Folding Rear Seats Stuck

K

KeepItTogether

Member
Hello. Our rear bench gives the car a 2X2 seating config, i.e. the 2 rear seats are single person only.
I folded the seats down as usual, but something happened to one of the seats on the last occasion - the sprung "spindles" that locate in the seat bed won't fit their holes.
No amount of force will help.
I looked at the other one, and noticed a difference - the spindles spring has two positions (I guess retracted and not retracted). The ones on the seat that won't fit are retracted and I can't unretract them. Some ball bearings on the spindle stop the sprung washer from returning.

Can anyone suggest a resolution?
Thanks!
 
Hi,

Sorry to hear of your troubles!!

I experienced the exact same problem several months ago and had to resort to taking the car to the local dealer, after brute force and ignorance failed to pay off.

The receptionist [an A2 owner], commented that it is very difficult to locate the seats in the body of the car; a feeling shared by the mechanic who came to investigate the problem. Despite the fact that the spindles in mine were identical to the description of yours, the mechanic securely located the seat base into the car body without too much effort.

The knack, [from what I can remember], is to kneel on the seat base [with one leg], and to lift the handle at the back of the seat [as far as you can] and the seats spindles should locate into their holes in the cars body.

From my attempts before taking the car to the dealer, I think my weakness was that I did not lift the handle up properly [for fear of breaking it], and this was the reason why I could not lock the seat base. [The handle requires more force than you might expect and is sturdier than it looks].

If you still can't do it yourself, then the dealer may well be your best option also. My car is still under warranty, although if you have a respectable Audi dealership near you, then this should not be an issue and should be looked at as ‘good customer’ relations and ‘after sales service’.

Hope this helps & good luck!!

Regards,

Darren
 
have you tried pulling the lower handle? this happened to me and i removed it from the car and did the whole fold - unfold process outside and then folded it back up and put it in the car and it seemed to have re-set the pins
 
Many thanks

Hello and thankyou Darren and OMitchell for your replies. I'll give both a go an let you know.

OK - done it, and many thanks. It was so easy to do them in-situ by kneeling over them that I didn't try the other approach - but I'll bear it in mind if it happens again because we often take the seats right out (use the car for carrying mountain bikes). It occurred to me that the dealer may well have been OK, but without knowledge one is very prone to them taking advantage. So many thanks. Got forum!!
 
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