A decentralized seat control system for seats, each seat having several linearly or angularly movable seat elements. The control system includes a serial data bus; a power supply; smart devices with drives connected to the serial data bus and the power supply, each smart device having a basic function and selectably functioning as an active system master; non-smart devices lacking a control function; a smart control device for controlling the non-smart devices; and a program control unit, wherein the active system master provides control commands to the other smart devices.