Access Cab Seat Crack

It's been a while since I've posted anything here, but I was curious if anyone else has had this issue. My 2007 access cab rear seats, on the drivers side the bar (or whatever you call it) just cracked in half. I haven't had anything heavy on it, no drastic temperature change, it seems to just have split. I see metal inside, so at least structurally it's fine. I was considering seeing if I can color match some ABS plastic, or 3D printer filament, and try to fill the gap. Or if I should just leave it alone. I've seen replacements on eBay, but it's not worth the asking price IMO.

Passenger side is fine so far, it's just the drivers side. I'm just curious if there's already any talk about this. I tried a search, but didn't see anything other that a rear seat delete.

 

The only reason that bar it there, is for when the seat is down.
It helps bear the weight of the load. And at that, the center doesn’t bear much weight,
The sides bear all the weight.

I’d just leave it alone.

You could use some JB weld type stuff and fill in the crack.
Then use some nail polish or paint to try and match the color.
But that’s too much work for me. I can’t be bothered by all that.

 

Is there a metal core in there?

you could try and add some filler but the hard thing with plastic is it will almost never look like stock and the “fix” will usually stick out more than leaving it cracked. I would just see if I could find a used seat off eBay or at a local junkyard.

 

Looks like there is a metal core. I'm leaning to trying out a 3D printer pen to print ABS filament in the crack, but just to justify buying one.
I'm not that worried about it right now, but it is annoying. :/

 

There is indeed a metal core. There's a seam right in the middle that you can barely make out if you look close on one that's not cracked- my driver's side is OK, the passenger's side has been split for several years now; not sure when I first noticed it. I do know it's gotten a little worse over the years, it looks about like yours, which is how I know there's metal in there; it looks like maybe it's galvanized metal?

I've thought about trying to fill it with some of the JB Weld Plastiweld Epoxy Putty (https://www.jbweld.com/product/plasticweld-epoxy-putty) since it lists several types of automotive plastics but it's off-white. They have some products that cure gray so maybe one of those would work better (I have the gray interior)? Maybe some plumber's epoxy

 

The reason stuff like this cracks is because the metal core expands much faster, and more, than the plastic.