After kids, pets, and cargo bumped the rear seat up/down switch far too frequently - I happily found this thread. I purchased a Radio Shack 275-646 red spst momentary switch and installed it between the light and the switchplate. Works great. Picture below. Some additional comments:
* I have a 2014 Explorer Limited, and yes - it's indeed the brown wire that gets spliced into the new switch. Thanks for the tip, txaggie!
* Instead of a rocker or pushbutton switch that could be accidentally left on, resulting in further accidental seat button pushes and seat movements - I opted for a momentary switch. Now it is a two finger operation, one to push and hold the new button, and the other to push and hold the desired seat button. If you pick a good switch location, you can definitely do this singlehanded.
* The same switch is available with a black button, which I thought about - since it would blend into the car interior. However, I decided it would be helpful to be able to see the red button more easily in low light conditions.
* By putting the pushbutton switch between the light and the switchplate, it is on the trim that is facing downward 45 degree angle. It's in the recessed area of that light, and generally unlikely to be bumped by anything at exactly the same time as one of the seat switches. Again, it's a two step operation now. Press and hold new button while pressing existing seat selector button, then you can let go.
I also purchased some 64-3131 crimp connectors to put on the cut wire and some wires I soldered on the switch.
----> >-----switch----> >-----
The benefit in doing so is that I can pop the switchplate out and reconnect the spliced wire back together if need be. Further, I didn't want to directly solder the cut harness wire directly to a switch.
Solution works - but Ford really should design something better. Having exposed push buttons in the cargo area is asking for trouble, when a single tap activates the seat in motion. I think the two best production solutions would be to either require the button to be continuously pressed to keep the seat in motion (but runs the risk of leaving a seat in an awkward in-between position) or ideally some sort of clear plastic cover that gets flipped up to access the buttons.
