E91 Interior Swap

Curzon · 10-24-2016, 08:06 AM

Hi all,

Looking for some advice, I currently have a 2005 E91, I have recently upgraded to an LCI leather interior, it looks great, however I have one issue, the rear centre seatbelt doesn’t latch. The issue only came to light when it failed the MOT because the centre belt wouldn’t latch. I don’t use the middle seat belt a lot, but I know it will be an issue next year when the MOT is due.

From what I understand on LCI cars the rear seat belt buckle and belt end are a different shape from pre-LCI models, so my pre-LCI buckle won’t work with an LCI belt. I can only assume this change was implemented to prevent passenger’s crossing over seat belts when latching them. However it appears that when they moved over to LCI they also did away with the pre-tensioners on the rear belt buckles, therefore it isn’t as simple as swapping the buckles for LCI ones, as I will lose the pre-tensioner and will end up with airbag warning lights etc. From what I can see, BMW list two buckle options, one for pre March 2009 and one for post March 2009. What I need is an LCI seat buckle, but with pre-tensioners, not sure such a thing exists even on a very early pre March 09 LCI car?

Has anyone else had this problem and found a solution? I don’t really want to start butchering my old seats and swapping belts or frames and covers over. Worst case, I will just swap back to my sports cloth and sell the LCI seats. They are rotbraun/auburn colour, so quite rare, which is why I like them as I didn’t just want black. I will probably just have to source a black pre-LCI leather interior, unless I can find a saddle brown one.

Cheers!

dragerboy · 10-24-2016, 09:13 AM

I swapped my Pre Lci M Sport interior for an LCI interior. There didn't appear to be any issues with the fronts using the original belt but with an LCI pre-tensioner so would find it odd the rears are different.

Curzon · 10-24-2016, 09:53 AM

The fronts were fine, as I just swapped the buckles and tensioners off my old front seats.

As the rear centre seat belt is integral to the seat, it cant easily be removed. You might have been lucky and managed to source an early LCI interior, which was from a pre March 2009 car, from what I can tell it appears the rear centre belt buckles and tensioners were changed after this date.

dragerboy · 10-24-2016, 10:17 AM

Ah perhaps the E91 is different to the E90 as the rear setup is not integral to the seat.

McPikie · 10-24-2016, 10:52 AM

This is a PITA for you. Have you considered just cutting the belt and hiding the buckle under the bottom of the back bench, thus making it a 4 seat car, not 5 seat. If the belt isnt there, they cannot fail it?

Failing that, you may have to pull the seats apart, which is something I was not prepared to do.

Digitalize · 10-24-2016, 11:22 AM

They'll fail it because it's listed as a 5 seat car.

When I pulled my rear seats out the latch was attached to the car, and the belt with buckle on was attached to the car also, not the rear seats. Surely you could fit the LCI base and back with Pre-LCI seatbelts?

Curzon · 10-24-2016, 11:43 AM

Cheers, on the E91 the two outer belts are attached to the car, but the centre belt and mechanism are integral to the rear seat, with a bolt securing the belt at the end to the car.

If it was a black leather interior, it would be much easier to source a pre LCI seat back and just swap them over and use an LCI base and fronts. However as the new interior is quite a rare LCI only colour I can't do this.

McPikie · 10-24-2016, 04:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Digitalize

They'll fail it because it's listed as a 5 seat car.

That's like saying they would fail it for having the rear seats removed. If it isnt there, they cannot fail it. If the buckle it bolts into was on show, then I am sure it would cause a fuss, but if both are missing, then its a 4 seater, not 5

Digitalize · 10-25-2016, 05:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by McPikie

That's like saying they would fail it for having the rear seats removed. If it isnt there, they cannot fail it. If the buckle it bolts into was on show, then I am sure it would cause a fuss, but if both are missing, then its a 4 seater, not 5

Technically they should fail it with rear seats removed, unless it has been clearly modified to remove such use. So entire seats would have to be removed, along with seatbelts.

If the car still had a middle seat it would not have been modified to remove the use, thus still need a middle seat belt, you'd need to get the dvla To change its classification from 5 seat to 4 seat, even then I think some testers would have issue with it.

E90-AMD · 10-25-2016, 01:40 PM

Why don't you change the buttom Pretensioner? (Where the belt buckle goes into).

If that doesn't work/not an option for any reason, please PM as I can definitely help with that issue.

Dsport · 10-26-2016, 07:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Digitalize

They'll fail it because it's listed as a 5 seat car.

When I pulled my rear seats out the latch was attached to the car, and the belt with buckle on was attached to the car also, not the rear seats. Surely you could fit the LCI base and back with Pre-LCI seatbelts?

Mine passed with no centre rear seatbelt, the tester never even mentioned it when he was checking the rears.

