Intermittent Issues With Easy Access

[Jamez]

I have an IS 300h with the leather seats option which means I have the easy access feature which retracts the steering wheel and moves the seat back when exiting the car and then moves them into my preset position when I get into the car and fasten the seat belt. Since I got the car there has been a recurring intermittent problem which my dealer won’t fix.

Approximately 1 in 10 times when I enter the car the seat base does not move forward into the current position resulting in me having to stretch too far to comfortably reach the steering wheel. The only way to correct this is to un-plug the seat belt, turn off the power and then start over again.

The car has been back to the dealer twice now but each time they can’t recreate the problem so they can’t fix it. Has anyone else seen this issue and if so what did you do to get the dealer to fix it?

[ColinBarber]

Never experienced this.

How do you normally initially make the seat/steering wheel move, by pressing the start button or putting on the seat belt? When it doesn't work correctly does pressing the memory button make the seat move to the correct place?

[Jamez]

Thanks for the reply..

I can't be 100% sure but I think the issue happens when I fasten the seat belt first or when I press the power button first. That's a good call though and I'll ensure I fasten belt then power for a while and see if the issue remains.

When the seat does not move into the correct position, pressing the memory button does nothing. My take on this is the seat thinks it's in the correct position. My guess is it's a sensor issue but the dealer says unless the diagnostics says there is an issue they don't get paid for changing any parts.

Thanks...

[ColinBarber]

if you suspect it thinks the seat is in the correct position then try moving it back/forwards a little and then press the memory button. If it still doesn't move then I'd say it is an memory position ECU problem, if it moves back a little then yes the position sensor would be the likely culprit, and if moves a long way to the correct position then.....well it could be several things.

[LeeG]

Hi James,

Quick one to check...

If you press the 'Start' button and immediately put the car in 'Drive', the steering wheel does not go into position.

I have to turn off and on again. I cannot be certain if the seat does the same as I have disabled the easy access as my youngest child seat is behind me and I won't get him in the car otherwise. :)

Lee.

[wendle]

This has happened to me once or twice, I don’t know if you

have your seat going partially or fully back but because the seat will stop
moving if you put any pressure on it, if you start getting out of the car
before the seat has moved back to its full position the seat will stop which
means when you get back in the car the seat is not in its correct starting
position, but as others have said just push your pre set button and it will
move to its correct position.

[Jamez]

Bit of an update and thanks for everyone's comments.

I still have the problem with roughly the same frequency though thanks to the better weather I'm cycling to work everyday again now so I'm making less trips in the car therefore data collection is impacted.

One key thing I discovered (user error) is the seat memory buttons only work when the car is in Park. So what I've discovered is when the seat stops short, pressing the memory button for my position does move the seat into the correct position. So for some reason the seat stops and knows it's in the wrong position (suspect this makes finding the cause more tricky).

I've not been regimented enough on seat belt before start button to try and spot if it's a related to sequence so I've installed a post-it note on the dash to remind me.

I've also tried jumping around in the seat while it's moving but that has not made it fail to move correctly.