Originally Posted by fabric8

It took me a while to get around doing this for fear of breaking something (which did happen) but I finally have my passenger seat latch working properly. The fix itself is SUPER simple, and I wish I would have done this sooner. You can actually fix this problem with the seat in the car, but I had mine out to figure out how to best accomplish this.

Fortunately, the part that broke is a relatively basic thing and was easily remedied.

After inspecting the mechanism that allows the seat to tilt forward when you pull the lever up, there are 2 possible causes:
1. the tilting lever may have come off the dowel which prevents it from engaging the other lever
2. the screw to the bar is loose (this was my case)

Overview:
the black plastic levers on either side of the seat make contact with a silver lever through a dowel. When you pull up on this lever, it engages the silver lever via the dowel like a cam does, and raises it. That silver lever is connected to a long solid rod that runs to the opposite side of the seat, which is then connected to the silver lever on the opposite side. As you raise the black lever, it raises the silver lever which rotates the long rod, causing the opposite lever to rotate, and raise the other black lever.

It's actually a very simple setup and is easier to understand by observing it in person than read about.

Fix:
in my case, when I'd pull up on the black lever, I could see the bar rotating, but not engaging the other lever. So I got my allen wrench and tightened the screw. While it was snug, it wasn't tight. After tightening the screw, I could see that the lever was now moving, and I could now tilt the seat.

But it was only working on one side - meaning the other lever wasn't working to tilt the seat. I checked how it functioned more, and could see that with one lever, when it was raised, it fully engaged the silver bar. But on the other lever, it only engaged it about 3/4's of the way.

I then loosened the screw on the other side of the bar (the one that was originally tight), raised the working lever a couple of times, then re-tightened the screw. After that, both levers fully engaged the silver levers and allowed me to tilt my seat forward.

I think loosening the screw allowed the rod (which I believe is keyed) to re-seat itself correctly on the silver lever allowing it to fully engage.

Caveat:
The hardest part about getting to the fix was not knowing how the plastic cover comes off. After spending quite a while poking around the seat (with the seat off the car), I came to the conclusion that it must be press fit into place. So I pulled on it and it came off. But I did break off a piece of expanding plastic fingers.

From inspecting the back of the cover, you'll see there's a push pin that spreads out the expanding plastic fingers. I never noticed the push pin before because it blended right in with the rest of the plastic. There's also another pair of pressure fingers that hold the cover to a nut. But those alone aren't enough to hold the cover snugly.

For those attempting this, be aware that when you push the plastic pin in, don't push it all the way. There's a notch on the pin which I believe relieves the pressure on the plastic fingers allowing you to pull it out without breaking the plastic fingers. If you push it in too far, it might get lost in the seat. You'll have to go out and buy some new ones. Probably pretty cheap anyway.

Because I broke mine, I had to use a non-permanent glue.

Onto some visual aid:

1. Pull out tilting lever and reclining ****. Push in pushpin. Then pull cover off. Do this on both sides.



2. Pics of the backside of the cover. Finger tabs I broke because I didn't know there was a pushpin:


3. Cover removed showing tilting mechanism:


4. Check both screws to the rod. Tighten as necessary. Also, check the black lever are seated correctly on the dowel


5. Picture of black lever seated properly on the dowel:


6. Ready for re-assembly. Note the plastic arms that hold onto the nut:



You won't need to do this if you didn't break the plastic fingers associated with the push pin:
7. I had to use some non-permanent but strong holding glue. Go2glue (found at HomeDepot) is excellent stuff. Dries clear, bonds strong, but can be removed if needed.


8. Apply a bead along the back seat cover where the side cover rests


9. Tape it in place for 24 hours until it's fully cured:


After doing this fix, I can easily tilt my passenger side using either lever perfectly. Hope this helps you guys out there!

Originally Posted by shuttle1981

How do you get the picture to show.
Many thanks
Clive