McPikie · 10-26-2016, 07:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dsport

Mine passed with no centre rear seatbelt, the tester never even mentioned it when he was checking the rears.

I guess it depends on the tester

Digitalize · 10-26-2016, 07:36 AM

It does of course depend entirely on the tester, their strictness and even interpretation of the rules. However a strict by the book one would fail it.

Louicd · 04-26-2019, 02:37 AM

Hi. Did you resolve the issue with the rear seats? I noticed the LCI does still have a tensioner so isn't it a case of swapping them over, although it does make me wonder why BMW decided to change the part numbers? I am wanting to attempt putting a 2011 LCI interior into a 2007 Pre. The seats are identical with just the seat bolster and manual adjustment

m20b25 · 04-26-2019, 02:59 PM

I had the same issue with lci seats in a pre-lci. The buckle and clasp for the centre seat was different. I bolted an lci clasp to the chassis and left the tensioner plugged in tucked into a recess. Problem solved! The clasp was £20 off eBay

TalkToFrank · 06-05-2019, 02:26 AM

I had the same issue but was a bit more agricultural than the other solutions.

I never knew that the belt didnt buckle until i did a quick check just before i headed off to work. I but the middle buckle and side buckle against each other and could see that the side edges profile was shorter than the other, but every other diamension was the exact same. So i extended the seatbelt out as much as i could to the outside of the car and polished about 7mm either side off with a grinder, checked it in the buckle, result.

Louicd · 06-17-2019, 07:09 AM

Hi. Strange one but when installing the rear seat back, did anybody notice the back looks twisted? If I stand it up on the floor looking down at it from above, the side where it locks to the car appears to be further back than the centre of the seat where the armrest is. The only thing I can think is it will be perfect when its in the car because of how the seat contours to the opening etc. Did anybody notice?

Louicd · 06-24-2019, 05:07 PM

Just done this but I didn’t know where to tuck the old tensioner as suggested so I’ve left the one with the tensioner on. Any help would be appreciated. I’m almost tempted to shape the belt with a grinder so it’s the same shape but would prefer to use the new LCI buckle

