corradoMR2

A co-worker of mine got a recent 300h and has had some intermittent recurrences of the following issue when powering down the car. Normally, the tilt wheel tilts up and driver's seat slides back for you to exit the car easily. It's happened about 5 times during very cold weather where the motion of both steering and seat would stop partially along the way, not completing the cycle.

Anyone else experience this with the memory seat package, on the 350 or h?

jbm79

I deactivated mine from doing that (seat moving back) by myself and (steering wheel moving up) by the dealer. I hated how slow the process takes, and I find myself waiting for it to stop before I can get out of the vehicle safely. I usually turn off the engine, open the door, and step out, in quick fluid succession.

Also, I'm not sure of its safety when a rear passenger's feet are under the driver's seat and it starts to move back...? I have a toddler, so the more reason I deactivated this feature.

Anyway, I would definitely have it checked if it is functioning abnormally as you indicated. HOWEVER, I'm 100% certain there is a setting where the seat would only partially move back instead of moving back entirely. Do check that out.

mspearl95

Shouldn't be happening on a new car. If it keeps happening, I'd definitely take it to the dealer and get them to fix it.

lesz

If you go into the customizable settings menu, you will see that, not only is their a setting that allows you to completely disable the movement of the steering wheel and seat upon shutdown of the vehicle, but there is also a setting that allows the steering wheel up and the seat to move back only part of the way upon shutdown.

I'm wondering if it could be the case that, with cold winter weather, the vehicle's computer could be detecting a less than complete battery charge level and if, when less than complete charge is detected, in order to conserve battery power, the wheel and seat only retract into that "partial" setting position.

corradoMR2

Thanks for the good tips. I'll pass on the news. Any other ideas or feedback always welcome.

lesz

I'm guessing that the slow movement of the seat upon engine shutdown is used for the very safety concerns that you express.

Also, I wouldn't be surprised if there is a built in shutdown of the seat movement if the system detects an object that would be in the path of the seat movement. That possibility also makes me think that, for the OP, another thing to check would be whether there is any object that might be either under the seat or behind that seat. If there is anything under or behind the seat, it could be the case that the object is telling the car's computer to stop the movement of the seat. Also, it could be the case that the system is designed to shut down seat movement as soon as that movement faces any resistance. Besides checking to see if there are any objects under or behind the seat, I would suggest checking to make sure that there is nothing that may be in the tracks on which the seat moves.

corradoMR2

This just in, as per my co-worker:

"It happened last night two times.
Just to give you more insight, it is not just about the seat and the steering wheel. All power shuts down, no power at all..all dead. It takes to open a door couple of times and the door light comes up and slowly everything else..then I see the computer rebooting and all history of calculations of the gas consumption are gone and bunch of other things. Sometimes loses the phone connection, other custom settings are back to default and so on....
It usually happens when turning the car off, but last night it happened as soon as I open the car door, it started coming up and blacked out..totally..."

Could this be a faulty battery issue?

jollick

Sounds like it could be a bad or intermittent 12v battery or connection. Best to have the dealer look at it.

lesz

With your update and with the other things that are happening at the same time as the seat/steering wheel issue, it does sound like it is definitely an electrical issue. It could be something as simple as a loose connection between the battery and the battery cables, a faulty battery, a malfunctioning alternator, or, as I speculated in my first post in this thread, a low battery charge level resulting from extremely cold temperatures and infrequent driving to give the battery a chance to fully charge.

Also, do you know, when the car is started for the first time in the day and when the engine is cold, if it is starting immediately upon pressing the start button or if it is taking a few seconds to turn over? If it is taking a few seconds, that would be an indication of a low battery charge level, and that would also account for other things losing power and re-setting at the same time.

corradoMR2

He stated that it takes a few seconds to start. Thanks

Arty101

Definitely sounds like a bad battery (or under charged) or poor electrical connection. Have the dealer look at it.

corradoMR2

Dealer checked it out today and confirmed it was a weak/defective battery. They replaced it and so far so good today.

Thanks all on behalf of my co-worker.