Front Passenger Seat Jammed

[atulhi]

Hi guys,

I bought this 2003 XLE a year ago and very recently encountered a strange problem.

While vaccuming the back-seat area of car, I moved the front Passenger Seat all the way to the front (using the Power Switch). And now, the seat refuses to go back.

Again, the recliner motion is working, and so is the vertical movement. Its just the horizontal movement (where the seat moves on the channel) is not working. I can feel that the motor is engaging, but the seat doesn't move.

I went to the dealer ship and they suggested me to replace the whole seat which was surprising, since they said that they can't even diagnose the problem. Unfortunately, my warranty expired last yr. There are 37000 miles on the car

Any clues ?

Regards,
Atul Jain
atulhi@yahoo.com

[tinico]

maby something stuck in the mechanism....??
if you feel like it, you can remove the seat from the car (4 bolts and the electric plug/s) turn it upside down and give it a look... worst case scenario the dealer will replace the seat
did you try sitting on it and jerk it a little while pressing on the button to kinda help it go back?

[gdanaher]

I haven't looked at this seat model but think of a garage door opener with a screw drive. It has a limit stop which keeps it from going too far. I'm guessing that the seat also used a screw drive mechanism and having gone to the end, it may have gone too far and run off the end of the screw. Perhaps shoving the seat backwards while at the same time engaging the motor might allow it to hook up and start working. Otherwise, unbolt the seat and take a look at it from the bottom and see if you can see anything obvious. It really should be.

[kevintomb]

DUDE....mine did the same EXACT thing 2 times....I fixed it myself...you have to disassemble the drive mechanism..its just bound up cause one side moved a bit too far forward compared to the other side...its easy to fix...but remove the seat out of car if you can...makes it MUCH easier. You will be able to move these small gears using the cable drive thingy that comes out of the centrally located motor..its hard to EXPLAIN, but not that hard to actually do......