Putting Used Volvo Seats In a _______?

Ford Flex

Mrs. Clarty and I bought a "new" (2011) Ford Flex last Fall, and have discovered that on long trips, the thing is intolerably uncomfy. Granite, these are the base-model cloth seats, but I'm talking about a lack of back- and leg support and sciatic nerve pain, not kvetching about not having leather.

Our old car, the volvo V70XC, was superlatively comfortable, no matter how long the trip.

Is it possible to install a set of decent-condition Volvo seats in a car like the Flex? I know the passenger seat has an occupancy sensor that turns off the airbag if a wee one is sitting there--can that be put in the Volvo seat?

Thanks

I've heard the S60 seats from Volvo are amazing, most modern cars that have passenger side airbags also have the sensor

Anything can fit anywhere, as long as you aren't trying to fit a Kenworth seat into a RX7. I bet into a Flex would be cake.

Electrically could be a wee bit more difficult, but if you don't get too new (with Volvo, 2001 or newer) with the donor seats, you won't need to worry about module communications, and can just plug in power and ground and lose the memory functions. If you be smart like rocket surgeon, maybe you can science that out too.

Occupancy sensors, I bet you can adapt, as long as the sensor isn't too smart. Older ones are just an on/off switch.

I have 2003ish Saab 9-3 seats in my Mini and I had to essentially redesign the controls for the left seat as it would only move fore/aft unless the seat computer module got the ok from other computers that it was ok to move the seat via the CANBUS (or whatever Saab called it). So, get old enough seats or maybe some other Ford seats if you want them to just plug in and work. I would also be concerned about the in seat airbag compatibility.

I wonder how close the controls are on the S80 chassis seats. They did do a lot of platform sharing with that car.

I would be more worried about any side airbags. They are often in the seats.

I put late model BMW heated seats in a 70 chevelle. I've considered the Volvo swap into my '04 Silverado too.

As noted above the Flex likely has its side airbags in the seats. By unplugging them or trying to make other seats work, you may trip the dreaded SRS light and disable the system. Considering that Ford Focuses will do this even if you swap for other Focus seats with the correct bags just because the year of the airbag module is different, I'd say this will be a challenging project.

hehehehehehehehe........

I had a similar issue, and solution.... about 20 years ago - I owned a Ford(Mercury) Capri series 1, the seats were utter crap. I went to a local yard bought a pair of Volvo 242GT seats and it transformed the crappy Capri from a pain in the back to a grand tourer....

SlickDizzy wrote: As noted above the Flex likely has its side airbags in the seats. By unplugging them or trying to make other seats work, you may trip the dreaded SRS light and disable the system. Considering that Ford Focuses will do this even if you swap for other Focus seats with the correct bags just because the year of the airbag module is different, I'd say this will be a challenging project.

I agree on the challenge. I have just about given up on the idea of putting aftermarket seats in my 2010 Transit Connect.

On the TC the drivers seat has: Seat Belt sensor, Side Airbag, and a Seat Position sensor. The passenger seat has: Seat Belt sensor, Side Airbag, and an Occupant Classification Sensor bladder and module.

If any of these are not present the SRS system will not work. The only way I can see putting another drivers seat in is to use the stock base to keep the seatbelt and position sensors and use a resistor to "spoof" the side airbag. The seat position sensor is built into the seat base and I don't think I could get it to work on another seat.