Seat swap with airbag?

Enfield

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After ending a 50+ year relationship with 2-wheeled iron, I bought a 2007 GT convertible in hopes of using it for long distance, top-down touring. So far, so good. The car has plenty of potential, and at 14 years still feels and runs solid, and it looks great. It beat out C5, 335i, 370Z, and G37.
Not so lucky with the seats. After an hour in the GT's powered leather chair, there is no setting that gives any sort of comfort. Time for a swap, but what can I put in the car that will provide more comfort while retaining the side airbag feature? Conventional wisdom has it that Ford bought Volvo in 1999 to take advantage of the Swede's advanced safety technology, so I suspect that the S197 seat airbag is essentially a Volvo design. Will the Volvo seat work in my Mustang?
Search of S197 Forum has returned nothing useful on how to swap in a more comfortable seat - say from a Volvo of the same era. Can anyone suggest a resource? I'm committed to keeping the side bag feature, so if there is no way the Volvo seat can work, I'll look into having the GT seat reupholstered by a specialty shop. There's an outside chance that the early Boss 302 seat might serve, but those are quite pricy.
All comments and suggestions welcomed.
Enfield
 

Juice

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I was not aware there were seat airbags in these.
Have you considered replacing the foam? LMR has them for $314 for both front seats. TMI part # 43-7815
I have no idea if Volvo seats would work, and would not want the responsibility if something happened and the SRS system was modified.
 

stkjock

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Plenty of threads about seat swaps on the site, however, nothing with another auto brand to the best of my recollections.

you could certainly swap the seat, the trick of course, which you really didn't specify, would be getting the air bags to work.
 

Enfield

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Yes, definitely want the side airbag to work.
Thanks for the tip on LMR. I tried a 2011 GT with low miles, and can't say its seat was much better than the 2007's. LMR could probably help with modifications, too.
One further question: anyone know if the seat from the S197 Boss has the side airbag? With the '07, only cars with "H" in the 4th digit of VIN have it.
 

Enfield

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TMI looks promising: lots of options based on the stock seat, including airbags.
Red, I see you have a daily similar to my V50 T5. We tried Explorer and Edge turbo models before settling on a GC Overland 5.7.
 

Juice

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You got me wondering if I should rebuild my seats. Thanks.... lol
 

RED09GT

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TMI looks promising: lots of options based on the stock seat, including airbags.
Red, I see you have a daily similar to my V50 T5. We tried Explorer and Edge turbo models before settling on a GC Overland 5.7.
The 2020 ST was a huge upgrade from my 2017 Ex Sport. I really did not like the '17 Ex Sport, it wasn't fun to drive-other than in a straight line. Even then, it can't launch like the ST. Rear wheel drive based made a huge difference.
I would have bought a couple year old SRT jeep back when I bought the '17 sport if I didn't need the 3rd row in order to keep my kids from killing each other.
 

Shrek427R

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I replaced the foam in the driver side seat bottoms and side bolsters. My girth apparently wore them out after 12 years. What a difference! It was worth it and cost me $400 which included installing longer seat rails too. The Recaro Specialist seats I was looking at were about $1,100 each.
 

Enfield

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Juice, are you coming at this from a shop owner's point of view? Agree that no shop would want to own the liability. This would be DIY.

Shrek, did you use the TMI foam package? Found a shop near home that has redone a lot of S197 seats. Maybe they can arrange a test sitting in a refinished seat.
 

Juice

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Juice, are you coming at this from a shop owner's point of view? Agree that no shop would want to own the liability. This would be DIY.

Shrek, did you use the TMI foam package? Found a shop near home that has redone a lot of S197 seats. Maybe they can arrange a test sitting in a refinished seat.
Im looking at this from a safety point of view.
 

Enfield

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So it looks like the Volvo swap is a nonstarter for all sorts of reasons. That leaves the S550 option, but apparently no one on this forum has made the swap with working airbags. Pretty nice wiring adaptations on the thread ANTI linked. Can anyone recommend a site that addresses the airbags?

Enfield
 

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