2nd Row seat stuck in folded position

[Aspen03]

I havent had a chance to take anything apart but after a bit in all data it appears the seats aren't really meant to be serviced too much, aside from the lower frame which has a TSB for rust issues.

This is a 2003 EB with the bench seat, the problem seat is the outboard seat on the driver side.

Prior to last night they've worked fine. The seatback was folded and the seat was lowered into the fold flat position. After running some errands and u loading the car the driver side 2nd row seat will not return to its upright position. It lifts up from the floor and locks into place but when attempting to raise the seatback it gets approx halfway. It will fold, flip forward, etc. The only thing it wont do is go back to full upright. I've looked everywhere and don't see anything thays obviously loose/broken. All levers have the same range of motion and tension (comparing to the passenger side of the vehicle).

I'm at a loss as to what might be wrong without blindly dismantling things. There was nothing heavy on it, nothing made any cracks, pops, or otherwise. It just binds up. Very strange...

Has anyone else had this happen and fixed it? I tried the obvious push hard, quick, etc. I stopped when I felt like if I tried any harder something might actually break.

Pic attached to show where it stops.

 

[TomB985]

I don’t think there’s much serviceable in the seat mechanism. Your best option is probably to find a used seat from a salvage yard.

Check out www.car-part.com, it’s a great search tool to find specific parts at yards in your area.

 

[Aspen03]

I just got it back into an upright position this afternoon. I had it flipped forward just to get a better look at things and was moving levers, etc just to see what was moving or not. With it in that position if I pulled on the lanyard that releases the lower feet to flip the seat it would allow the seat back to return to upright. I had to do this with it leaning forward so something in that mechanism isnt working correctly.

I was able to repeat this 4 or 5 times, we seldom ever fold that seat so I'll just leave it be for now and knowing that this works repeatedly I have confidence in it working later on. If it becomes an issue later I'll source one from a yard. They're fairly inexpensive around here.

The seat definitely isnt meant to be serviceable it was more of a can I maybe fix this before just replacing it. I have access to a full shop and my father is also a machinist had I needed some random pin or piece that had failed. That is a great site for finding random components though. I used it in the past when trying to source some interior conversion pieces for another vehicle.