Expert: Mike Evans - 4/26/2009

Question
I want replace the seats in a 1997 Nissan Altima, and need to know what salvage year parts are interchangeable with vehicle in question. Would the seats from a 2001 work?


Answer
    That's a tough one.  If they're not power seats and have no electrical connections, you could probably make just about any seat work if you get the tracks with the seat.  If your seats have airbags in them, then you'll have to get the same year seats from a salvage yard.  The salvage yard has a book that will tell them if the seats will fit your car.  People switch seats from car to car all the time, but you can't expect them to just bolt in, you may have to drill some holes.  If the old seats still work but are just ugly, you might want to consider getting them recovered.  Talk to a couple of used car dealers in your area and one of them will turn you on to whoever they use for seat recovering/repair.  There are guys doing this stuff in every major city, they may even advertise in the yellow pages.  Finding used seats is really difficult because most cars in the wrecking yards are, well, wrecked, and guess which seat is always occupied in the wreck?  Almost every wrecked car has an unusable driver's seat.