Part 1
Seats
COMPONENT LOCATION
OVERVIEW
Two variants of driver and passenger front seats are available:
- Low line seat with 8-way adjustment
- High line seat with 10-way adjustment.
The front seats are fitted with the seat belt bolted to the seat rail. The frames are common to both variants and are equipped with the following:
- Seat control switches
- Cushion front height adjustment
- Cushion rear height adjustment
- Cushion front tilt adjustment (high line only)
- Backrest adjustment
- Head restraint adjustment
- Lumbar adjustment
- Seat forward and rearward adjustment
- Side air bag module
- Backrest heating
- Cushion heating
- Seat climatic control (available as an option on the high line version).
WARNING: Prior to removal of the front seats and before disconnecting the front seat wiring harness electrical connectors (which includes the side air bag module electrical connectors), the battery ground cable should be disconnected and a period of at least 1 minute allowed to elapse. The same amount of care should be taken when handling and storing the front seats, as would be taken when handling and storing air bag modules.
Both variants of the front seats are fitted with a manually adjustable folding armrest on the inboard side of the seat. The memory recall functions are also available on higher specification vehicles.
The driver and passenger front seats, although almost identical, have some unique components:
- The front driver seat has a seat position sensor
- The front passenger seat on North American Specification (NAS) vehicles have a seat occupant classification system
- The front passenger seat on Rest Of the World (ROW) vehicles, except Australia, has a seat occupancy detection system.
The occupant classification system and the seat occupancy detection system both form an integral part of the Supplemental Restraint System (SRS). For additional information, refer to Air Bag Systems Description and Operation
The rear bench seats are designed to fold forward to increase the rear load space. a 60:40 split gives the owner increased flexibility when loading the vehicle with large objects. All rear seats are equipped with 3-point seat belts and adjustable head restraints. The seats can also be fitted with seat cushion heaters in both outboard seats, climate control and also the following electric adjustment:
- Backrest adjustment
- Lumbar support adjustment.
Integrated Whiplash Reduction System
The integrated whiplash reduction system is incorporated into the backrest of the front seats. Head restraint forward positioning is activated by the natural occupant rearward displacement during low speed rear impacts. The head restraint forward positioning is achieved by 10.8 degrees maximum movement of an integral seat deployment paddle.
FRONT SEAT CONTROLS
NOTE:
Hi-line version shown, lo-line similar.
The switch pack is mounted on the seat valance of the driver and passenger seats and provides movement in the following axis:
- Seat forward/rearward adjustment
- Seat height adjustment
- Seat angle adjustment
- Backrest angle adjustment
- Head restraint height adjustment (electric only on hi-line - manual on lo-line)
Electric adjustment of the seat position can be carried out at any time, having priority over memory recall. For more information regarding seat operation, refer to the owner's handbook.
FRONT SEATS
On seats with the memory function, seat position is monitored by the seat memory control module using Hall sensors incorporated into the motors. Seat memory is standard on the driver's seat and optional on the passenger seat. Each seat memory can be configured for 3 memory positions, which are set using the seat memory switch and stored in the seat memory control module.
The switches for electrically adjusting the seats are located in the seat switch pack on the seat valance. The seat memory control module is located under the seat and controls the movement of the seat via hard-wired connections to the motors.
On passenger seats without the memory function, the seat switch pack is connected directly to the seat motors.
Seat Motors
The seat motors are permanent magnet motors. Two pins within the seat switch pack control the motors. Both pins are connected to ground. Operating a switch in one direction will apply voltage to that pin while the other pin remains connected to ground. Operating the switch in the opposite direction reverses power and ground to the motor allowing the motor to run in the opposite direction.
The seats can be manually adjusted at any time. Positioning is interrupted if manual adjustment is required during automatic adjustment (memory recall). The manual adjustment is not effective before the switch is operated again.
Due to the sequential activation of the drive motors, the switch requests are prioritized in the following order:
- Forward/rearward adjustment
- Backrest
- Height
- Angle
- Head restraint
- Backrest head
- Steering column angle
- Steering column forward/rearward adjustment.
Heated Front Seats
The seat heater elements are located in the seat cushion and backrest. The cushion and backrest heater elements are wired in series. The cushion heater element has an input feed from the temperature control unit and an output to the backrest heater element, which outputs to ground.
The seat heaters are thermostatically controlled and will operate intermittently to maintain a predetermined temperature. The indicators in the switches will remain illuminated until the heaters are either manually turned off, or the starter switch is turned off.
Feedback of the seat temperature is via a NTC (negative temperature coefficient) sensor within the seat cushion. The resistance of this sensor changes with the temperature of the seat cushion allowing the ATC (automatic temperature control) module to raise or lower the voltage to the seat heater elements to raise or lower their temperature.
An ignition feed is supplied to each sensor via the relevant seat heater switch.
Operation of the heated seats is controlled by the ATC (automatic temperature control) module. Two push-button switches are mounted in the ATC (automatic temperature control) module panel. Each switch has 2 integral Light Emitting Diodes (LED) to display the level of heating selected.
Climate Front Seats
Front Seat Heating/Climate Controls
High specification vehicles are fitted with climatic seats, which are able to deliver heating and cooling to the front seat occupants. Vehicles fitted with climatic seats feature 2 additional rotary controllers mounted in the ATC (automatic temperature control) module switch pack, adjacent to the clock. The rotary controllers are used to select cooling and heating. Three levels of cooling and heating are available, dependant on the degree of controller rotation. The center of the controller is pressed once to ventilate both the seat back and cushion (both indicators on the switch will illuminate). A second press of the switch will ventilate the seat back rest only (the cushion indicator will extinguish).
