W210 Electric Headrest is Dead

[Nick Buckley]

My car is a December 1997 E320 Estate and runs and feels like new. The only thing that is not perfect is that I can't adjust the electronic drivers headrest which is in a half up position. I noticed in the supplied manual that if the battery has been disconnected the electric headrest will need resetting. To do this, move the seat forward and drop the headrest. I can move the seat forward but the headrest won't move and I don't want to use any force.

Am I missing a trick? The electric headrest has no manual release levers and I can't work out how to move it.

Your help will be appreciated, thank you

 

[brandwooddixon]

The reset is only so that as you move the seat back and forth the headrest moves up and down. The resetting is rather like that whioch you do for the elctric windows in order to enable their one touch feature.

If by using the headrest button it doesn't move then it looks as if you have an electrical fault there.

 

[Nick Buckley]

Thanks for that. I feared that may be the case. When pressing the switch for the headrest in the control panel on the door, I can feel a feint vibration. I am not sure if that means the problem is within the control panel or it's connection to the head-rest.

It is not a major issue, just something that would be nice to fix. The rest of the seat adjusters work fine.

Maybe I should leave it and only start probing if something else stops working, unless anybody can suggest an easy fix based on the extra info just given about the feint vibration when the switch is pushed.

Thanks

 

[toby1]

If it's any help, the same thing happened to mine.

I took it to MB Newbury and they carried out a "reset" and now it's fine.

I've no idea what is involved with a "reset" I'm afraid, but maybe someone else can answer.

 

[brandwooddixon]

If you can feel a feint vibration in the seat when pressing the headrest adjust button then it sounds to me as if the motor is working, but the linkage to the headrest is not.

I'm afraid that I don't know anything about fixing this, although I'm sure that I've seen a post where a seat was taken apart and a motor replaced.