Drivers side seat won't tilt forwards.

[blambert]

The car has had this problem since I bought it and I've never got round to trying to fix it as, well, the passenger side works fine. But I probably should....

Basically, you pull the handle on the back of the seat to pull the seat forwards (to get into the back seats) and nothing happens.

Any usual suspects?

 

[Wick]

I have the same on my passenger side....happened when someone leant on it getting out the back I think.

You can take the seat back cover off (2 clips under the seat) to have a look to see if anything has obviously become disconnected, either the wire or the socket it plugs into. But after an hour crawling around in the back mine I've still had no luck.

 

[blambert]

I found these two little tidbits:

"I have cracked it!! The plastic sheath around the cable had come away from it's holder half way up the seat. Slotted it back in and hey presto!!
Thanks for your help"

"Unclipped and lifted the the cover up enough (about 4" from the bottom of the seat cover) and could see the cable connection - however the cable and all connections that I could at least see were where they were supposed to be (in relation to the other seat that I unclipped and looked at for comparision anyway).
Anyway, I pulled the bar up that runs across the back of the seat and allows the seat to fold forward and that seemed to work , so I now have two fronts seats that once again fold forward."

 

[Wick]

^ I didn't find a huge amount more either. I have Thursday off work so going to make the most of the daylight and have another poke around. I'll keep you informed if I have any luck

 

[Xanda73]

Anybody fancy doing a guide on this? Seems to be common problem.

 

[johnnybravo]

Same problem on my Mk2 Ph1, with the driver's seat. Going to strip it down and have a look if I ever manage to get the car off my son...:dapprove:

 

[Tombola]

Had the same problem on mine. Proper fix would be a new cable, which is only a bike brake cable with some plugs on the end OR.....do what I did. Reveal the bottom of the seat. Hold onto the cable and pull the latch to flip forward to seat. Hopefully it will, then pull the cable down untill it resists then, stick some cable ties on the bottom of the cable. These should act as buffers, making the whole system a lot tighter! 2 min job.

 

[blambert]

Had the same problem on mine. Proper fix would be a new cable, which is only a bike brake cable with some plugs on the end OR.....do what I did. Reveal the bottom of the seat. Hold onto the cable and pull the latch to flip forward to seat. Hopefully it will, then pull the cable down untill it resists then, stick some cable ties on the bottom of the cable. These should act as buffers, making the whole system a lot tighter! 2 min job.

Haha, look what I did today:

And it worked!

BUT, the handle still felt looser than the other side so I had another look.

The White plastic sheath above the spring had come out if the little plastic slot that holds it in place. Took the cable tie off and it worked perfectly, with the same firm pull as the other side.

Edit: not the White plastic sheath in the pic, the larger one further up inside the seat.

 

[Tombola]

Haha nice one mate, works a treat!

 

[Wick]

My broken tilt seems to have messed up my slide mech as well slightly, but going to try this if I get a mo at the weekend to see if I have any joy with it!

 

[jonjo]

Thanks for the info re the tilt problem, had same problem on my 172 (2002).

I'm also having problems lowering the driver seat, it's currently stuck in the raised position and won't lower. Anyone know if it's a big job to fix?

Cheers

J.