Rear seats won't stay down!

[Josh1.8]

Hello Seat Friends!

I have a connundrum I'm hoping someone can help me with.

The rear seats of my Mk3 Leon won't stay down when folded flat, which is really annoying when trying to load my mountain bike into the back!

The lever in the boot or the button on top of the seat releases the latch, however it doesn't fall flat as it used to, and doesn't stay down. A video which demonstrates this more clearly is available at the link below (too big to attach):

Rear seat video

Apologies if this has been discussed elsewhere - typing "seat" into the search bar is exactly as specific as you would imagine!

Thanks all, Josh

 

[Walone]

I suspect that the seat cushion has been removed and not refitted correctly, have the ISOFIX retainers been fitted properly?
Try sitting on the cushion and bouncing up and down a bit.

 

[SuperV8]

Hello Seat Friends!

I have a connundrum I'm hoping someone can help me with.

The rear seats of my Mk3 Leon won't stay down when folded flat, which is really annoying when trying to load my mountain bike into the back!

The lever in the boot or the button on top of the seat releases the latch, however it doesn't fall flat as it used to, and doesn't stay down. A video which demonstrates this more clearly is available at the link below (too big to attach):

Rear seat video

Apologies if this has been discussed elsewhere - typing "seat" into the search bar is exactly as specific as you would imagine!

Thanks all, Josh

Leon ST seat backs have a spring to flip them forward when you pull the lever in the boot. This spring makes it more tricky to re-latch them - having to push against the spring.
I'm guessing something has moved/broken with your spring?
Does it happen with both sides?

 

[Josh1.8]

Thanks for the replies Walone and Super.

Haha, I've tried jumping on it as you might imagine! The problem remains with and without the isofix covers in place, doesnt affect the other side, and I've never had the rear bench off. It feels as if the seat meets resistance before it contacts the bottom bench, so I agree it's probably a problem with the spring...I just don't know how to get to it or what to do if I could!

Any ideas on how to get to it?

 

[SuperV8]

I was expecting to see a spring somewhere - but there is nothing noted in the assembly overview - so maybe it is within the hinge or somewhere in the bowden cable/lock number 15 & 1?

Fold down seat and remove boot carpet first:

 

[Josh1.8]

Thanks Super, I'd similarly had a look at these but couldn't see the spring that's the likely culprit!

I've had a look in the bowden access port on the side of the seat (14) and the cable appears to be actuating correctly, and if you take the cable out and pull the actual mechanism it releases correctly, but I cant see that it's attached to a spring.

Listening you can actually hear a bit of a creak which sounds like its right at the base of the seat around where it pivots forwards. I could try removing the seat at the point where it pivots by following the steps under "Fold down seat and remove boot carpet first:" but I suspect I may just end up with a car without a rear seat to be honest! I'll take a look and see if the spring becomes evident

 

[Frostybear]

Thanks Super, I'd similarly had a look at these but couldn't see the spring that's the likely culprit!

I've had a look in the bowden access port on the side of the seat (14) and the cable appears to be actuating correctly, and if you take the cable out and pull the actual mechanism it releases correctly, but I cant see that it's attached to a spring.

Listening you can actually hear a bit of a creak which sounds like its right at the base of the seat around where it pivots forwards. I could try removing the seat at the point where it pivots by following the steps under "Fold down seat and remove boot carpet first:" but I suspect I may just end up with a car without a rear seat to be honest! I'll take a look and see if the spring becomes evident

I've had my rear seats off recently to swap them. I have an st but swapped the seats to ones from a hatch. Unfortunately the spring mechanism is built in to the frame of the seat, wrapped around the hinge point. Maybe if you take the seats out and spray some wd40 in to the spring, or at least inspect. If the spring is somehow broken I don't know how you'd replace it...would probably need to do the entire seat itself.

 

[Josh1.8]

Thanks for that Frostybear, that's incredibly helpful! I can only assume the spring has become detached from where its anchored has gotten bunched up and is now giving more tension than it should. Looking at the picture it doesn't look like the attachment point is easily accessible, unless you can see it if you pull the fabric in that picture down? If its totally accessible, and the spring only helps to lift the seat back into position, I'm tempted to take a dremel to it and just remove the spring....unless this would somehow make the seat unsafe / invalidate insurance?!

