I will never ever understand why car makers don't enable the seat memory controls until after you start the car. My wife is 5 feet tall. I'm 6 feet tall. I can lean in, crane my head around the wheel, angle my arm in, insert the key and turn, and then finally I can hit the seat memory for my setting in her '07 Toyota Sienna Limited. These controls are on the door - if I could just open the door and hit the button right there in front of me, it would be great.
Door controls on the door is actually brilliant if you think about it. Open the door, the controls activate, now with the door open and the controls easy to reach press your memory button and watch the seat move back because your wife was using the car before and had the seat way up and there's no need for you to squeeze into any uncomfortable positions. I could never go back to any other type of controls. Same goes for the clever cruise control stalk.
On my 05 CTS-V, you can hit the memory and it will move everything (including side mirrors, radio presets and HVAC driver/pass temp settings). If the e-brake was set last, you can also press unlock from key fob #1 or #2 and it will change the setting accordingly before you even get in the car. However, no one drives my car but me so none of this matters. Also, the seat controls belong on the door. Lincoln did this back in the 80s and 90s, and the only thing natural about having the controls on the side is if you aren't sure if your particular rental car has power or manual seats (nevermind that manual seats have the lever in the FRONT of the seat). From a comfort/convenience standpoint, there is NOTHING convenient about fishing around in the narrow gap between the closed driver's door and seat. Even my 93 Caprice w/ police package has the 6-sway seat bottom controls on the door. Recline is manual and is a regular lever, though.
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