Put the back bench down for an errand and when I placed the bench back up, I noticed some resistance then CRUNCH. The middle seat belt somehow got wedged in the bench seat and therefore did not return to its upright position. This caused it to get squished when the bench went up and just completely shattered. Explained this to the dealership that this occurred when I used the bench seat as its intended use.
This is the second time the same issue had occurred with the center seat belt latch on the back bench seat. Placed the bench seat down and noticed it appeared stiff.. I slowly raised it up and about halfway I could tell that the seat belt and AGAIN become wedged, stuck underneath the bench seat. If I kept lifting it I knew it would break again.
Brought the car to the dealership and they replaced the part again. They felt that a second time cannot be a coincidence and escalated the repair notes to the "Ford Hotline". Some sort of engineer log they use for re-occurring repairs.
Since I actually needed to use that center seat belt for the weekend the dealership gave me a loaner while the car was awaiting for the part (seat belt latch).
I have since used the back bench seat a number of times since then lowering it and lifting it with no issues to date.... (4/12/2019)
Brand new, just bought it a couple of weeks ago. Christmas Day, loading up packages, I put the back seats down for the very FIRST time so as to utilize the 'cargo bay'. After delivery of family presents, I pulled the seats back to their upright, seating position. I heard a muted 'crunch' while doing so, wondered what that was all about. Picked my kid up a few minutes later, he jumped in, noticed the seat belt locking mechanism was broken, shattered. What occurred: the top of the locking mechanism 'wedged' top first into the seats as I was raising them to the upright position (horrible design flaw), with the upholstery snapping the red plastic 'release' lever, and breaking the rest of the surrounding black plastic encasing the mechanism to the floor.
So now... my kid doesn't have a seat belt on that side of the car. Nice financial repair to a bad design on a brand new vehicle. Nice. I'm sure these are breaking all over the USA for owners. I mean... my first time ever dropping the rear seats?!
So I then lowered the drivers side rear seat, covering the left & 'middle' seat. Sure enough, one (1) of those two (2) locking mechanisms also jammed into the seat cushion while attempting to raise the seat (could see it, too, would break upon raising the seat back)... but now knowing the design flaw, I pulled the mechanism out/free so as to preclude it from breaking, too. Nice, huh? Doubt I'm the only owner to have these break :(
- Gary D.,
Greenfield, US
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A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
Put the back bench down for an errand and when I placed the bench back up, I noticed some resistance then CRUNCH. The middle seat belt somehow got wedged in the bench seat and therefore did not return to its upright position. This caused it to get squished when the bench went up and just completely shattered. Explained this to the dealership that this occurred when I used the bench seat as its intended use.
They replaced it free of charge.
- witnessme!, Brantford, ON, Canada