How to permanently set and program the seat position.
 

I think i finally figured it out! I bought my 2002 X5 (3.0i) about a year ago, and I'd always wondered why I would program the seat to the position I want, lock the door, come back to drive, and find that the seat has moved.
As you may well know, it turns out that a certain seat position is stored with a particular physical key, and this seat position is apparently different and independent from the seat position you program on the actual seat (with the numbers 1 2 & 3). So opening the door remotely with the key (by pressing the clicker twice) will cause the seat to move to the position associated with the key, regardless of the programmed position you set it to by pushing the buttons on the actual seat.

I took the car to the dealership, but they "claimed" the seat's key position could only be re-programmed if they hooked their computer up to it...for about $80.00. "Go to hell", I thought to myself. So anyway, after months of playing around with my keys and seats, I think I figured it out. Do the following...

-Turn the car on (or set the ignition to position 2, just before engine start)
-Set the seat to the position you'd like it to be in
-Hit the RED memory button, then the number (1 2 or 3) that you want
-Remove the key from the ignition, get out, and lock the door remotely
-Put the key in the key-hole in the door, and turn it anti-clockwise...all the way. Hold it there. (After 3 seconds or so, the windows will roll down, but do the following BEFORE the windows roll down).
-Now, push the button on the key for opening the door twice, then, hit the door lock button on the key. Do all this while holding the key in the anti-clockwise extreme position.

**Voila. Check, and you'll probably find that the seats will remain at the position you set, even after opening the door remotely. Now, this worked for me, and I'm not sure it's a published procedure. I've been searching all over the internet for a solution, but I never found anything that worked. This most definitely worked for me. Let me know if it works for you.

Welcome and thanks; but this has been discussed a thousand times around these parts. It's even included in the manual on the home page of this site.

Not sure what you're talking about. Everything on the front page of this website talks about the "DEALER" programming the seat positions. I'm describing my DIY procedure. If someone else has described my procedure, then I apologize for the repitition. I just haven't seen it here.

I haven't seen it before, either. I will give your method a try tomorrow, and let you know if it works for me, too. Thanks.

For what it's worth, I appreciate the info, I have looked for it too, and all I found was 'your dealer can do this for you'.

thanks, and again, everyone, I love this site, thanks for all the info!

--Troy

Hey no problem. How about this???
See page 50 and page 61.
This assumes that certain features
have been activated by the dealer.

The process i describe worked from day one
for me. So i never went thru dealer activation.

It's also important to remember that if you
don't use that second key for a while it will not
work because it will need to be charged up
and possibly re-programed for the second
setting all over again.

This is another programing process.
http://www.xoutpost.com/x5-e53-forum/...ght=key+memory

Thanks for the info and i have tried it as well and it worked. Definitely, it saves you money as i was always told that only a Stealer could program it and they wanted $$$$. Once again, thanks a lot for the info.

;)

Just as a sanity check, I moved my seats no a new position and tried the procedure again. It worked.

Made into an article for future reference - http://www.xoutpost.com/articles/x5/i...-position.html

wow - he's only got 4 posts and he's got an article? what am I doing wrong? LOL

I have this issue whenever I lend my sister in law my car, she moves the seat up.. then when I go to get in the car, it moves all teh way up on me while I'm trying to sit down LOL. This is after she has gotten out of the car and locked it herself though...

So I'm just thinking - there has to be a simpler way to get to the final result.