Hey Gang,

I've got a 2003 S60 with the 60/40 split folding rear seat. Ever since I bought the car, I noticed that the left hand section sits a little crooked, but I never thought too much about it. Then a couple of months ago I was working in the trunk to replace my rear shocks and I noticed that the reason the LH seat sits crooked is because the inboard side of the "hinge pin" is not engaged in the pin receptacle (or socket) but is actually just poking into the leather below the receptacle.

At the time I didn't have time to mess with it, but today is a nice day and I tried to fix it, but I can't get the seat back out. The seat back is only engaged on the outboard side and through the leather on the inboard side, but it is still too tight to just pop out.

It looks like I need to remove the side bolster (the fixed portion of the seat back between the folding part and door) to allow access to the folding portion, but I can't figure out how that comes out either. I don't want to simply jerk it out and break something, so I came here to research it. So far, I've found nothing.

Can somebody tell me how to get these parts out?

Thanks!

Ted

 

I attached 3 pictures:

One shows the hinge pin socket where the pin is supposed to go. My pin was jammed into the leather below the socket.

The picture of the bolster latch is taken from inside the trunk. I pulled back the soundproofing / trunk liner from the right hand side, exposing this opening where the latch could be seen. By depressing the plastic catch I was able to push the bolster forward. From the inside of the car the bolster has a second catch which is released by slightly flexing the bolster towards the interior and gently lifting the bolster straight up.

The 3rd picture shows the outboard mount bolt for the seat back. It is a 14mm bolt and once I removed it, the seatback lifted free on the outboard end. Now I was able to pull the RH seatback out a couple of inches which pulled the hing pin with it. The LH seatback dropped into position and I slid the RH seatback back into place.

Installation was the reverse of removal. Very quick, very easy...once you know what to do!

I thought I was finished, but while putting away my tools and replacing the contents of my trunk, I noticed an oil spot on the driveway. A quick inspection revealed that my right front strut has "blown". I guess 138,000 miles of New Hampshire and Pennsylvania potholes finally took their toll.

Now I know what I'm doing tomorrow!