BMW X6 Power Seats Dead, Repair Costs and Solutions

I had a similar issue with my 2010 BMW X5 last year. The power seats completely stopped working, no response from any button, including memory settings. At the garage, they found it was a damaged wiring harness under the seat where the cables had rubbed against the seat frame and shorted out. The constant seat movement over time had worn through the protective covering. Had to replace the entire wiring harness and check all the connectors. It wasn't a super serious repair in terms of safety, but leaving it unfixed would've meant stuck with seats in one position. Good news is that once fixed, it's usually problem-free afterward. Definitely needed a proper BMW diagnostic tool to pinpoint the exact issue though. Just make sure wherever you go, they have experience with BMW electrical systems. The seat modules can be tricky to diagnose properly if they don't have the right equipment.

Thanks for sharing your experience! That's really helpful as it sounds exactly like what I'm dealing with. My seats are completely unresponsive too. Would you mind telling me how much you ended up paying for the harness replacement and labor? Also curious if you've had any other electrical gremlins pop up since getting it fixed. Been worried about potential domino effects with electrical issues in these cars.

Hey there! Just wanted to follow up about my X5 seat repair. Since my last post, I actually took it back to the mechanic and got everything sorted out. The electric seat issue was totally fixed, turned out to be just a faulty cable connection, way simpler than the full harness replacement I initially thought it needed. Only cost me 95 € in the end, which was a nice surprise compared to what I was expecting! Haven't had a single problem with the seats since then, they're working perfectly now, all positions and memory settings function just like new. And nope, no other electrical issues have popped up either, so you can breathe easy about those domino effects you mentioned. These things are usually pretty isolated problems. My advice would be to get it checked out sooner rather than later. These issues typically don't fix themselves, and you might get lucky like me with a simple fix rather than something more complex. Just make sure you go to someone who knows their way around BMW electrical systems!

Thanks so much for the update! Just wanted to let you know I finally got my X6 fixed too. After hearing about your experience, I decided to try a different mechanic who specializes in European cars. Such a relief, turns out it was just a loose connection in the fuse box! Can't believe I was stressing so much about it. Total bill came to about €120 including diagnostics. Way less than I was expecting to pay. The mechanic was super transparent about everything and even showed me exactly what was wrong. Seats are working perfectly now, up, down, forward, back, memory settings, the whole deal. Really glad I asked here and got your advice instead of going back to my old mechanic who probably would've charged me an arm and a leg. Sometimes the simplest solution is the best one! Thanks again for helping me dodge what could've been an expensive repair.