[SilverAthlon]

When I fold down the seat in the rear, I noticed that the "latch" that you pull up to unlock the back portion of the seat stays in the "up" position when folded down. This occurs on both driver and passenger sides of the vehicle. I usually have the front seats as far back as possible, and this creates a tight fit between the back lower-seat and back seat-back. I'm concerned that this may be putting unusual pressure on the latch, it seems that the plastic could break... Does anyone else have this problem?

See pictures below.

Unlocked from regular position

Almost fully down

Fully resting down

 

[propellerhead]

Mine is like that too. I thought it was odd but it didn't really bother me.

 

[Dave22]

yeah i have that too doesnt bother me either i wouldn't worry about just apply less pressure if you just want to be carefull :thumb:

 

[SilverAthlon]

Right on guys, thanks for the info!

 

[stone]

Mine has the same function. Doesn't bother me.

 

[RobtRoma]

My 02 doesn't have that "latch" pull. Mine has a small loop that I pull at the bottom of the seat so I don't have to worry about this. You can see the loop in the picture below:

The picture is sideways (sorry) but you can see the loop in the bottom right corner just to the right of the seat belt clip. It works fine this way so I don't know why they changed it... :shrug:

 

[jpark]

My early-production '05 didn't have the plastic latch, either. It had the loop-pull.

 

[stone]

My error. I should have been more specific. It has the same function , but i have the loop pull instead of a latch.

 

[arbs]

i think the way the seats fold forward is really effective - loops for me too on my oldun

 

[jonas1022]

OK, now I need to go look at the Tribute. I haven't the foggiest how it unlatches...

 

[SilverAthlon]

My Folk's Escape has the loop also, and I think that I favor that over the latch on the top of the seat. I can only assume that they redesigned it so the the latch attaches to a bracket 1/2 way up on the seat which integrates into the side of the vehicle, vs. relying on the mechanics of the seat itself.

This latch mechanism is only (more) effective if the contents of the rear were to come forward quickly in the event of a sudden stop. Even more so, the contents of the rear would likely need to be fairly heavy as to break the internals of the seat.