10-24-2016, 08:06 AM	#1
Curzon Private 24 Rep 93 Posts Drives: F31 D3 Join Date: Aug 2016 Location: UK iTrader: (0)	E91 Interior Swap - Seat Belt Issue Hi all, Looking for some advice, I currently have a 2005 E91, I have recently upgraded to an LCI leather interior, it looks great, however I have one issue, the rear centre seatbelt doesn’t latch. The issue only came to light when it failed the MOT because the centre belt wouldn’t latch. I don’t use the middle seat belt a lot, but I know it will be an issue next year when the MOT is due. From what I understand on LCI cars the rear seat belt buckle and belt end are a different shape from pre-LCI models, so my pre-LCI buckle won’t work with an LCI belt. I can only assume this change was implemented to prevent passenger’s crossing over seat belts when latching them. However it appears that when they moved over to LCI they also did away with the pre-tensioners on the rear belt buckles, therefore it isn’t as simple as swapping the buckles for LCI ones, as I will lose the pre-tensioner and will end up with airbag warning lights etc. From what I can see, BMW list two buckle options, one for pre March 2009 and one for post March 2009. What I need is an LCI seat buckle, but with pre-tensioners, not sure such a thing exists even on a very early pre March 09 LCI car? Has anyone else had this problem and found a solution? I don’t really want to start butchering my old seats and swapping belts or frames and covers over. Worst case, I will just swap back to my sports cloth and sell the LCI seats. They are rotbraun/auburn colour, so quite rare, which is why I like them as I didn’t just want black. I will probably just have to source a black pre-LCI leather interior, unless I can find a saddle brown one. Cheers! __________________ F31 Alpina
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10-24-2016, 09:13 AM	#2
dragerboy Captain 83 Rep 686 Posts Drives: BMW E90 330D Join Date: Apr 2016 Location: Horsham, UK iTrader: (0)	I swapped my Pre Lci M Sport interior for an LCI interior. There didn't appear to be any issues with the fronts using the original belt but with an LCI pre-tensioner so would find it odd the rears are different. Last edited by dragerboy; 10-24-2016 at 09:19 AM..
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10-24-2016, 09:53 AM	#3
Curzon Private 24 Rep 93 Posts Drives: F31 D3 Join Date: Aug 2016 Location: UK iTrader: (0)	The fronts were fine, as I just swapped the buckles and tensioners off my old front seats. As the rear centre seat belt is integral to the seat, it cant easily be removed. You might have been lucky and managed to source an early LCI interior, which was from a pre March 2009 car, from what I can tell it appears the rear centre belt buckles and tensioners were changed after this date. __________________ F31 Alpina
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10-24-2016, 10:17 AM	#4
dragerboy Captain 83 Rep 686 Posts Drives: BMW E90 330D Join Date: Apr 2016 Location: Horsham, UK iTrader: (0)	Ah perhaps the E91 is different to the E90 as the rear setup is not integral to the seat.
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10-24-2016, 10:52 AM	#5
McPikie Lieutenant 59 Rep 457 Posts Drives: E91 320d Msport Join Date: Oct 2016 Location: Manchester iTrader: (0)	This is a PITA for you. Have you considered just cutting the belt and hiding the buckle under the bottom of the back bench, thus making it a 4 seat car, not 5 seat. If the belt isnt there, they cannot fail it? Failing that, you may have to pull the seats apart, which is something I was not prepared to do.
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10-24-2016, 11:22 AM	#6
Digitalize Photographer 409 Rep 2,643 Posts Drives: 320D Join Date: Jun 2013 Location: UK iTrader: (0)	They'll fail it because it's listed as a 5 seat car. When I pulled my rear seats out the latch was attached to the car, and the belt with buckle on was attached to the car also, not the rear seats. Surely you could fit the LCI base and back with Pre-LCI seatbelts?
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10-24-2016, 11:43 AM	#7
Curzon Private 24 Rep 93 Posts Drives: F31 D3 Join Date: Aug 2016 Location: UK iTrader: (0)	Cheers, on the E91 the two outer belts are attached to the car, but the centre belt and mechanism are integral to the rear seat, with a bolt securing the belt at the end to the car. If it was a black leather interior, it would be much easier to source a pre LCI seat back and just swap them over and use an LCI base and fronts. However as the new interior is quite a rare LCI only colour I can't do this. __________________ F31 Alpina
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10-25-2016, 01:40 PM	#10
E90-AMD Captain 66 Rep 632 Posts Drives: Individual E93 330d Join Date: Feb 2016 Location: UK iTrader: (3)	Why don't you change the buttom Pretensioner? (Where the belt buckle goes into). If that doesn't work/not an option for any reason, please PM as I can definitely help with that issue.
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10-26-2016, 07:36 AM	#13
Digitalize Photographer 409 Rep 2,643 Posts Drives: 320D Join Date: Jun 2013 Location: UK iTrader: (0)	It does of course depend entirely on the tester, their strictness and even interpretation of the rules. However a strict by the book one would fail it.
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04-26-2019, 02:37 AM	#14
Louicd New Member 0 Rep 11 Posts Drives: F31 330d Join Date: Jun 2017 Location: Leeds iTrader: (0)	Hi. Did you resolve the issue with the rear seats? I noticed the LCI does still have a tensioner so isn't it a case of swapping them over, although it does make me wonder why BMW decided to change the part numbers? I am wanting to attempt putting a 2011 LCI interior into a 2007 Pre. The seats are identical with just the seat bolster and manual adjustment
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04-26-2019, 02:59 PM	#15
m20b25 First Lieutenant 21 Rep 352 Posts Drives: E90 M3 Join Date: Jul 2013 Location: London iTrader: (0)	I had the same issue with lci seats in a pre-lci. The buckle and clasp for the centre seat was different. I bolted an lci clasp to the chassis and left the tensioner plugged in tucked into a recess. Problem solved! The clasp was £20 off eBay
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06-05-2019, 02:26 AM	#16
TalkToFrank New Member 5 Rep 17 Posts Drives: E91 335i Join Date: Aug 2018 Location: Northern Ireland iTrader: (0)	I had the same issue but was a bit more agricultural than the other solutions. I never knew that the belt didnt buckle until i did a quick check just before i headed off to work. I but the middle buckle and side buckle against each other and could see that the side edges profile was shorter than the other, but every other diamension was the exact same. So i extended the seatbelt out as much as i could to the outside of the car and polished about 7mm either side off with a grinder, checked it in the buckle, result.
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06-17-2019, 07:09 AM	#17
Louicd New Member 0 Rep 11 Posts Drives: F31 330d Join Date: Jun 2017 Location: Leeds iTrader: (0)	Hi. Strange one but when installing the rear seat back, did anybody notice the back looks twisted? If I stand it up on the floor looking down at it from above, the side where it locks to the car appears to be further back than the centre of the seat where the armrest is. The only thing I can think is it will be perfect when its in the car because of how the seat contours to the opening etc. Did anybody notice?
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06-24-2019, 05:07 PM	#18
Louicd New Member 0 Rep 11 Posts Drives: F31 330d Join Date: Jun 2017 Location: Leeds iTrader: (0)	Just done this but I didn’t know where to tuck the old tensioner as suggested so I’ve left the one with the tensioner on. Any help would be appreciated. I’m almost tempted to shape the belt with a grinder so it’s the same shape but would prefer to use the new LCI buckle
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