I'm trying to figure out the possible points of failure here, the car isn't high mileage, and it's been stored indoors in Southern California, water intrusion isn't a likely issue. The seat is stuck all the way back and steering wheel all the way up, I think it failed while in the comfort access setting. None of the heating or massage functions work either. The passenger seat is fine. I saw a thread on how to get the seat out from someone who had the same problem, but other than saying it wasn't a module issue, they didn't go into any detail as to what it was. I checked all the fuses in the trunk, under the hood, and the dash ones, and all seemed fine, and there was no sign of water getting in. The car is 80 miles from me, it belongs to a friend, I'll be back that way next week and need to have a plan before I get there.

Also, if I get a secondhand module, does it need to be dealer programmed or VCDS programmed to the car or are they interchangeable? The other thread had the owner swapping modules from one seat to the other without issue, so I'm not sure if there is any coding. I'd really appreciate if anyone has any insight to this situation.

 

Getting the fault codes read is the next step before spending any more time or money.
Some times modules on modern cars see a temporary glitch and to protect the system deactivate. A mere read out and reset is sometimes enough to restore the system. You can print out whatever the fault description was for further investigation or if it foes it again in the future.

 

VCDS found no fault codes associated with the seat and both batteries are new in the car. I tried disconnecting the negative cables first for 10 minutes, then 30, just to make sure, and it didn't help.

 

Okay, got the modules for the driver's and passenger's seats switched and the problem followed the module. So for replacing it, does anyone know if a used module will work or are they coded to the specific car?