Front Seat Climate Control Module
NOTE:
If climatic seats are fitted, heated seat switches are not featured on the ATC (automatic temperature control) module control panel. They are located in the lower panel, either side of the clock.
NOTE:
The ATC (automatic temperature control) module does not control any aspect of climatic seat operation.
The controlling software for the climatic seats is contained within a front seat climate module mounted on the floorpan, below the front passenger seat. When a temperature selection is made through either of the rotary seat climate controllers, the ATC (automatic temperature control) module switchpack provides a medium speed CAN (controller area network) bus message to the climate module. The climate module interprets the medium speed CAN (controller area network) bus message as a temperature value and attempts to heat or cool the seat accordingly.
Both climatic front seats contain two Peltier cells; one in the cushion, one in the backrest. The Peltier cells are able to deliver heating and cooling based on a voltage provided by the climate module. Each seat also contains a fan, which blows air over the Peltier cells to distribute heating or cooling throughout the seat. The Peltier effect occurs when an electrical current is passed through a junction formed by two dissimilar conductors, creating a heat pump. A heat pump absorbs heat from one side of the system, causing it to cool, and then transfers the heat to the other side, causing it to warm. The cell is capable of cooling the incoming air by approximately 8°C (12.4°F), which means that temperature output will depend on the ambient temperature inside the vehicle.
The climate module monitors seat heating through a NTC (negative temperature coefficient) temperature sensor. The temperature sensor is only used to monitor seat heating. Seat cooling is open loop, with no temperature signal provided back to the climate module. When a temperature selection is made through either of the rotary controllers, the ATC (automatic temperature control) module switchpack provides a medium speed CAN (controller area network) bus message to the climate module as a temperature value and attempts to heat or cool the seat accordingly.
Although the rotary control LED (light emitting diode)'s will illuminate if a selection is made when the ignition is in the on mode, the Peltier cells will not operate until the engine is running. After the ignition is in the off mode, the climate module will retain the current temperature settings for approximately 15 minutes. After this period, the seats will be set to 'off' when the ignition is in the on mode.
Front Seat Lumbar Adjustment
Lumbar adjustment is provided by an inflatable cushion with dual air cells and an air pump installed in the seat backrest. A valve block containing solenoid valves controls the inflation of the cushion in relation to switch selections made on a 4-way switch.
The 4-way switch is located on the seat switchpack and controls the operation of the backrest lumbar pump and valve block solenoids.
The lumbar pump inflates cells in a cushion in the backrest via a valve block, which provides extra support for the seat occupant. With no load on the seat it takes approximately 10 seconds to completely inflate the bladder. With a load of 25 kg (55 lb) it takes approximately 15 seconds to inflate the cushion. A pressure cut off switch in the system will operate at 0.12 to 1.93 bar (1.8 to 28 lbf.in2 ).
SEAT MEMORY CONTROL MODULE
The seat memory control module is located on the underside of the seat frame of the seat it controls. The module relies upon a number of inputs to control various outputs. As with all electronic control modules, the unit needs information regarding the current operating conditions of the engine and other related systems before it can make calculations, which determine the appropriate outputs.
The memory control module can store up to 3 different driver seating, mirror and steering column positions for each key. The passenger seat memory module only stores memory positions relating to the front passenger seat.
All memory values are stored in the non-volatile memory, EEPROM. The current motor positions, which are monitored by the seat memory control module using Hall sensors integral with the motors, are stored in the EEPROM. If a loss of power occurs, when the power supply is restored the current motor positions are recalled from the memory and adopted as the current positions. This allows the relative memory positions to be retained without any need to re-calibrate. The memory control module checks the integrity of all data stored in the EEPROM each time it exit's stand-by mode. In the event that the data is corrupt, the control module adopts the default values for all of the programming options. All memory positions are deemed as invalid and the software will perform as if there are no memory positions stored. Following the procedure for storing a memory position again will reset the relevant memory and allow full functionality.
Memory
Function
Controlled by the driver's seat memory control module, the memory function stores and recalls the position of the driver's seat, the steering column and the exterior mirrors.
The memory recall functions are:
- Forward/backward adjustment
- Seat height
- Seat angle
- Backrest angle
- External mirror adjustment
- Steering column adjustment
The seat, steering column, and exterior mirrors will move to the stored position whenever the relevant memory-recall button in pressed.
The passenger seat memory control module stores and recalls the position of the front passenger seat only. The memory recall function for the passenger seat are as follows:
- Forward/backward adjustment
- Seat height
- Seat angle
- Backrest angle.
For more information regarding the operation of the memory function, refer to the owner's handbook.
NOTE:
Seat, steering column and exterior mirror movement will be halted if any seat adjustment switch (including memory buttons) or the steering column adjustment switch is moved or pressed. To re-start movement of these, the relevant seat memory button will need to be pressed again.
On vehicles with electric rear seats, the power supplies for the seat motors are supplied via the seat memory control modules. Therefore, it is possible for a vehicle to have a non-memory passenger seat but have the seat memory control module located below it to provide power to the rear, passenger side seat motors.