kingwulfgar thanks for your quick response. i'm not sure exactly how but i seem to have fixed mine as well... the seat was jammed in the closed position and the latch wasn't doing anything. the key to folding the seat down so i could get to the screws to work on it was prying up the red striped tab with a tiny screwdriver. from there i took it apart but couldn't see a bent post as you suggested. i did try to bend all of the plastic pieces back to the proper working position, if in fact they had bent the other way. i didn't use a hairdryer. i put it all back together and it seems to work fine. there weren't any cracked or broken parts as suggested in other posts. also worth noting was that it was easier to put back together with the keyed handle in the unlocked position and the seat mechanism in the latched position. that way you can line up the little white post in the slot properly and then test it before shutting the seat. thanks again.