Seat swap - 2006 XC70

Post by **scot850** » 16 Nov 2025, 03:52

My son likes the seats in my new to me 06 V70 AWD. It has the 'sports' seats in the front.

I was told by the service manager (former Volvo master tech) that you can't swap seats as they need to be programmed, but as I understood from him they cannot be re-programmed.

The more I think about it I struggle to understand what in a seat can possibly be programmed specific to a car?

Possibly the airbags, and the seat control unit on power front seats? Could not both be swapped over with some work from the original seats to the 'new' seats??

I just saw these for sale on FBM (sorry if you can't access it):

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/ca ... uery=volvo

If they were not so expensive I would consider it as they are from the same year (and probably why the owner really did not swap them over).

Neil.

Post by **scot850** » 17 Nov 2025, 17:16

No one??

Neil.

Vova585 · Post by **Vova585** » 17 Nov 2025, 19:26

I am having a hard time understanding why seat swap is not possible. 2001-2007 are pretty "simple" cars in comparison to modern junk with computer module in every screw. So the year is the same, likely all the functions are the same if both are power seats. Doubt that volvo would do anything crazy different between v70 and xc70 in terms of connectors or parts. So what parts we might have in the seat? Probably 5 electric motors, air bag, pressure seat sensor(occupancy/weight). Not sure how the memory option stores the presets but likely not in ecu, bcm amd rather in the seat control module itself. I would check if the wires/connectors are the same for the both seats and try if yes, would try to swap. Worst case you will get yourself airbag light on which hopefully vida can reset.

Post by **scot850** » 18 Nov 2025, 09:54

Only other part is if they have coded the adjustment module, but then surely you could just swap them over? Like you say, all the other parts are what I call 'dumb' parts like motors. I can't believe airbags can be coded specifically. So I am at a loss. I was considering a try out but the seller wants $600 (down from $750) CDN for both front and rear seats. They will only sell as a complete set. I can buy one from a junkyard for around $100 for a power seat. The PnP yards occasionally have sales with 40% off (used to get 50%) which is where I would look at buying a pair of front seats. If it does not work you can only return them for in-store credit but I know I will use that fairly quickly. Buying privately you are stuck. Will wait this one out as there are currently no 05- P2's with the sports seat in the yards around here.

Neil.