Rear seat become detached

[Alexis27]

The larger rear bench has been detached from its fitting since I bought the car and I'm having trouble getting it screwed back on.

I've tried using needle nose pliers to turn the bolt hoping it would screw back into the seat, but no luck.

Anybody come across this and have any tips?

Thinking I might be best slicing off the bolt and replacing it with a short metal bar of some sort so it pins in place.

 

[Muttley]

That's the backrest you're trying to fit, not the seat I hope. The seat is attached by the wire hinges at the front.

The backrest should just clip in to the fitting. I've never taken mine off so don't know if you've got anything missing from the end of that bolt. Is there anything rattling about in the backrest?

 

[Alexis27]

Yeah, I meant the backrest sorry.

It clips into the slot at the top, but is designed to be screwed into the bolt at the bottom so that it hinges when you put the seats down. Presumably it's screwed in at the factory and is never supposed to become detached. I can't see how you can screw it back in once its come out.

Nothing rattling - there's just a hole in the backrest for the bolt to screw in to.

 

[Muttley]

Right, just been out to fiddle with my seat and now I know what's supposed to happen.

You are right to say that the part you can see should be screwed to the backrest.

It is released by putting a big screwdriver blade against the notch you can see and pushing the catch (which is what it is) backwards to release the screw and post. Then you will have the post free and can screw it back in or investigate why it doesn't have anything to screw into on the backrest. You may have to peel the upholstery back to see the metal frame of the backrest.

 

[Muttley]

How have you progressed with this, Alexis? It would be good for others with similar problems if you could tell us what you've found.

 

[Alexis27]

Sorry for the delay in getting back. All sorted now!

Seems obvious now that the clip hinges back - couldn't believe I never cottoned on to it before!