Driver's seat loose

[ZilogJones]

I've noticed recently the driver's seat tilts back a bit now, even though the tilt adjustment seems to be in the locked position. The back rest always seemed a bit wobbly too. Is there anything that can be tightened up with these?

[lozz]

Might be best..easier just to replace seat,
or take seat out and have alook and see whats gone weak,

mind them pesky airbag wires ,

[ZilogJones]

Yeah the airbag stuff is a bit a concern. What is the procedure? Should I disconnect the battery and leave it for a few minutes before touching them?

I've considered looking for a replacement but my car has only done 120k miles - I find it hard to imagine that seats with higher mileage (i.e. most of what's out there) would be in much better shape. Unless this car had some particularly portly previous owners or something...
And if I did find a good one but the wrong colour or with different covers (I've got half-leather) would it be easy enough to swap the covers? Or is it something an upholstery specialist could do easily? Are the seat covers interchangeable between cloth, half-leather and leather?

[ZilogJones]

Just read the Haynes manual and it says to disconnect the battery, and disconnect the airbag control unit (in the centre console) before disconnecting the seat wiring - is this right? Looks like it's going to be a lot more work than I was hoping...

[lozz]

No,all you have to do is disconect battery, following 5 min rule,

then,unbolt seat first then unplug wiring connectors,

[ZilogJones]

I had a go at this before you replied, and took a chance not bothering with the centre console stuff, and nothing exploded

It was much easier to see what was going on underneath with the seat out the car, but unfortunately it looked like there wasn't really much I could do with the adjustment mechanisms as it's all rivets and whatever.

I tried tightening the bolts on the rails (door side seemed a bit wobbly) and put it back in the car. The slight tilting is still there but in general the seat seems a bit more secure - maybe it's just because the adjustment is different now, or maybe just the placebo effect. Seems a bit less squeaky too now.

At least it wasn't too difficult a job and now I know I'd be able for replacing the seat if it does get worse or break completely.

It was also good to get a proper look at the wires, and which are the dangerous ones. There was one (yellow?) which was always disconnected and dangling on the floor but now I was able to see it's supposed to just go into a dummy socket anyway (they are non-heated, manual seats so most the sockets go nowhere).

Only found 10c underneath