Seat Heaters missing

[Grandparipper]

I just bought a 2002 Z3 3.0 to replace my 1998 2.8. It has more goodies and far fewer miles, so I am excited until I realized that it does not seem to have butt warmers! How did this happen? The previous owner was a sunny day only guy, hence the low miles, but I am a year around guy who goes skiing frequently. I 'need' my butt warmers! Now what?
My 98 has the leather M seats with seat heaters, but broken sensors for the passenger seat and both seat belt sets. This means my triangle (ABS/ASC) and the airbag warning lights are on. I had planned to sell it that way, but the new one has standard seats without heaters. Damn.
My options are to add seat heaters or swap out the seats if the 1998 seats will fit in the 2002. That also means that I would need to fix the broken sensors and perhaps have to adapt the electrical connections.
Anyone familiar with either of these options?

 

[Low Rider]

@Jack Ratt has upgraded and used an electrical adapter

 

[Antm72]

The seats will fit but you will need as said a conversion loom which Bm sell .
The seat belt issue if with the pretentioners you could swap them out with the standard seats as they are the same.
The passenger seat fault may be the occupancy sensor and you can get a bypass module for it so you should be able to stay error free

 

[Grandparipper]

Thank you so much Antm72!
I had not thought about the seat belt swap idea. That is brilliant.
I was told the passenger seat sensor could be replaced by tearing the seat fully apart and installing a new one. That seemed daunting and expensive to the tech and to me. A bypass module would be wonderful. I would imagine that it would fake out the the airbags and the seat belt pre-tensioners to engage in any accident as if a passenger was in the car with me? If this hypothetical accident is big enough to pop the airbags, it would probably total the car anyway in my mind, so the module would be fine by me!

Thank you again!

 

[Grandparipper]

My BMW parts dude is not familiar with this seat swap wiring adapter. Do you have a part number or is it an aftermarket item?

 

[Antm72]

@Jack Ratt has used them i think and @Sean d has looked for these tagged then to come along.
I think the idea behind the occupancy sensor is not to stop an airbag firing if someone is sat in the seat its so it does not fire if no one is sat in the seat maybe some else can clarify that.

 

[Dickymint]

The other day I removed my seats and fixed the heated pad and also repaired the saggy bolsters and re-dyed the seats and fixed the bushes so the seat does not clonk now I but the most amazing thing was how easy it was to remove the leather from the seat It took literally minutes to get to the heated seat pad and maybe 5 mins to put it all back together, If I had found the seat pads had not been fixable it would have been easier just to slap in aftermarket ones from e-bay and you may find it cheaper and easier to just use e-bay pads under the leather

 

[Jack Ratt]

https://zroadster.org/threads/installation-of-facelift-sports-seats-into-pre-facelift-zed.13045/

Here is a link to my thread about fitting facelift seats into pre facelift car. Hope it helps

 

[oldcarman]

Thanks @Jack Ratt i'LL be fitting aftermarket pads the same as @Sean d has if they ever get here. 2nd set supposedly on its way again! JIM