Driver's Rear Seat Will Not Release To Fold Down

[Dan Lockwood]

I've had the rear interior gutted for about a month now working on water leaks. The rear seats were just folded up and in my garage during the interim.

Now that they're all back in and my water leaks resolved, the driver's rear seat will not fold down. It moves a about an 1/8 of the way down and then locks up.

In the picture below you will see the arrow is pointing to a trip latch in the hinge mechanism. If I push in on the rounded portion, about where the arrow points, the seat will release and fold down. Just about every time I try to fold it back down, it locks up.

I did nothing in that area other than just remove the seat assembly and store it in the garage and then reinstall them.

The little paw or latch does not seem to be locked up, as it will push in with a little pressure and springs right back out. I have to hold in on the latch to get it to fold and then I can release it for a complete fold down of the seat.

Any ideas?

 

[Dan Lockwood]

WOW, 264 views and no one else has had this issue.

I'm going to tinker with it again this week when the weather warms up just a bit here.

 

[jawzs2]

I actually remember seeing a video on ram rear seats not folding down on you tube a few years ago. I was looking for something else, so I didn't pay much attention to it, pretty sure it was a 3rd gen, but may be relevant. Try to find it and see what it says, it may help.

 

[Dodge 1500 4X4]

If it's like the passenger side rear, you just have to help it down, just lean on it, of coarse I have a 5th gen and I don't see any release latch.

 

[Ratket]

Try Creep or penetrating oil? It appears you pull them out often? I would check a Junk yard and try to find a seat you could Rob a new assembly out of.

 

[Udaloy]

I have a 2017 Ram with this same issue. In fact, both back seats will do it. I've never had my seats out, so don't think that has anything to do with it. I don't understand the reason for these latches, but they clearly aren't working as intended. Leaning on the seat does nothing. I have a screw driver living back there for when it's time to move the seat.

 

[corneileous]

I had that problem once in my 2018 where when you go to let the seats down after raising them up, they would lock like that, being a ***** getting them to release but so far, a real good healthy dose of PB blaster on that spot in the picture that somebody posted seems to have cured that.


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[Udaloy]

Agree. I haven't done it yet, but several YouTube videos say the same thing.

 

[GordDavey]

I had the very same issue. That little "paw"/"pawl"/"pendulum" pointed out is supposed to swing freely, if it doesn't then the seats cant be lowered. All I had to do was lubricate that unit real well with a good lube like jigloo or fluid film, and the seats have worked perfectly since. My rears like many items in my truck came from a scrap yard and showed a bit of corrosion. Grease it up and it'll work just fine.

 

[Salty Ram]

Yep, I had that same issue on my '16 Sport but took it to the dealer because I didn't know what the hell was going on. They said they "fixed the issue" but it happened again a few months later. So, I also found the way to release the seat manually a few times. Every now and then it will lock up, but I just push it back up the little bit and it has always come back down.