Rear passenger seat jammed (not as in dancing either!)

tomr2992

Member
Hi all,
Well, this post came about quicker than I'd hoped. Went to put the rear seats down today, drivers side, no issue.. passenger side rear.. Think I need a bit longer in the gym! Stiff is an understatement to the point I thought I was going to break the pull up the lever. So I didn't. The issue is this.. I can't lay the rear passenger seat down. Can't have the dogs jumping about on one seat with muddy feet!

Any advice guys and gals? I've tried to manipulate it, no joy.

I thought I was doing well!
 
Try this thread:
 
The issue is that it's not seated properly on one of its mountings underneath, it shouldn't even have unlocked from folded but it does happen. It's effectively up at one rear corner, I suspect the one towards the outside of the car.

To fix, take out the rear drivers seat. Then sit in the space left by it, with your back against the exposed side of the passenger seat and push hard against it by pushing with your legs against the driver's side. Have someone else lift the pull-up handle on the top of the seat back, which should now be moveable. This will allow the seat to fold, and since it's not properly locked it should come out. It not, try kneeling on the back while pulling up on the handle in the lower section.
 
If that doesn't shift it, I found with mine (where both seats were jammed upright, and the centreline (looking from behind) was crossed over as both outer feet weren't properly engaged in the floor), that if you have a breaker bar with a narrow end or a crowbar, it is possible to get it between the seats from the boot, and then lever the one against the other without damage (mine were rounded, if they are sharper, perhaps wrapping in some bin-bag or clingfilm to protect the upholstery might be a plan). The central rear corner of the seat back has an immensely strong frame in it - literally so strong that you are able to use the breaker bar to generate enough sideways movement from one against the other near the top of the seat back - that you can release the otherwise-jammed seat handle in the seatback in front of the other to get it folded down out of the way, then double-release and tip it into the footwell. Then you can get into the space where that seat was and apply lateral pressure as described above to the other seat to release it, and then one at a time, re-seat them, put them back up properly engaged and job done. Or remove and replace if they are properly knackered. Ingenious design with an idiot-proof system that occasionally gets a bit confused.
 
Well sadly, I've had one of my bigger mates bounce like crazy on the back seat, and it still won't release. b****r. Guess we'll have to come up with a plan B. In fairness, I actually thought it was going to come free, then nothing.
 
If the seat-back was still upright, bouncing on the seatbase is pointless - you could have an elephant or a neutron star jumping on it without any effect (admittedly, a neutron star might cause some other side effects!). You need to lever the upper edge of the seat-back towards its release handle using whatever means you have available to have effective mechanical advantage. As I found from reading a lot of pages here when mine were jammed, Audi's release handles are hooked inwards so that an improperly-seated seat-base that is out of line will be literally impossible to release (obviously for safety reasons so that seats that are not properly in place don't collapse in an accident). It is only when you are pushing the top edge of the seat sideways using something else just as stubborn as a fulcrum (in my case the other seat) that you can get it to move sufficiently sideways to be release-able. Obviously it is possible that yours has failed completely but I am still not convinced that you are doing things in the right order. Please don't take this the wrong way - hope you can fix this soon!
 
Thanks, @Robin_Cox not taken at all in the wrong way! In fact.. taken as good advice which I know it to be. I will remove the elephant from the seat and try brains over brawn, although this is not guaranteed!
Thank you for this, it makes it clear and to the point. Hopefully, by the weekend it will be resolved.
 
I used to have a similar problem with one rear passenger seat on my first A2. What I did was remove the that works (drivers side) from the car completely so it’s a three seater (the stuck passenger side in place, obviously in its upright position, I then used my foot to kick the base at the rear (bottom) and it pushed the seat marginally forwards into the front hinge properly. Thereafter the top handle release seemed to work and worked properly thereafter. Essentially similar to what to what Proghound said but slightly different.

it maybe worth a try.
 
It does not take much out of alignment to cause the little ball bearings to jam. You will have to try a combination of the various pushing / pulling and bouncing tricks. You will get it eventually just do not be too brutal while pulling the release handle, if it breaks then that is a whole different problem. Certainly does help with a minimum of 2 people 3 even better. One holds the release while the other 2 play twister trying the different "dance" moves on the seat. Are you trying to drop the seat flat or the double fold forward? Worth checking there is nothing stuck under the seat that is blocking the catch.
 
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