Electric head rest coat hanger fix

[RichardP]

This fix has been around a while as it's a common problem.

Symptoms - head rest motor runs, but nothing happens.

Cause - The outer sheath of the cable that connects the motor to the mechanism stretches over time to the point that the square profile wire becomes too short to attach to the socket at both ends at the same time.  As the headrest cable is vertically mounted. the inner cable drops out of the headrest end.

Quick fix - open up the back of the seat (two screws either side at the bottom, pull away from the bottom to release the clips and lift up at the top), remove the motor by removing the two Philips headed bolts on the right side of the frame (release the seat covering to expose them), remove the cable from the motor by undoing the two screws, insert 6mm (1/4 inch) of wire from a coat hanger into the socket, reassemble.  Until the cable sheath stretches more than usual, this will enable both ends of the square drive cable to engage.

Video link that shows the entire process  

 

[Ordnator 2]

Also works for E23, E24 and E28 headrests.

Best regards,

Mick

[Sharkfan]

I remember an E24 headrest failing and trying this, only to find that there was already a piece of coathanger in one end - in the end I had to shorten and re-attach the outer sheath and I discovered that central heating microbore connectors worked perfectly.