 

[Frostybear]

Thanks for that Frostybear, that's incredibly helpful! I can only assume the spring has become detached from where its anchored has gotten bunched up and is now giving more tension than it should. Looking at the picture it doesn't look like the attachment point is easily accessible, unless you can see it if you pull the fabric in that picture down? If its totally accessible, and the spring only helps to lift the seat back into position, I'm tempted to take a dremel to it and just remove the spring....unless this would somehow make the seat unsafe / invalidate insurance?!

I took the picture a while ago...but I remember it being very difficult to get at. I'll be able to have another look for you tomorrow evening!

If you do remove it, you only lose the seats folding down automatically when you pull the release handle in the boot or on the seat itself. My seats don't have the spring because they're from a hatchback, I just give them a little push from the boot and gravity does its thing.

 

[Josh1.8]

I took the picture a while ago...but I remember it being very difficult to get at. I'll be able to have another look for you tomorrow evening!

If you do remove it, you only lose the seats folding down automatically when you pull the release handle in the boot or on the seat itself. My seats don't have the spring because they're from a hatchback, I just give them a little push from the bolt and gravity does its thing.

Thanks Frostybear that would be great. Awh noooo, sounds silly but I like that it does that! Tracks that it's the spring then, as the seat no longer flip forward when the lever is pulled. Out of interest why have you swapped the seats for the hatchback ones? I didnt know there was a difference?

 

[Frostybear]

Thanks Frostybear that would be great. Awh noooo, sounds silly but I like that it does that! Tracks that it's the spring then, as the seat no longer flip forward when the lever is pulled. Out of interest why have you swapped the seats for the hatchback ones? I didnt know there was a difference?

So, I actually spoke too soon. I believe you can remove the spring and mechanism! Hard to see in those pictures but it's just a plastic bracket holding the spring, the bracket is clipped in to the metal frame of the seat.

I swapped my cloth SE trim seats for half alcantara Cupra trim seats.Ill have to swap the spring over now too.

Hope that helps you.

 

[Josh1.8]

Absolutely superb, some tremendous sleuthing! Thanks v much for your help, I'll report back once I get the nerve to take the back seat apart!

That's cool, my partner used to have a seat Ibiza with embossed half leather seats which I was always a bit jealous of lol; hope the seat swap goes well, thanks again

 

[Frostybear]

Rear seats are actually ok to take out, think there's a guide somewhere and also SuperV8s pictures above. Amazingly I found the hardest part was finding the angle that the seat slides out (seats forward at about 45 degrees)

 

[LeylandVCDS]

Rear seats are, as said, very easy to take out. I bought an half leather half alcantara interior out of an FR hatch a few years ago, and this has been in both my old SE Tech hatch, which was a direct swap for swap, and currently in my ST. Once the seat squab is lifted out from the front and lifted out, you'll see a plastic cover that goes over the single bolt holding the complete backrest in place. Flip this cover off, remove the bolt and simply lift the two seat back sections up and slightly forward off the mount. Pull each section slightly to the middle of the car to release the retaining pin from the outer edge and lift the seat out. If yours is an ST then the cable for the remote releases need to be disconnected.

As a side note, any seats from a hatch won't have the remote boot mounted releases and the access panels in the sides of the seats. The locks themselves are slightly different hatch to estate and so the release cable can't be directly attached to the locks. But it's a dead easy job to peel back the seat back enough to release the 3 screws holding the lock in, and swap the locks over, and to carefully cut an access hole in the fabric as per the ST seats, which are of course covered by the black plastic cover which the ST seats have. Once that's done, it's an easy enough job to feed the cable up from the bottom of the seat backrest into position, and attach it to the lock by the access point you create.

I did both sides of mine within 45 minutes. There are access holes already there in the frames hatch seats, but whereas the ST has the black plastic plugs covering them, the hatch doesn't and it's unbroken fabric hiding them - you can feel them if you press the sides of the seats - and once the fabric is cut, the blanking plugs just clip into the holes already in the frame to finish things off.

Part number for the blanking plug in the sides of the seat if you don't want to leave your original seats without them is 5G0 886 296, currently at £1.32 inc vat each.