I had begun to notice my seat (driver's) was rocking back and forth during stops. I ignored it at first until it began to get worse and someone pointed out I should get it looked at, as it may be a safety issue. I first inspected it myself. I noticed that by having an assistant grip the headrest and rock the seat back and forth, the entire seat seemed to be moving on the hinges that control height and mount the seat to the rails. My seldom used passenger front seat does not have this issue.
To the dealer I went. They inspected the seat and confirmed the hinges that connector the seat to the slider are shot and need replaced. Ford being Ford however, you can't order just a hinge. You need the entire lower seat/slider sub assembly, which would cost $446 just for parts! This is beyond my ability to install, so I would also need to pay my dealer for labor.
A 3 year old car should not have this issue. For that matter, my 20 year old, 200,000 mile Corolla doesn't have loose seats despite having been in at least one prior accident. I wrote to Ford to see what they're willing to do and filed an NHTSA complaint as this could be a safety issue in the event of a serious collision, but I have little hope it will resolved without me just sucking it up and buying the part.
Update from Nov 3, 2013: To add to the above, one possible solution is to install a shim of some kind in the hinge, but this will cause you lose the ability to adjust the seat.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
I had begun to notice my seat (driver's) was rocking back and forth during stops. I ignored it at first until it began to get worse and someone pointed out I should get it looked at, as it may be a safety issue. I first inspected it myself. I noticed that by having an assistant grip the headrest and rock the seat back and forth, the entire seat seemed to be moving on the hinges that control height and mount the seat to the rails. My seldom used passenger front seat does not have this issue.
To the dealer I went. They inspected the seat and confirmed the hinges that connector the seat to the slider are shot and need replaced. Ford being Ford however, you can't order just a hinge. You need the entire lower seat/slider sub assembly, which would cost $446 just for parts! This is beyond my ability to install, so I would also need to pay my dealer for labor.
A 3 year old car should not have this issue. For that matter, my 20 year old, 200,000 mile Corolla doesn't have loose seats despite having been in at least one prior accident. I wrote to Ford to see what they're willing to do and filed an NHTSA complaint as this could be a safety issue in the event of a serious collision, but I have little hope it will resolved without me just sucking it up and buying the part.
Update from Nov 3, 2013: To add to the above, one possible solution is to install a shim of some kind in the hinge, but this will cause you lose the ability to adjust the seat.
- outta_focus, Quarryville, PA, US