Originally Posted by whizzkid23 (Post 1127762)

I have a 2006 3.0i and I've also had the seatmat problem. Sometime it worked, sometime it did not recognize a adult person...so I decided to get rid of the seatmat. Replacing it at the dealer would have costed around 1000$...that's not a option in my eye.

The 2006 X5 would have been covered by a recall in USA..but as I'm living in Italy, no coverage at all.

The latest X5 E53 models (2005-2006) and respective seatmats, don't use a simple signal that you can reproduce with some resistors. It's a digital signal you have to reproduce with the help of a microprocessor.

I've found digital seatmat emulators on the bay...and used one for about 1 year. It did the job...but actually it caused other problems like sometimes the remote key not beeing able to lock the car or "key in ignition" ringing even if the key was not in the ignition. As soon as i disconnected the emulator..."key in ignition" message disappeared. Found the culprit!

I then bought another module, hoping that maybe this would behave differently. Installed it, no more strange behaviours...but unfortunately it drained the battery over night.

It seems that even if those emulators are able to get rid of the seatmat, they are not comunicating with the other modules as it should...

I ended up coding the occupancy sensor out with the help of BMW SCANNER...by unchecking "Occupancy classification System" and "Seat Occupancy Recognition" in the Airbag module.

It did the trick, but actually now also the seatbelt warning is not working, even if I did non disable it in BMW Scanner. I guess The Occupancy Classification System is needed for the seatbelt warnings to be active.... but it's just a guess.

I hope to be able to read the Airbag module with NCS EXPERT in future, to see what unchecking of the "Occupancy classification system" and "Seat Occupancy Recognition" actually did on the coding of the car... but at the moment I am not familiar with it.

Originally Posted by Fifty150hs (Post 1127767)

The SRS occupancy sensor mat is a recall item. It can be replaced for free.

Originally Posted by whizzkid23 (Post 1127772)

Unfortunately the recall is limited to the US market only. No coverage in Europe (makes no sense to me as they officially aknowledged the construction defect).

This was the response of BMW USA:

"Recalls and Limited Extended Warranties are only valid on U.S. vehicles serviced within the United States. Repairs can be only be performed at an authorized BMW center in the U.S."

Originally Posted by Fifty150hs (Post 1127767)

The SRS occupancy sensor mat is a recall item. It can be replaced for free.

Originally Posted by Bluemach1 (Post 1134659)

I don't think that this applies to the X5. Just the X3 and other sedans.

If it does apply to the X5, can you please point to some information?

Thanks!

Originally Posted by Bluemach1 (Post 1134677)

Entered the VIN for my 2006 3.0i and it doesn’t show any open recalls?