Original seat. Plastic electric controls on the side of the seat are brittle from age. Can you still get these?
What are you using to replace the entire seat?
My 2000 Villa's driver's control died but I replaced both of them because what I found on eBay was black - pretty sure I have the original chrome one and you can have it for the cost of shipping, I'm on the road until Wednesday and will confirm I still have it when I get back home...
Do you know if the seats are Flexsteel or Villa or ? Not sure who FT used in 1996. Later years there were some furniture brand differences between U270/U295 (Flexsteel) and U320 (Villa).
Villa is still around. Flexsteel exited the RV market a couple of years ago and only does residential furniture now.
ETA - I checked the wiki. Looks like they are probably Flexsteel 1996 Foretravel (https://wiki.foreforums.com/through_the_years:specs:1996#u295)
By any chance does it look like the control unit on this page? (I have no knowledge of this company other than a Google search)
https://www.glastop.com/rv-furniture-products.asp?id=61
Another search hit:
RV Flexsteel Parts | Countryside Interiors (https://countrysidervinterior.com/RV-Flexsteel-Parts/)
Mike told me we had a discussion several years ago about this and it took me a while to find the thread. There may be a part number that will help you out.
Seat Control Module source? (https://www.foreforums.com/index.php?topic=42804.msg429559#msg429559)
Pamela