switching from leather to cloth

[mobomelter]

hey i was wondering how hard it would be to switch a set of leather seats to a set of cloth seats in a 2005 3s hatch? besides taking them out can you just unplug the airbag sensor and such and plug it back in? thanks!

[Kansei]

ooh airbag. scary stuff. Definitely disconnect the battery and make sure everything is discharged. Definitely be careful, and make sure you get a response from someone on here who actually has experience before doing it.

[mobomelter]

its just the weight sensor that tells the car wether or not to activate the airbag based on the passengers weight. i don't see why it could be that difficult unless its not just a plug.

[Kansei]

no, don't you have side airbags too? You have to disconnect the airbags that are in the seats to remove them. Yeah there's a weight sensor too, but it just affects the passenger side. Either way you are fooling around with pyrotechnics so be careful.

[then00b]

Wanna trade seats? :)

[Gambino]

Wanna trade seats? :)
you beat me to it! I will trade ya!

[mazda3zoom]

are u trading SEATS or seat covers?

[tsunami]

the passenger seat is connected to the seatbelt unlike the drivers seat, you need to take the whole seatbelt mechanism out of the car (detach it from the b-pillar support) and i am not to sure what is involved with side airbags as i don't have those. there are some big nasty plugs on the bottom of the seats, you need to pry up the little lock tab a tiny bit to get it to slide out, it is a pita.. and i was pretty pissed when i removed my drivers side that i couldn't just remove the passenger one as well and had to leave it in the car just unbolted so i could do what i had to do.......

[mobomelter]

yeah i figured it would end up being more pain that its worth. it sucks because i really hate leather....

[neoturner]

I can't believe my ears! You could get replacement seats at the drop of a hat. I can't imagine it is that hard to take out the seats, if somebody wanted leather bad enough they would probably do it for you. Gotta be a how-to the easy way somewhere.

[then00b]

Based on what I have tried to gather at M****************, you just slide the seats off the rails and then disconnect the airbags via small connectors with a screwdriver pressed down on the connectors?

Were you wanting to trade your seats or just wanting to save them in case?

[tsunami]

as i stated above, the passenger side seat is connected to the seatbelt, it doesn't go to the frame like on the drivers side it actually goes right to the seat, and you need to some how either remove it from the seat or from the b pillar, i didn't look that deep into it...

[mobomelter]

yeah its true i'm sure i could find someone who wanted leather badly enough to do the switch.

[Gambino]

yeah its true i'm sure i could find someone who wanted leather badly enough to do the switch.
come out to utah and I will swap you for my black blue cloth!

[then00b]

yeah its true i'm sure i could find someone who wanted leather badly enough to do the switch.
Guess who lives in VA, which is close to MD? (thumb)

Try heading over to m**************** and search around for removing the seats. Im sure its been done before.

[mobomelter]

tphskab why do you have to live in utah! thats exactly the seats i want too dammit.

[then00b]

mobo I have the black cloth with blue beads seats as well...

[mobomelter]

so did we decide that removing the seats wouldn't be that hard? because i'd want to get rid of the front and the back seats. are the leather cars any different than cars that come with cloth?

[solid_snake]

so did we decide that removing the seats wouldn't be that hard? because i'd want to get rid of the front and the back seats. are the leather cars any different than cars that come with cloth?

Side airbags(optional equipment), and the connectors under the seats are the seat belt pretensioner(sp?) connectors