I'm hoping someone else here has BTDT or at least heard about this, as I don't have time to get the car to a dealer and I don't want to pay for who knows how many hours of disassembly if needed - the techs at two dealerships I spoke to on the phone only said "Beats me - bring it in." The driver's side half of the rear seat in my '13 Outback has been jammed in the folded down position since I hauled a heavy load of sod and dirt yesterday. The top/front end of it sits several inches lower than the passenger side does when folded down (right side had more weight on it but didn't have an issue), so it's jammed hard against the seat bench, but it's not just a friction thing. It feels like it's been locked down mechanically, such that I can't budge it at all by hand; prying at it with an axe handle flexed the frame a bit, but that was it. It's so solidly retained that my first thought was that there was some sort of locking bar to hold the seat that way during assembly or some sort of repair and I just needed to find a release, but the dealer techs said no. Ideally I'd like to fix this by tomorrow afternoon, so I'm hoping for a quick answer, but I'm heading out on a trip on Monday and will definitely need the use of that seat by then. Thanks in advance for any enlightenment.
Sounds like you may have bent the frame? If so, a new/used seat is probably going to be your best bet.
That’s the thing... I can’t find any indication that the frame itself is bent; nothing is misshapen in any way. I’ve moved some trim out of the way to try to get a better look from the back of the hinge, but it’s looking like more disassembly is needed. In any case, the problem with replacing the seat is that I’d need to remove the bench to get at the bolts that hold the seatback in, and that looks to be impossible with the seatback jammed down the way it is.
Sounds frustrating! Well the lower bolts are on the front, so you could remove those and try to wiggle the lower out? I guess i’m going to sound like the shops...”bring it in”. I would need to look at it as well. Lol
Grain of salt, I have virtually zero hands-on experience with that body style.... but, on the older cars, it can wedge against the front seatback. So, make sure the front seats are forward.
Have you tried Subaruoutback.org? Extremely knowledgeable community of Outback owners, that have helped me immensely with various issues. Just thought I'd throw it out there. Good luck.
I’ll try Subaruoutback.org - thanks for the suggestion. If all else fails, I’ll try to see if I can wiggle the bench out to get at those bolts to remove the seatback, but I’m not optimistic as it’s held down pretty tightly.
Well how big are you? Any friends that are bigger that could/would try? I’ve had bolts that I couldn’t get loose that i let my friend try and they came right out(I probably loosened them for him ) It’s worth a shot?