Front Seat Upgrade

[Naal6640]

I have a 2008 EB EL.

We recently came back from a long road trip and my wife kept complaining that the passenger seat hurts her legs. I kept looking over and noticed her knees are about 4 inches beyond the front of seat whereas my seat sits comfortably under and up to my knees. So we switched and sure enough the passenger seat is quite shorter.

Has anyone else noticed this? I bought this used.

So now looking to upgrade, currently just have power memory drivers seat (no heat or air) and manual passenger.

Want to upgrade both to 10way camel leather. Has anyone done this have any advice?

 

[Naal6640]

Also... just figured buying match set from salvage, 2008 or 2007 since car does not have sync and don't want any problems with sync integration.

Would 2006 or older also work (same bolt pattern)?

 

[star-art]

A couple things to keep in mind:

• 2007-17 seats should be basically the same; Options will vary of course, i.e. cloth/leather, 6-way power, 10-way power, heated/cooled, memory driver's side.
• 2007-14 has different color selections than 2015-17.
• It's not practical to upgrade to heated/cooled seats if you don't already have them; With that said, you could still buy heated/cooled seats but leave the climate seat functions disconnected.
  
• Upgrading a 6-way power front seat to 10-way power is fairly easy; All you need is power to the seat and it's already there.
• Upgrading a manual front seat to 10-way power is a bit more tricky; You need to tap a suitable power source and install a new wiring harness, plugs, etc.
• Note that power seats consume large amounts of current and so running power to them is safety critical; The wiring and fuse/circuit protection MUST be done properly and meet at least the OEM design standards.

In addition, and perhaps most important, the front passenger seat has an AIRBAG COMPUTER called OCS integrated into the seat bottom. This may vary from year to year. You must be certain the OCS system is compatible and remains fully functional. If it does not, your passenger side airbag may malfunction or, worse, become deactivated.

 

[Naal6640]

Thank you very much star-art!

Since my car does not have sync, is there any issue if I happen to find seats from a sync year expy or navigator? What I am getting at is sync fords have seat controls, at least in part, through the sync interface and worried I may have a seat that will be useless in my vehicle.

Also, does anyone know if navigator tan seats are the same color as the expy camel - or at least very close - so it wouldn't look odd?

Thanks again!

 

[star-art]

As far as I know, there is no Sync integration with the seat functions. You might have settings like "Easy Entry/Exit" controlled through the instrument cluster or message center. Changing seats should not affect that unless you swap in non-memory seats and don't retain your original wiring. Keep in mind, you can always just remove your seat covers and foam and then swap those parts, keeping your existing seat frames and wire harnesses. (I've done this before with car seats.) Just be careful working around the seat-mounted airbags and the OCS system in the front passenger seat.

The only "seat controls" I have ever seen in the center display are the heated/cooled function buttons. Starting in 2018, Platinum models come with massage seats ("active multi-contour") and those are controlled through the display. But, as far as I know, no such functionality existed prior to 2018 models.

For the most part, Navigator and Expedition share the same interior colors. Some Navigator models may have other colors not available on Expedition. As I recall, there were basically three interior color choices (excluding King Ranch models) from 2007-14: Stone, Camel, and Charcoal Black. Starting in 2015, it was down to just two colors -- Dune and Ebony -- except again for King Ranch, plus there was also a "Brunello" option for Expedition Platinum.

One thing to note: Charcoal Black and Ebony are not interchangeable. Charcoal is a very dark brown whereas Ebony is a true black.

 

[chuck s]

There are seat memory functions on my '17 but I don't think they have anything to do with Sync -- no settings in the big center display, only in the left settings panel in the dash. When new the truck insisted in sliding the seat all the way back, raising the steering wheel, and who-know what else when I shut it off, reversing the procedure when I got back in and put the key in the ignition. Glad I found a way to quickly stop that nonsense in the left panel!

While I was out of town for a couple of weeks my extended family used the Expedition without my knowledge for some couple hour trips. Not sure why they thought they had to hide this from me, but they even parked it exactly the way I left it. Mirrors didn't feel right so I hit the memory button on the side of the seat and mirrors, seat, and steering wheel moved a little bit. Busted! As if I cared.

-- Chuck

 

[star-art]

That's called Easy Entry/Exit.

There are seat memory functions on my '17...in the left settings panel in the dash. When new the truck insisted in sliding the seat all the way back, raising the steering wheel, and who-know what else when I shut it off, reversing the procedure when I got back in and put the key in the ignition.

 

[Adieu]

Thats odd.

Post pics, maybe you have some sort of swapped in seat???