Estes5

I just picked up a 2013 SL550. I love the car, but have only had it for a week and am just getting acquainted.

I've done some searches on this topic, but have seen anything that fits my issue specifically, so I thought I would get some thoughts from the group. I've been trying to adjust some of the seat settings and noticed that they aren't working correctly...or don't appear to be.

The massage function does not work. If I select any setting, it reverts back to zero.
The lumbar adjustment only seems to work immediately after the car is turned on. After driving a few minutes, any change will revert back to the previous setting. When it works, it does seem to adjust through the entire range of possible settings.
Active seat bolsters seem to work just fine, as do the seat heaters and other adjustments, forward, backward, etc.

I initially thought it might be a leak in the bladder or the hose, but the fact that the lumbar adjustment does work - to an extent - tells me the problem is elsewhere. Not sure is this is a symptom of the seat module going bad, but it seems odd this happens with both seats, not just one.

Before I take it in to a mechanic, I was wondering if anyone has had a similar issue and there was a quick fix...or it is addressed in the manual somewhere.

Any thoughts would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance!

JettaRed

iTrader: (1)

Get a LAUNCH Creader Elite 2.0 BENZ scanner on and check for fault codes. You will need the scanner if you are going to own a Mercedes and try to solve your own problems.

crconsulting

Congratulations on your (new to you) SL
See this thread below which may help:
And yes, you need some way of getting codes off that vehicle. Factory tool is XENTRY and is most comprehensive.

https://mbworld.org/forums/sl-class-...lfunction.html

Estes5

Thanks for the suggestions on the code scanners. I figured I would likely need to go down this path, but thought I'd do a quick check first to see if this was a situations others had encountered before. We'll see what the scanner has to say.

War Party

I hope this solves my mystery problem too. My active seat bolsters function keeps turning itself on at random times no matter how many times I set it back to off.

billvp218

The massage function on my driver's side just started doing this (going back to 0, and not working), although the passenger side works fine and other features on the driver's side work

I saw this thread elsewhere, which has some helpful images and info about checking for air leaks which caused the issue in someone's vehicle: Seat massage and lumbar support not working | Mercedes-Benz Forum (benzworld.org)

I'll look into my driver's side seat later this week.

billvp218

Mine started working again a few days ago, so I didn't look into anything.

MJR2

I have a 2014 SL550 and had the exact same problems you describe. My independent MB mechanic checked it out and said it worked fine. My mechanic is shorter than I am and had to move the seat slightly forward. Long story short I discovered that when my seat was all the way to the rear the problem exists. When the seat is moved forward just a little it works just fine. Must be kinking or pinching somehow when the seat is all the way back and moving the seat forward fixes the problem.

Estes5

I'll have to check that out and see if that might be the issue for me too. I've been playing around with the seats and have found that when I first start the car, all the seat functions work fine, but about 5-10 minutes later I can't make any adjustments. This is an issue in both seats, which is odd. In the grand scheme of things, the least of my problems, but I will need to check it out and check the codes to see what the issue is and get it fixed. For now, just enjoying the car!