I have a front seat that is a mechanical mess and am wondering if anyone out there has been able to exchange this seat for a manually operated Volvo seat of another Volvo series. I am thinking of just checking the bolt pattern and then looking at various Volvo seats at my local salvage place but was wondering if anyone else has done this.

Would there be insurmountable problems with the SRS system?

Thanks very much,
Jim Lee
1996 960

I don't know a thing about it, but this is copied from the 700/900 FAQs:

Cable Failure on One Side.

[Inquiry] My drivers power seat will not move forward or backward on one of the rails. This causes the seat to twist rather than move forward/backward.

[Response: DanR/Bob] The same motor drives both sides via cables from each end; these in turn move each side of the seat. What happened on my seat was that the inner cable's end had rounded out on one side or has pulled back inside the sheath. The cables are round except for the last few inches where they are square. The square ends fit into the motor shaft and the gear on the track gear box. It seemed that the inner cable should have been longer than it was as just the last 1/8 inch was making it into the gear housing on the track. Many folks have repaired this by making the outer sheathing shorter to get more of the inner cable to seat into the gear housing. I didn't see any way of getting the metal sheath off the cable without destroying the ends. So I left it alone, all I did was insert 1/4 inch piece of round steel in the inside of the motor shaft to push the cable through the sheath further into the gear housing
[Tip] Cut off a finishing nail to a length of about 1/4", squareish on both ends. Drop it into the center hole where the cable fits into the motor; put the cable back in and reinstall everything.

Hit Paydirt with the 'cut the sheathing and stuff it in so that the cable is actually doing something ala

"Many folks have repaired this by making the outer sheathing shorter to get more of the inner cable to seat into the gear housing."

Now I am forward and backward which is fantastic and makes my afternoon.
On to the next challenge/learning experience.

Thanks all.

Jim Lee

The air bag in the side of the seat is a mechanical system, not connected to the SRS. When the detonator button is depressed, the air bag goes off.

If all that is wrong with your seat is the switch mechanism on the side of the seat, swap that out from a donor car. Or take your switch apart and clean the contacts.

Klaus
--
Why are Volvos so endearing? Its just a car.

I wish that it was just the switch mechanism. It is what I have read is a common problem with Power everything seats. The left side works but the right side is not able to move so all the motor can do is move the left side up or back a few inches. The problem is that the guy who had it before me must have been very very tall because it is now stuck almost as far back as it could be on the forward/backward scale. I would be happy if I could just move it up permanently a few inches because I am 5'9" and my wife is shorter and I can drive the car in the fixed position that it is in but it ain't very comfortable.

I removed the seat today which was surprisingly easy, and I have read some descriptions of fixing that cable by somehow removing it and cutting the casing then reinserting it into the mechanism that actually allows this monstrosity to turn but I do not see how to remove the cable end and it all looks tight in its place anyway. I was hoping that it would be obviously stretched out or disconnected but it looks perfectly normal.

Has anyone ever moved the seat manually just to leave it in a fixed position?
I would be glad to do that.


Thanks very much,
Jim Lee

I wish that it was just the switch mechanism. It is what I have read is a common problem with Power everything seats. The left side works but the right side is not able to move so all the motor can do is move the left side up or back a few inches. The problem is that the guy who had it before me must have been very very tall because it is now stuck almost as far back as it could be on the forward/backward scale. I would be happy if I could just move it up permanently a few inches because I am 5'9" and my wife is shorter and I can drive the car in the fixed position that it is in but it ain't very comfortable.

I removed the seat today which was surprisingly easy, and I have read some descriptions of fixing that cable by somehow removing it and cutting the casing then reinserting it into the mechanism that actually allows this monstrosity to turn but I do not see how to remove the cable end and it all looks tight in its place anyway. I was hoping that it would be obviously stretched out or disconnected but it looks perfectly normal.

Has anyone ever moved the seat manually just to leave it in a fixed position?
I would be glad to do that.


Thanks very much,
Jim Lee

Chris just answered your problem! Easy fix.

Klaus
--
Why are Volvos so endearing? Its just a car.