Rear Seats stuck down

[Topweasel]

Soooo. Yesterday I lowered my rear seats to get something that was really close to the back of the trunk (and found another item I had been looking for that had fallen between trunk and seats). Well the middle seat has a retractable belt that apparently locks when the seat is lowered. Its apparently supposed to unlock as I try to raise it up and expand letting the seat lock back to the trunk latch. But its just staying locked.

It's the first time I have lowered the seat all the way so I don't know if I am missing something of if their is some kind of secondary release. I am not a handyman so removing the seats is out of the question but I want to save a trip to the dealer if I can avoid it. Its a 2013 Ford Fusion, so if it is broken it's under warranty, but again it being the first time I dropped the seats, I am hoping I am missing quick trick (though I spent an hour last night analyzing and trying different things).

 

[ISAslot]

Do they cover it in the manual? Maybe there's a release for it?

 

[jaha2000]

RTFM?

 

[Topweasel]

I didn't see anything in the Manual, but I am impatient and gave up last night and figured I'd ask just in case anyone else has seen it before. But I'll give the manual a second check. It's going to be at least till this weekend before I might even take to the dealer.

 

[Drako]

Push the button in the trunk.

 

[Topweasel]

Push the button in the trunk.

What button?

I did look through the manual online, but I couldn't even find a reference to lower the seats.

 

[Drako]

What exactly is stuck?

The seat or the seat belt?

 

[michal1980]

What button?

I did look through the manual online, but I couldn't even find a reference to lower the seats.

I found the reference to lower seats online in the manual nothing about raising them.

 

[LTC8K6]

Push the seat down harder to try and create some slack to get the belt to unlock?

 

[Topweasel]

What exactly is stuck?

The seat or the seat belt?

The seat is stuck because the inertia lock engages for the middle seat belt leaving it a slackness state. Probable to keep the belt from getting caught on something. The seat won't raise up because its supposed to unlock and allow slack as I raise the seat or at least that's what I gather is supposed to happen.

Push the seat down harder to try and create some slack to get the belt to unlock?

I tried to push it farther down but still didn't seem to be able to tug on it to get it to release. As far as I can tell lowering it all the way is what got it locked in the first place.

 

[Scarpozzi]

Sit in the front seat, reach back between the cushions and try to reach the seatbelt button release from there?

 

[Topweasel]

Sit in the front seat, reach back between the cushions and try to reach the seatbelt button release from there?

Its not buckled, its a retractable belt hanging free, but apparently when the seat is down it locks at its position like it would if I was breaking really hard. It only needs like a couple more inches of slack before I can lift the seat but I can't pull on it to get more than like half an inch.

 

[boomerang]

Is the car parked on an angled surface?

 

[Topweasel]

Is the car parked on an angled surface?

No not really maybe by a degree or two (finding a perfectly level area is unlikely).

 

[snail3]

Is the problem solved? My mkz has the exact problem last night, not sure if I should go to dealer about this

 

[Topweasel]

Is the problem solved? My mkz has the exact problem last night, not sure if I should go to dealer about this

Nope still debating going to the dealer, I have a lot going on and am worried that it is broke and longer fix than walk in and someone sticks their hand in the back and does magic and its done. Since I don't need the rear seats right now I am not in a hurry to lose my car for a bit.

 

[snail3]

I just got my 2013 mkz last week, its got some pending recall (reprogramming of hybrid pcm module or something similar) I might drop off the dealer today for the recall and also get this silly problem sorted at the same time.

 

[boomerang]

No not really maybe by a degree or two (finding a perfectly level area is unlikely).

That's not it then. I was thinking that on an angled surface the inertia lock might be engaged.

 

[Topweasel]

I just got my 2013 mkz last week, its got some pending recall (reprogramming of hybrid pcm module or something similar) I might drop off the dealer today for the recall and also get this silly problem sorted at the same time.

If you do please get them to tell you what they did if it was simple to avoid wasting their time, then share it, pretty please.

 

[cabri]

Nope still debating going to the dealer, I have a lot going on and am worried that it is broke and longer fix than walk in and someone sticks their hand in the back and does magic and its done. Since I don't need the rear seats right now I am not in a hurry to lose my car for a bit.

The dealer should be able to tell you if it is a 5 minute job or a leave the vehicle there issue.

For a 5 minute job; they can break free someone or the service advisor should be able to handle the issue.

 

[snail3]

If you do please get them to tell you what they did if it was simple to avoid wasting their time, then share it, pretty please.

just got the car back from shop. Seems like they had to remove the seat bottom and unbolt the seat belt bottom to loosen the retractor.

I got the phone call to pick my car after about 3 hours after dropped off, that included the the work for firmware update for car's recall. So maybe fixing the seatbelt was a 30min job for them, as long as you have to right tool and know how to remove the seat bottom (which I don't).

the service advisor told me a small trick: buckle up the middle seatbelt first before folding down the seat so there is extra length of seatbelt to wiggling around if the retractor is locked again...guess I am not the first one to visit them about this problem.

service receipt shot:

 

[Drako]

just got the car back from shop. Seems like they had to remove the seat bottom and unbolt the seat belt bottom to loosen the retractor.

I got the phone call to pick my car after about 3 hours after dropped off, that included the the work for firmware update for car's recall. So maybe fixing the seatbelt was a 30min job for them, as long as you have to right tool and know how to remove the seat bottom (which I don't).

the service advisor told me a small trick: buckle up the middle seatbelt first before folding down the seat so there is extra length of seatbelt to wiggling around if the retractor is locked again...guess I am not the first one to visit them about this problem.

service receipt shot:

Wow, that seems like a bad design flaw.

I sense a recall in 3..2..1..

 

[Tcaheath]

This just happened to me with my 2013 Fusion. No way to fix this myself?

 

[Topweasel]

This just happened to me with my 2013 Fusion. No way to fix this myself?

Nope apparently if you do it the right way you have to basically unbolt the seat so you can get a little extra slack. When I eventually took mine in they replaced the retractor. I don't know if it was an attempt to hopefully prevent this from happening again, or if they tried to not unbolt the seats and failed miserably.

Either way, if I am putting all the seats down in the future in any car, the seatbelt's are getting snapped in. Doing searches on this problem last year led me to find that no manufacturer is safe.

 

[crhill1200@gmail]

I still had the problem on my 2013 MKZ.
I believe the problem is an unfortunate omission in the engineering department. When the rear seat back is lowered, the same mechanism that locks the belt on hard deceleration falls and locks the seatbelt in its retracted position, and the belt tension prevents the seatback from being raised. If the seat back could be raised, the mechanism might be able to release the belt; but the belt is already so tight that raising the seatback is impossible.
A temporary fix is to gain access from the trunk side of the underseat and, with a T50 Torx socket, remove the bolt holding the belt to the floor. Once the belt is slack, you can raise the seatback to it normal position, reattaching the belt bracket in its original place. However, at this point if you again lower the seat, you'll have the same problem.
The permanent (short of a factory recall) is to keep a clamp handy - prior to lowering the seat, pull out a considerable length of belt and clamp it so it can't retract. Go ahead with the seat operation and when you're done, release the belt clamp.
The only good permanent fix I can think of would be to have a manual release of the belt retractor somewhere on the seatback; or a mechanism to prevent the belt lock from locking on a seat lowering operation.