KITTinKC
Member
- Joined
- November 4, 2012
- Messages
- 23
- Reaction score
- 1
- City, State
- Shawnee, KS
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- 2016 Ford Explorer Limite
Hi, everyone -
I have a 2016 Limited Explorer with the 301A equipment package. The driver's side multi-contour seat has been a nightmare since I bought the thing in Oct. 2016. When I originally bought it, the recline didn't work and the massage feature would shut off after 1 minute. I took it back to the dealer and they said they just "re-connected the connections" and that solved it. This first fix did resolve the recline issue, and the massage feature was working perfectly. Then a couple months later, I felt what seemed like a "kick" in the bottom of the seat, and it's hardly worked right since. (It actually didn't work at all when this happened for a few weeks)
If I press the button on the side of the seat to activate the massage feature, nothing happens (massage doesn't start, and the multi-contour seat screen does not appear on the touch screen). If I navigate to the multi-contour seat screen myself, and select "massage", nothing will happen when I try to select high or low. The button "depresses" for a few seconds, then just goes back to how it was. Sometimes, I can get it to "wake up" if I hold down the arrow on the side of the seat that points to the front of the vehicle. But I have had 1 instance driving 3 hours where I did this, and then could not turn it off (and it did not shut off after 20 minutes...I had to pull over and turn the vehicle off).
So I've now taken it back to the dealer I bought it from 3 times (after the first fix) to address this issue and each time they say it's working as it should. This thing has developed a life of it's own. I just took it on two 3-hour trips (12 total hours) this week and at no point did the massage function work. I also kept testing it when I was taking it to the dealer, and it never worked. But when I pulled into the dealer's service bay, it started working with a "delay"......and it's now done this twice! So in their defense, it has somewhat worked when they have had it, but definitely not as it once did.
I still haven't heard anything from them this time taking it in (tomorrow will be day 3 that they've had it), but the last 2 times they've told me the seat is working "as it should". They also had it 3 days the last trip, just to tell me it was "working as it should", and that it works "after a delay of a few seconds" and that it also has to "wake up"....like how an engine has to warm up, not the same way I mentioned before of holding one of the buttons on the side of the seat. This delay was NOT present when it worked fine and it never had to "wake up". The passenger seat still works perfectly fine and operates with no delay or "waking up" period, or having to hold down any buttons on the side of the seat for an extended time.
Does anyone have any advice on what to try to fix this, or how to deal with this dealer? I'm getting really fed up with being told it's "working as it should" when it won't work at all when it's away from them. They don't even tell me what they've done to test it or if they've even looked inside the seat. (Just curious - is my factory warranty up at 36,000 miles? I'm only about 50 miles away from that...........)
Here's a video I took of the problem. You can see at one point that I've been driving for over an hour so it had more than enough time to "wake up":
Thanks in advance for any help or advice!
I have a 2016 Limited Explorer with the 301A equipment package. The driver's side multi-contour seat has been a nightmare since I bought the thing in Oct. 2016. When I originally bought it, the recline didn't work and the massage feature would shut off after 1 minute. I took it back to the dealer and they said they just "re-connected the connections" and that solved it. This first fix did resolve the recline issue, and the massage feature was working perfectly. Then a couple months later, I felt what seemed like a "kick" in the bottom of the seat, and it's hardly worked right since. (It actually didn't work at all when this happened for a few weeks)
If I press the button on the side of the seat to activate the massage feature, nothing happens (massage doesn't start, and the multi-contour seat screen does not appear on the touch screen). If I navigate to the multi-contour seat screen myself, and select "massage", nothing will happen when I try to select high or low. The button "depresses" for a few seconds, then just goes back to how it was. Sometimes, I can get it to "wake up" if I hold down the arrow on the side of the seat that points to the front of the vehicle. But I have had 1 instance driving 3 hours where I did this, and then could not turn it off (and it did not shut off after 20 minutes...I had to pull over and turn the vehicle off).
So I've now taken it back to the dealer I bought it from 3 times (after the first fix) to address this issue and each time they say it's working as it should. This thing has developed a life of it's own. I just took it on two 3-hour trips (12 total hours) this week and at no point did the massage function work. I also kept testing it when I was taking it to the dealer, and it never worked. But when I pulled into the dealer's service bay, it started working with a "delay"......and it's now done this twice! So in their defense, it has somewhat worked when they have had it, but definitely not as it once did.
I still haven't heard anything from them this time taking it in (tomorrow will be day 3 that they've had it), but the last 2 times they've told me the seat is working "as it should". They also had it 3 days the last trip, just to tell me it was "working as it should", and that it works "after a delay of a few seconds" and that it also has to "wake up"....like how an engine has to warm up, not the same way I mentioned before of holding one of the buttons on the side of the seat. This delay was NOT present when it worked fine and it never had to "wake up". The passenger seat still works perfectly fine and operates with no delay or "waking up" period, or having to hold down any buttons on the side of the seat for an extended time.
Does anyone have any advice on what to try to fix this, or how to deal with this dealer? I'm getting really fed up with being told it's "working as it should" when it won't work at all when it's away from them. They don't even tell me what they've done to test it or if they've even looked inside the seat. (Just curious - is my factory warranty up at 36,000 miles? I'm only about 50 miles away from that...........)
Here's a video I took of the problem. You can see at one point that I've been driving for over an hour so it had more than enough time to "wake up":
Thanks in advance for any help or advice!
