[shemygo]

I have already replaced the front passenger seat latch (at about 10,000 miles) and it is broken again (at 30,000 miles). In addition, the middle seat passenger side latch is only working intermittently. Has anyone else had any seat latch issues?

This post has been edited by shemygo: 06 September 2009 - 05:05 PM

[Redwingfan01]

shemygo, on 06 September 2009 - 09:04 PM, said:

I have already replaced the front passenger seat latch (at about 10,000 miles) and it is broken again (at 30,000 miles). In addition, the middle seat passenger side latch is only working intermittently. Has anyone else had any seat latch issues?

Yes, my 09 is in for the 5th LH Middle seat repair in 15 months. The hinges have been replace twice, the cable once, and they gave it a lube job once and claimed it was fixed. They are about to replace the hinges for a 3rd time and may replace the cable at the same time.

The problem is that the seat back won't release so that it can be folded forward UNLESS you grab the seatback and wrench it fore/aft while lifting VERY FORCEFULLY on the lever.

Once the seat back is folded forward it's a crap shoot on whether or not you will get the damn thing to fold up so the kids don't have to climb over it.

On a vehicle my wife and I absolutely love, having to take it in every 3 months for a seat repair is making me very unhappy. Hopefully service can fix it this time (not give me a 3 month temp repair) and I won't have to take it back in again.

What upsets me most is that I purchased a vehicle that seats 7 because I have 6 in my family. My wife takes the kids to school (often with a neighbor kid) and we NEED the third row, well the dealer only has Focus's as loners while they have my flex for 5 days 'fixing' it. Very difficult to fit 6 people in a Focus.

[Gotchagain]

shemygo, on 06 September 2009 - 08:04 PM, said:

I have already replaced the front passenger seat latch (at about 10,000 miles) and it is broken again (at 30,000 miles). In addition, the middle seat passenger side latch is only working intermittently. Has anyone else had any seat latch issues?

http://www.alldata.c...9-20-9/929.html

Print this and take your FLEX to the dealer with it.

This post has been edited by Gotchagain: 24 November 2009 - 11:54 AM

[buyamerican]

That link is bad but I am interested.

I've got the exact same problem - I need to get kids into the back row and the seat latch requires a ridiculous amount of force to get it to pop up - the little lever is plastic and I know I am going to break it one of these days.

Gotchagain, on 24 November 2009 - 03:54 PM, said:

http://www.alldata.c...9-20-9/929.html

Print this and take your FLEX to the dealer with it.

[Redwingfan01]

Well here is the update on my seat issue. After 4 times of having the Flex in for them to grease the hinges, replace the cable, rep[lace the cable, replace the latch and still having to take it back in they decided the fix HAD TO BE... replacing the entire seat rail and then reskin it with my leather.

That was done approximately 3 1/2 months ago and guess what? We are once again back to the point of wrenching on the seat back while pulling up to get it the back to fold down. The dealer, of course says they have no idea what to do at this point.

So we will be keeping track of the repair parts, and the number of times we get it serviced for this over the next 12-18 months and turning it in under our states lemon law I guess. It really sucks too, because as I've said, we absolutely love this vehicle otherwise, but if I can't use the entire vehicle without great difficulty then why have the darn thing.

I maybe it is time to called Ford direct and get an engineer to come out and take a look at it or something. I don't know, I at a loss at this point.

[ACDII]

So if greasing it cures the problem for a while, why not just add lubing the system as a part of routine maintenance? Sounds like you guys give the seat a good workout, and it starts to bind when the lube dries out. A simple mechanic wouldn't look into it in detail to figure out why it binds, an engineer would. I consider myself a bit of both and would take the time to look over the entire mechanism to see why it binds. Sounds like you should have Ford do the same.