars or programmable.. Does that make this job feasible? - definitely no.

ColinBarber · July 13, 2016

11 hours ago, Linas.P said:

In the other hand, I think replacing ECU is not necessary, most likely it will either be standard for all cars or programmable.. Does that make this job feasible? - definitely no.

That is not how Toyota traditionally do things.

Linas.P · July 14, 2016

12 hours ago, ColinBarber said:

That is not how Toyota traditionally do things.

I believe it is increasingly the case for all car makers, not only Toyota. This is partially down to the way how car manufacturing works. Except Toyota and Volkswagen the rest of car manufacturers are actually smaller then they suppliers, namely Denso, Bosch. Therefor it is not up to manufacturer to decide how they want to make the car.

When it comes to IS250 all ECUs are provided by Denso and therefore Denso decides what functionality is going to be in which ECU. Obviously, Toyota has some bargaining power, but is very unlikely they will order some custom ECU to make retrofitting possible, rather opposite they will go with as much as possible standard configuration for cost cutting and adapt the most universal and common type and then build the car around it.