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Old 1st November 2019, 19:53   #1
neilbaker86
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Default Rear seat latches - the 'definitive' how to actually misses the problem

No disrespect is intended towards trebor in this post, but unfortunately the current 'how to' has actually missed the real cause of the fault with the rear seats becoming stuck or failing to latch, and instead attempts to rectify it by altering the angle of the plastic release button.

The real cause of the fault can actually be seen in the photos in the how-to posted by trebor. The metal loop which rather cleverly forms both the catch and a spring has jumped out of its housing. Meaning it no longer acts a spring and the plastic release catch misses it as it has now moved slightly further over.

trebor's current fix may enable the release catch to engage with the metal loop once again, but doesn't fix it fully because owing to the way the bar is formed it will only act as a spring when it is constrained within the plastic housing. Meaning it may not work with the body-mounted striker (hook) properly.

You can actually see in trebor's photos how it has jumped out, and how it should actually look in these photos below:

Trebor's original photo, which I have altered the captions on:



How mine also looked once I removed it:



How it should be once you pull it back in with force:



Video of it being pulled back in, you can hear it jump in to place:



Moving the angle of the plastic release catch is the wrong approach. Technically all you actually need to do is pull the metal loop back in to the plastic holder as in the above video. It will then line up with the plastic release catch again and act as a spring once more. However, obviously this can still jump out as it did the first time, so to fix it permanently I have come up with the following, which can be made fairly easily at home with only basic tools and supplies.

You need:
2mm thick sheet of aluminium cut into two pieces as shown in the diagram below (some fettling with a file may be required).

100mm length (approx) of 6mm diameter PTFE rod (available on ebay).




Once you've cut two of these out of the aluminium, hold it in a vice and hammer the tabs on one piece down, and the two on the other piece up to form left and right hand pieces.

Cut a piece of the 6mm diameter PTFE rod to length so it fits between the two tabs like this:



Assemble the hole thing and then drill 2x 4mm holes straight through the aluminium and plastic as shown below, and pop-rivet it to the plastic housing using the same 4mm x 10mm rivets that the rest of the pieces use when it comes to refitting it in to the seat.



The metal bar is now constrained inside the housing by the PTFE rod (which is self-lubricating), and it can no longer jump out. The PTFE is held in by the aluminium and also helps to prevent the plastic housing from opening up anyway by reinforcing it.



You do not need to move the plastic release catch as shown in the current how-to which only overcomes half the problem.

Do the other side the same, so you end up with this, and no matter how hard you hit them down on their metal loops, it cannot jump out:


Last edited by neilbaker86; 1st November 2019 at 19:57..
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Old 2nd November 2019, 00:54   #2
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A couple of dimensions were omitted, these have now been added.



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Old 2nd November 2019, 21:32   #3
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Quote:
Originally Posted by neilbaker86 View Post
No disrespect is intended towards trebor in this post, but unfortunately the current 'how to' has actually missed the real cause of the fault with the rear seats becoming stuck or failing to latch, and instead attempts to rectify it by altering the angle of the plastic release button.

The real cause of the fault can actually be seen in the photos in the how-to posted by trebor. The metal loop which rather cleverly forms both the catch and a spring has jumped out of its housing. Meaning it no longer acts a spring and the plastic release catch misses it as it has now moved slightly further over.

trebor's current fix may enable the release catch to engage with the metal loop once again, but doesn't fix it fully because owing to the way the bar is formed it will only act as a spring when it is constrained within the plastic housing. Meaning it may not work with the body-mounted striker (hook) properly.

You can actually see in trebor's photos how it has jumped out, and how it should actually look in these photos below:

Trebor's original photo, which I have altered the captions on:



How mine also looked once I removed it:



How it should be once you pull it back in with force:



Video of it being pulled back in, you can hear it jump in to place:



Moving the angle of the plastic release catch is the wrong approach. Technically all you actually need to do is pull the metal loop back in to the plastic holder as in the above video. It will then line up with the plastic release catch again and act as a spring once more. However, obviously this can still jump out as it did the first time, so to fix it permanently I have come up with the following, which can be made fairly easily at home with only basic tools and supplies.

You need:
2mm thick sheet of aluminium cut into two pieces as shown in the diagram below (some fettling with a file may be required).

100mm length (approx) of 6mm diameter PTFE rod (available on ebay).




Once you've cut two of these out of the aluminium, hold it in a vice and hammer the tabs on one piece down, and the two on the other piece up to form left and right hand pieces.

Cut a piece of the 6mm diameter PTFE rod to length so it fits between the two tabs like this:



Assemble the hole thing and then drill 2x 4mm holes straight through the aluminium and plastic as shown below, and pop-rivet it to the plastic housing using the same 4mm x 10mm rivets that the rest of the pieces use when it comes to refitting it in to the seat.



The metal bar is now constrained inside the housing by the PTFE rod (which is self-lubricating), and it can no longer jump out. The PTFE is held in by the aluminium and also helps to prevent the plastic housing from opening up anyway by reinforcing it.



You do not need to move the plastic release catch as shown in the current how-to which only overcomes half the problem.

Do the other side the same, so you end up with this, and no matter how hard you hit them down on their metal loops, it cannot jump out:



Funnily enough, I've got a jammed rear seat on my car and on a set of leather seats that I am going to fit with the same problem, so have stripped them down to indeed find that the rod has disengaged from the plastic bit. I just need to rummage around in the garage for some scrap ally before I put them back together.
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Old 1st February 2021, 12:12   #4
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Hi Neil, could you clear your inbox please, tried to send you a PM but it shows as full.

Cheers
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Old 1st February 2021, 19:28   #5
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Hi Neil, another solution to the same issue and well done as I am all for having different ways to solve a problem.

I would just like to say however that when you say the solution I posted doesn’t fully solve the issue and I have used the wrong approach, since I did the mod on my own car it has not failed once from whichever side of the seat that I press the button down, and believe me my back seats are constantly folded down and back up again

There is also the seat back rest seat base to consider as it slips out of its location and then when folded back up it wont engage and lock, so whichever method is used to solve the plastic release catch this could still be an issue and my how to addressed this

Its good that members have a choice of repairing this age old problem though , yours probably needs a bit more skill as mine only involves using a drill and pop rivet.

Since doing my original mod I reckon it could now be done much quicker without stripping the whole seat down by access through the square hole in the back of the seat, it would involve a small cut in the carpet to reveal the existing rivet but its not in a very noticeable place so could be glued back easily enough

Thanks for posting your well thought out solution
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