One of my seats has been stuck fast since I first met the car at the dealership (who tried and failed to do anything about it). After much trawling through the myriad 'my seats are b****red' threads, many futile attempts to fix my stuck seat and several times nearly giving up on it as being genuinely broken, I finally got the thing released yesterday and it now works perfectly. Woohoo! So for future reference and to save more frustration by future members, here is the condensed version of all those threads. The only stuck seat thread you will ever need to read...
Problem 1: The seat base won't lock in properly:
When looking in through the boot, the bottom of the seat should be flush with the floor. If it is at all raised on one side or the other (or both) then it is not in properly. The usual issue is simply that the pegs have not engaged fully.
Solution:
The simple fix is to kneel on the back of the seat and give it a firm push on one one side or the other. It should go ping and lock into place. Note, body weight with a little bounce (if you are a featherweight like me!) should always be sufficient. If it still won't lock in then don't just push harder, likely there is something more that is wrong.
Problem 2: The seat base won't lock no matter how much shoving is applied:
If it still refuses to behave then the mechanism is probably out of sync with itself. As in, it thinks it is already locked into position when it actually isn't. This is visible when looking at the locking pegs. If the ball bearings are outside of the spring then it is confused (see photos here:
left is good, right is bad).
Solution:
The solution here is to kneel on the back of the seat as above but rather than shoving harder, pull on the release handle as though trying to remove the seat. Again, you should hear a couple of pings as the mechanism releases. It should then be possible push down and lock the seat into position.
Problem 3: The seat won't unfold after locking the base back in place:
I have not encountered this one myself but I believe it is again cause by the seat base not being properly seated. The mechanism refuses to let the seat back come up if it believes the base is not squarely and correctly positioned. This is a safety feature to prevent problem 4 from happening. Unfortunately, it seems it doesn't always work!
Solution:
Basically, go back to the start and refit the base. See solutions to problem 2 and 3 above.
Problem 4: Seats are locked upright and won't release:
This is what happens when everything goes wrong! It is caused by the seat base not being seated properly and hence the seat back not being square to the side wall. Thus the striker pin pushes in at an angle to the locking plate. As the pin is slightly harpoon shaped (it has a wider head at the end) it jams against the plate when trying to retract and the seat is stuck fast. It simply isn't possible to lift the release handle at all. No matter how hard you pull, it ain't moving. Indeed, pulling too hard will just break the mechanism.
Solution:
Some people have resorted to attacking either the striking pin or the locking plate with a motorised cutter of some description. If nothing else works then this might be your last resort. Note, attacking the plate is apparently better as these can be repaired (welded?). However, for me at least, the following none destructive method worked:
Fold the other seat out of the way. Get one person to pull on the release handle (firmly but not too hard) while a second person braces their back against the seat and their legs/hands against the opposite side wall and pushes the seat sideways. It is just about possible to do this on your own but having a friend helps! You should be able to bend the seat back enough to release the striker. Once that is free, the seat should fold down and come out nice and easy.
Make sure you work out what the fundamental problem was before putting the seat back up again! In my case, it was a dose of problem 3.
Note that it may be possible to fix this issue at the root cause directly. E.g. by having one person kneeling on the seat from inside while a second pulls on the seat base release handle from the boot. However, this didn't seem to work for me.
Problem 5: It's genuinely broken:
I believe the only other distinct problem I've seen reported is that one person had the little plastic trigger finger snap (the wiggly bit next to the seat back striker that releases the striker when locking the seats upright).
Solution:
Get a new seat! It might be possible to replace just the mechanism but see here for how that
may require dismantling large amounts of seat.
Are there any other problems I've missed?