The outer bolster on the driver's seat was in a poor state - all those years of climbing in & out of the car. The seat bases [passenger and driver] are interchangeable. So if you’re looking to replace a worn drivers seat base, try and source a passenger side seat base - while it might have a worn bolster, the chances are it won’t be that bad. More importantly, once installed the previously “worn” side will be against the transmission tunnel. Also, if you can source a matching base, it means you won’t need to remove the upholstery from the original seat base - thats what I did.


image above shows the "donor" seat base on top of the passenger seat

Prepare the donor seat base for installation. If swapping from passenger side to drivers side - that just means moving the heated seat cable to the corresponding hole on the otherwise of the metal seat base - otherwise the cable will be too short.



Clean the seat base thoroughly - its much easier to do this before the seat base is installed. Particularly if dealing with fabric or alcantara seats - which will need to be wet in order to lift any dirt or stains. I used tepid water and Autoglym Interior Shampoo - then left the seat base to dry in an airing cupboard for 48 hours…

To change the seat base:-

1. move the seat as far back & raise the height of the base as far a possible to make working under the seat easier.
2. remove the two M10 bolts from the underside of the front of the seat base.
3. tilt the front edge of the seat base upwards to about 25 degrees and lift it clear of the seat frame.
4. Disconnect the Heated seat connector [green connector located towards the centre of the vehicle] & the occupant pressure sensor cables [brown connector located towards the outside of the seat.. Remove the airbag cable and the seat upright heater cable from their clips at the rear of the seat base.
5. Remove the seat base from the vehicle.
6. replace the seat base with the donor unit - installation is the reverse of removal…

Simple job, really worth doing. Seat bolster is much firmer now...

Many thanks for that info. Jules

I thought it might be interesting to remove the cover from the original drivers seat base to see what has gone wrong... [take care if dismantling these seats - there are plenty of sharp edges - wear gloves]

Basically the PU foam has disintegrated - there is just a hole where the seat bolster used to be - with a light trace of dust / powder remaining. I had considered repairing the seat base by replacing the damaged section, i.e. cutting out the damaged area and replacing it with a section from another donor seat - but on reflection it is just too far gone...

For info, this was removed from a 2011 XS that has done 143k miles...

Click image to enlarge