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Rear fold down seats - failure, and warning.


TxWally
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OK, This weekend, I tried to fold the rear seats down, and it seems that on the passenger side either the cable came loose, got disconnected, or is missing since the handle has no resistance. The driver side works perfectly. Dropping it off at dealer early Saturday since they have to remove the back seat to get to the cable!!! 

 

Now the warning: If you happen to see a great big space under that rear seat, It should be common sense, but should you have a lapse like I did :confused: ... DO NOT have you hand under the rear seat is being folded down!!!

Although, now I wonder why ford didn't list their mobile pannini press as a feature. ;)

Edited by TxWally
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Thanks, The hand is OK.

@mippedmapped, yes, pulled the handle all the way. There is no resistance throughout the handle travel. When i brought it in to service, they asked me to drop it off for the day since they need to take the seat out.  

 

Now I'm figuring it's a good way to crush old soda cans. 

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I still don't understand the whole Ford/Enterprise agreement.. If I owned a Ford Dealer that housed an Enterprise car rental place, I would want Ford products as part of the fleet. The longer I have the loaner Jeep Compass, the more I like the ugly, but indestructible interior. In my Max, my wife is not allowed to touch anything.

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OK, This weekend, I tried to fold the rear seats down, and it seems that on the passenger side either the cable came loose, got disconnected, or is missing since the handle has no resistance. The driver side works perfectly. Dropping it off at dealer early Saturday since they have to remove the back seat to get to the cable!!! 

 

Now the warning: If you happen to see a great big space under that rear seat, It should be common sense, but should you have a lapse like I did :confused: ... DO NOT have you hand under the rear seat is being folded down!!!

Although, now I wonder why ford didn't list their mobile pannini press as a feature. ;)

 

Mine had the exact same defect on delivery. Weird, I assumed it was a fluke. Dealer fixed it easily (you might check to be sure they get the part in first -- I had to go back a second time because the part was back-ordered and not delivered timely for my first appointment).

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 years later...

The lever on my left hand read seat no longer allows the rear seat to fold down.  The car is out of warranty and the dealer just advised that the cable is broken and the repair will be in excess of $500. Have probably folded the seat down 8-10 times in the last 2 1/2 years. The cable is inaccessible so I can't have damaged it.

Any thoughts on approaching Ford with this? Seems like it should have failed after less than 10 uses.

I have downloaded the ALLDATA repair info on the cable, but doesn't look that easy.

Anyone else having this problem?

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  • 7 months later...

I have a 2013 CMAX and recently,.....for only the 2nd time, I tried to lower the rear seatback (the 2 seat side, behind the driver) and,.........the seatback won't go down.  Took the car in for it's 25,000 mile inspection and mentioned the rear seatback failure.  Their answer, the release mechanism failed but it's part of the whole seat frame and will cost $700.00 to repair ! ! !   That's right, some FORD designer was too stupid to think,.."What if this mechanism ever fails? , replacing the whole seat frame might be rather pricey, lets design this differently so it's a simple repair."  

Well, needless to say,...the car is off it's warranty and I'm not paying $700 to have this fixed.  But,......I'm wondering if anybody on this site has access to the Service manuals and could send me a picture of this rear seat mechanism or just how the rear seat gets connected to the car?  Why?  Because I think I'm going to do some junkyard searches and see if I can pickup a rear - leftside seat and do the replacement myself. Or at least take the current seat and see if I can set it in the DOWN Position and leave it like that, I asked the dealer if they could do that and they said NO, it would mean tearing the whole rear seat apart.

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  • 1 year later...
  • 1 year later...

Looks like the cost to repair LH rear seat fold down has gone up. The local ford dealer now wants $1600.00 to fix. They say the mechanism is binding and needs to be replaced. The Premium Care extended warranty denied coverage. So much for bumper-to-bumper coverage.

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  • 7 months later...

I bought my CMax brand new.  I had the same problem back seat could not fold down.  I don’t know why vehicle isn’t fully checked over before selling.  I found out the day before my trip.  It’s a feature  I would rarely need to use.  I just tried to fold back seats again for a road trip and it failed is this going to be a recurring problem?  Will Ford just fix or a big cost in involved?

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  • 1 year later...

The lever quit working on the right side of our 2013 Energi last week.  I was hoping it would be an easy repair.  I will pull the seat soon and see if I can't repair it myself.

Update:  I dismantled the lower part of the seat today, and found the problem.  By the way, you need to remove the 2 bolts in the front of the seat with an 18mm socket then lift up the bottom of the seat, and remove some of the trim to get at the bolts holding the actuator.  The actuator cable was broken right where the sheathing was pinched.  The sheathing splits into 2 pieces, so I was able to take it apart and use vise grips to pull the cable to lower the seat back.  I found the part on the FordUS website for $134.69, and I will call my local Ford dealer tomorrow to check their price.  I guess a cheaper fix would be to substitute bicycle brake cables and sheathing, or just reattach the vise grips to the broken end of the cable.

 

Actuator
Part #: 96613A68
Ford Parts Logo (Fix or Repair Daily  ? )
Usage: 07/23/2012 - 04/26/2018, C-MAX Energi 2014-2018 (CCG)
Section: Rear Seat Base
Most parts available next business day.
Your Price: $134.69
MSRP:  $134.69

 

C-Max Actuator.png

Edited by 67gtcougar
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  • 2 weeks later...

I decided to repair the cable with bicycle parts.  The cable housing was badly damaged, so I bought a piece the same size from a bicycle shop.  I also bought a shifter cable and a cable ferrule to attach the old Z-end to the new cable. After assembly, I made sure that cable and housing wasn't being pinched when the seat back was laid down, which caused the original cable to break.  I tried to find a cable with the same size  barrel end (5x8 mm), by settled on the shifter cable with a different end.  Be careful when when reaching under the seat, there are a few sharp edges that can cut your fingers.  

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Edited by 67gtcougar
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