Rear Seat Stuck in upright position.

A

AnthraxUK

Member
Hi All,

Since I bought my wife the A2 a couple of months ago I have been trying to get one of the back seats down & out.

The rear passenger seat folds forward & can get it out with ease, the rear drivers side is however proving more troublesome.

The seat is in the upright position, and when I lift the release lever (with assistance of a screwdriver handle in the plastic handle), nothing really happens.

I have read the forums thoughougly and tried every hint that is available, wiggling seats, kneeling on bits, applying pressure, and tried walking the steel bar up with various instruments, all to no avail.

A new one that I have come up with is drilling a 5mm hole into the steel bar that is locking the seat in place, and inserting a hardened steel screwdriver into the hole & tried to lever the bar up enough the clear the striker plate.

With all my weight, it will not budge at all.

After consulting Elsawin, it looks as if my mechanisim is knackered and I need to take more serious action.

It looks as if my only option is to either cut the striker plate or the retaining bar to get the seat down, and then to replace the mechanisim inside the seat (and striker bar if required ).

Seems like a days work, but just wondered if anyone else has done this previously, and can hand me some tips.

I will be checking with Stoke Audi on Monday morning for the prices of the parts. Although I wont be doing the job quite yet as I am off on my hols next week down in cornwall.

Regards

Kev
 
reluctant backseat

Hi Kev,
I had exactly the same problem. I too did drill a hole in the steelbar and struggled to raise it with a screwdriver. In the end I cut a piece out of the slotplate with my Dremel. It looks like plastic, but it really is plastified aluminum! Afterwards I repaired the slotplate with 2 component "steel" that you have to mix by squeezing it in your hand, apply and sand after it hardened. But don't use WD40 on the steelbar, it makes it harder to raise. The whole operation was a bit of a struggle, but once you get the seat out you need to get access to the mechanism wich is a pain in the donkey. There are some sort of plastic rivets in the plastic cover you need to drill the center of them. Use plenty of light to peek into the mechanism ( a peek is all you get)and move the platic handle ( at shoulerposition on the seat)up and down to see if the handle picks up the steelbar.
If it doesn't like mine did, you could drill a little hole at the
top end of the steelbar and find something to attach it to
the mechanism. In my case I think it was a simple bolt.
So if you can see the mechanism, play with it and stick a small screwdriver in it to see if this is raised by the handle on top. There's a little hole in the plastic mechanism just above the steelbar. Stick the screwdriver in there. If it is raised, drill a hole in the steelbar top end and place a bolt or something that sits in that little hole. Something is broken and or missing in the mechanism, I couldn't find out what, so I used a bolt that raises the steelbar. If you get this far, have some try-outs in the car, before you assemble everything permanently. It took me a full day IIRC. I screwed the plastic cover back to the seat, repaired the slotplate, sanded and painted it black and it works like a charm at no cost other than some
sweat and some words I will not mention here.;)
It is doable and I expect it to be a expensive repair if done by a garage, but know that mine still works months later and that I am a bit handy but not a tecnician or something. IMHO it is very difficult to get the mechanism out without destroying the seat. You'd be better of with a seat from a breaker than replace the mechanism I think.
Unfortunately I do not have pictures, just know it is doable!
Good luck, Gumbold
 
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slotplate backseat

Oh, I forgot to tell you that it could be possible to raise the steelbar without cutting out a piece of the slotplate if you manage to raise the steelbar with two srewdrivers, one in the hole you drilled and one at the bottom to wedge and support. But even if you succeed in this, there's a second hole in the slotplate where the steelbar will slip right into! :eek: So after many attempts I got my Dremel and cut out a piece to have some more space to raise the steelbar. There's only so much frustration one can withstand! Please let me know how you solved it! (I believe it can be done :)) Cheers, Gumbold
 
I got the prices from Stoke Audi on Monday.

Its £35 for the locking mechanisim in the seat, and £7 for the locking plate. So for £42 + Vat, Its not that bad a repair bill If I do the Job myself.

I will be sorting it out In a couple of weeks.

Regards

Kev
 
I think I may have this problem the other way round, the seat's folded down and the handle won't pull the locking bar up. I've only had the seats a couple of weeks:mad::eek: It probably won't get fixed yet, I'll just put the other one in until I've got the alarm fixed:rolleyes:
 
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