How to remove front seats from a W210

[Parrot of Doom]

You may need to do this to replace an airbag sensor, or replace a seat cushion, or simply to get underneath the seat to clean the carpet. Thankfully its very easy to do on a manual seat. I do not have power seats but I would imagine the process is identical.

The job should take no more than 10 minutes.

Tools:

Ratchet
17mm socket
E12 socket

1) Push the seat back as far as it will go.

2) There are 4 bolts holding each seat, 1 on each corner. At the front they are concealed by plastic clips. These clips are removed by inserting your finger under the large tab, sliding forward until they stop. There is another tab that stops them moving further, you can defeat this by lifting the inside edge of the plastic piece, rotating it outward.

3) Once the plastic is removed the bolt is visible. Unscrew this as normal with your E12 socket. The bolt is quite long and substantial. Repeat for the other side.

4) There are wires underneath the seat, for seatbelt clips, airbag sensors, heated cushions, etc. Unplug the connectors for these.

5) Now push the seat as far forward as it will go, and unscrew the 2 bolts at the back. These are normally exposed.

6) The seat is now loose. Go to the front passenger door and lift the front of the seat up. The wires are still held by a small plastic clip, this can be freed by pushing the 2 halves of the clip together.

 

[Parrot of Doom]

7) The seatbelt needs to be removed. The belt is secured by a single 17mm bolt on the outside edge of the seat. This is accessed by removing the plastic panel, it is held in place by 2 clips on the bottom edge. It is probably easiest to tilt the seat over onto its side, and push the clips together from underneath the seat.

8) The seat is now free to be removed.

Be warned that the seats are heavy, you may need help to lift them.

9) You can now clean the years of crud that have accumulated under there!

I did this job because I wanted to see if I could machine wash the seat covers, unfortunately they are stitched into the cushions and therefore not washable (unless you are a seamstress). However I was able to take piccies of the seat:

Underside of the seat:

Seat base, underneath the cushion:

 

[Parrot of Doom]

Bigger versions of the images are available here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/soundman/sets/72157603651309715/

 

[Blobcat]

A bit extreme to get rid of all the Starbucks cups that you accumulated

Did you disconnect the battery before removing the connections to the seat? Although IIRC the seat belt pre-tensioner stays on the transmission tunnel so maybe not an issue to disconnect the battery.

 

[matthillier]

I have the same colour seats as yours and they get absoluely filthy (maybe I exagerate a little) I have considered changing them for darker/leather.
I also have an annoying creak coming from the back upright part of the seat on bends.
Any idea on the cost and availability....would it be something I could get from a breakers?

 

[mebobster]

USEFUL thread P.O.D....
on my W210, the star shape plastic knob (that helps to position the seat) on the right (lower) hand side of the seat which is connected to a rod had already been snapped off by the previous owner, and there is a bit of the rod still in it. assuming it was a dealer part, i went there and i was told that i would have to replace the whole seat base at a price which i feel is too ridiculous to mention. i am thinking about removing the seat and getting a similar rod welded onto wherever it fits... is that possible? OR can this rod be purchased separately, or is a breakers yard the best, not many W210s breaking in my part of the world unless you know of a model with a similar seat layout? many thanks...

 

[Parrot of Doom]

You could easily remove the seat and bodge it. Its what I'd do, faced with buying a new seat base! Its only a little bit of metal after all.

I have a creak on my driver's seat too, I just have to get around to finding out where it is. The cloth material cannot be removed easily, if you plan upgrading to leather then I reckon you'd be replacing the seats in their entirety.

 

[drbc43amg]

Have a W202 C240T and I'm wondering if removing the seats (non electrical) would be similar to the example you have shown... Thanks for and advice

 

[Brucey]

On this subject I have a 2001 W210 with similar upholstery colour to the one in the photo (which I think is an earlier pre-facelift W210). After 200,000km the driver's seat has just about worn through on the outer bolster and there's similar wear on the seat cushion. Anyway, I was visiting my son last week who lives in Stuttgart and we went to the MB service centre in Degerloch to see whether I could buy some material to repair it. The guy there was very helpful and said "Why bother - I can supply you with brand new replacement covers, just give me the VIN number and I'll have them here for you tomorrow afternoon"... needless to say with typical German efficiency the parts arrived the next day, ready to fit, with the seat heaters already installed. I even got a replacement top for the centre arm rest which was pretty well buggered too. So I'm off to the upholsterer tomorrow to have them fitted (I don't trust myself to DIY)... that is if I have recovered from the shock of the €484 bill. A lot of money but seeing as I intend to run the car into the deck it's a worthwhile investment. A bit expensive but we did get two complementary tickets to the Sindelfingen factory tour... (which was great).

My local Merc Agent in Nîmes (where I bought the car 10 years ago) was about as helpful as a chocolate teapot and just wanted me to buy a new car.