It’s a safety feature. Depending on if the door is open, and the engine is running etc…the seat memory buttons may only need a single press…or a press & hold.
The press & hold parameters occur as a safety precaution in case something were to fall between the seat and hit one of the buttons…which could move the seat into a position that could cause trouble for the driver.
The info below is from the e38/e39/e53 era…but it is still a
similar BMW design principle that has carried over into their modern cars…they still have two operations parameters. On modern BMWs with a START button, there is no
KL R &
KL 15 ignition cylinder positions…so this would correlate with the START button being powered on but the engine is NOT running:
