Passenger seat getting worse

I do not have a lay flat seat. (As mentioned above, it is not included with the DC TRD models at least in 2012.)

I just got a call from Toyota Corporate. After talking to the service department at my dealer, they backed up the dealer and said that it was normal. I'm calling BS.

The rest of the truck is tight without a rattle or squeak. There is something wrong with the passenger seat dammit. Toyota Corp. told me that the engineering dept. looks at these complaints and will generate a TSB if a problem is found. Looks like I'm going to have to fix it myself. In the meantime, if you are experiencing a problem, please call and register a complaint. Please see my video above for a demo on the issue. The problem has gotten worse since this video was made.

Chris

 

I have had my seat disconnected from the floor. The problem is not there. I have it narrowed down to two areas. Internally, the active head restraint, which pushes up on the headrest when pressure is applied to the seat, just kind of bangs around inside the seat. Externally, the seat back does not seem solidly connected to the seat bottom and I can not find any bolts or nuts that could be tightened to remedy this problem. Perhaps someone in the process of installing leather could take a look at a "naked" seat and see if there might be something that could be adjusted or modded for a fix.

Thanks.

Chris

 

Sub'd...my 2012 DC with 6k on it is doing the same thing. Very close to what is shown in the vid...super annoying.

 

Same issue with my 12 DCLB, even with passenger in seat.

 

Agreed, same thing. I might just have to rip the cloth off and tinker with it.

 

Sub'd

Mine does this too, just like in the video. I have the lay-flat seat. The rattle and shaking was almost unnoticeable when the truck was new, but seems to be getting worse, especially now that I'm doing various things to firm up the suspension.

I'm going to fiddle with it this weekend, but I'm not optimistic that I'll find a solution. Seems a lot of people on here with a lot more mechanical know-how than me have tried and come up with nothing.

Thanks for the corporate info. I have a feeling I'll be needing it. This is not the first little weird rattling issue (exhaust, heat shields, etc) I've had with this truck. Granted, none of them are really a big deal, but my previous, smaller 2 tacomas never had these kind of issues. (Both were reg cab manuals with bench seats)

 

Thankfully after reading this thread I now notice my '10 AC lay flat seat rattle. Moving the seat a tick forward does help, but now I just lay it flat. Now the headrest doesn't block my view out the AC rear window.

I think the tolerances on these are loose fitting and the focus was on making them fold flat and cheaply. Not a Merc is what it comes down to, but those too are starting to have their own quality issues thanks to DC. Good luck with the case.

 

Mine wobbles but nothing crazy. Normal.

 

Yesterday I tore apart my seat. Removed it completely from the truck and removed the seat cover at the base. Inside I found the mechanism for the active head restraint at the lumbar area of the seat back. I am confident that this is the main source of the noise. I secured it to the seat base with nylon wire ties in such a way that it does not move laterally but still moves front to back, allowing the mechanism to operate as designed.



The seat is noticeably more quiet and has far less vibration. At this point, the main source of noise is now the headrest. I will likely address that situation when I order and install my Katzkins some time later this year.

I consider this a temporary solution until I or someone on TW finds a better one. I am not betting on help from Toyota at this point.

Chris

 

I just did this after coming across your post, only I snugged the piss out of the zip-ties. After a quick drive there sure seems to be less of that maddening rattle over bumpy roads, but as you said the headrest itself is still loose so it's not completely quiet. I'll probably give this another go sometime to see if anything else can be locked down.

 

I picked up my Tacoma two years ago today. I have enjoyed it very much with few minor exceptions and one major one. The vibration in the passenger seat. Well, today I pulled the seat out and brought it into the house for surgery. I could not take the noise from the vibration any longer. My latest attempt to fix this problem (which my local dealer and Toyota refuse to acknowledge) was to insert some upholstery foam around the upper passive head restraint mechanism, the major culprit in this issue. A short test drive on my local pothole filled roads indicates that the vibration problem is still there, but greatly muffled due to being surrounded by foam. When the weather gets better I will cut another piece and fit it in front of the mechanism and with any luck the vibration will be totally muffled at that point. I will post pictures at that time.

Chris

 

Please do. I'm having the same issue and while I haven't talked to the dealer about it yet, I don't have high hopes it will be resolved by them. I've already fixed a few small rattles with sponges and electrical tape and so I'll do whatever it takes to get this fixed....

 

I have the same issue....I'll go to the dealer tomorrow. Damn it....

 

Same issue here but no noise the seat just shakes at certain speeds.
My 96 had a rattle in the passengers seat for 14 yrs, could never fix it.

 

No helps from the dealer....they are giving me the same shit as they give all of us "it's normal"...normal my ass.

I'm going to try the ziptie as you posted...please post the new fix you have done.

Thanks.

 

Toyota dealers seem to have the "it's normal" response for a lot of minor problems that are annoying to people paying $30K for a truck. I get even by giving them bad marks on the customer survey they are all so worried about.