Rear middle seat belt engaged, seat back stuck down

Hi all - weird one for you. I went to lift my DC rear seats out of cargo mode last Friday, but met resistance when lifting the larger (passenger side) seat back. I thought at first that something got wedged behind it, but then noticed the middle seat belt was engaged, and went taut when the seat got about halfway up. I've tried lowering it back down and feeding the belt back in to get it to give, but have had no luck. The seat is stuck down at this point; pic attached is as far up as it goes. Anyone else run into this, or know a fix? (*Edit - or know the lbs.ft. of torque for the seat belt anchor? Safe to tighten down by hand, assuming I need to get the ratchet out?) Thanks.

 

bummer. given that this involves a safety feature (seat belt), I'd have the dealer deal with it. good luck.

 

middle seat belt looks like a happy face with long tongue.

 

Are you parked on the level? If you're at an angle that's steep enough it might be what's tripping the locking mechanism.

 

It also locks when pulled all the way out. I almost got my kids car seat stuck the other day thanks to that 'feature.'

 

LOL

 

Soooo . . . . How does it un-lock??

G.

 

I am indeed.

 

I think I had to retract it all the way, which may be difficult in your situation. Can you reach in there?

 

Hm.
Try parking with the nose facing up a steep hill?



Possibly try pulling the seat belt out all the way while it is in the 'down' position, then releasing it once the seatback is in the 'upright' position? Have you tried that to see if the belt feeds out?

 

Knife

 

That seatbelt is held in place by one hex bolt - try to get a socket in there and disconnect it.

Alternatively, if you can fold the seat all the way down, you'll notice two plastic covers on the bottom/back of the seat corners - pull these off with your hands and you'll expose a hex bolt on each side. Take out those hex bolts and you'll have disconnected the seat back. Everything assembles back together very easily.

Also - can you not reach the female end of the seat belt and press the button to disconnect it?

 

The incline might be worth a try, but I'm not optimistic. I tried doing a couple hard stops during my lunch, thinking I could trick it loose somehow. No dice.

As for pulling it out, it's out as far as it goes currently - the amount of slack in the belt that I can pull in either direction (away from the anchor, or away from the pay-out slot at the top of the seat) isn't more than a half inch when the seat's all the way down. The only reason I'm able to lift the seat halfway (~45º) up is because the distance from the anchor on the floor to the top of the seat doesn't increase much until >45º.

Thanks for the suggestions.

 

Your first option is what I figured I'd probably end up doing. With the anchor on the floor loose, I suspect I can feed the belt back into the top slot to get it to disengage. Think it's alright, safety-wise, if that hex is just re-tightened by hand with a socket (and not an impact wrench)?

Option 2 might work, too, I'll open it up and see. I'm wondering how much of the belt's mechanism is exposed – hopefully enough to disengage the locking pin from the gear.

The female end is hanging loose - the belt isn't buckled into it. The tension is straight between the floor anchor and the locking mechanism.

 

If you've got a half-inch of play, try pulling the seatbelt directly vertical (if the seat had been in vertical position) from the pay-out slot and very slowly. It should come loose.

 

Yes. In fact, I wouldn't use an impact wrench there because it'll very likely tear the thread of the hole. I've taken my rear seats out several times and used a socket wrench to tighten everything back together. I don't have the OEM torque numbers, but it wasn't anything crazy when I loosened the OEM connections. Maybe 60-70ft/lbs at most. If in doubt, use some blue thread lock when re-assembling.

 

Will try this - thanks. It's only got that little bit of play when it's all the way down (i.e. when the slot on top is flush against the lower seat). I'll jigger something so I can give it a shot.

 

Perfect - much appreciated. Will report back.

 

You could also put your torque wrench in reverse and start moving it in small increments till no click and bolt loosens. To make sure you have it torqued to spec

 

. . . . or take it to the dealer and make them fix it.

G.