Seat just fell apart...

[Stephen]

I was driving the Explorer the other day, back before we left for the beach and I noticed something, the innards of the drivers seatback have completely fallen apart. There's a definate change in support, lumbar no longer works, and you can put your hand behind the seat and push the whole interior of it up and down. I was shocked! Anyone else ever have this happen? Does the whole seat need to be replaced or can I just find the back somewhere?

Ford quality strikes again

 

[Rhett]

I'm not too familiar with the lumbar seats, but don't they have some sort of air bladder in them? If so, maybe the air bladder has ruptured, and maybe this could be replaced rather than getting a whole new seat.

 

[X~FACTOR]

I have that air bladder and I notice they don't give as much support as before. I was also wondering if you could put something inside to make it bulg up.

 

[Stephen]

Naa, something in there is definately broken off. You can see it bulging out behind the seats.

Question, has anyone successfully removed the leather covers from the seat exposing the frame and the padding etc? If I could do that I could really see whats going on.

 

[SPORTCRAZIE]

I had the same problem with my drivers seat. It was the lumber support along with some metal rod that broke and put a hole in my seat!!! Anyway it was under warrenty but I needed new leather back and inner guts. They never told really why it happened I was just glad I got it fixed for free.

 

[Stephen]

So they can just replace the inner guts of the seat. This sounds exactly like whats happened to mine.

 

[tomblin1]

You should be able to pull off the seat cover and identify the problem. You may be able to fix it yourself and save a few bucks. Upholstery shops can remove the cover and possibly help with the repair if you dont want to attempt it yourself.

You can always go to the dealer, but you may find switching out the entire seat "used" as an acceptable option if the price is right. Sometimes they're not too pricey.

I just switched out every seat in my 93 cloth/manual to 97 leather/power for $500. I do notice that the drivers lumbar bag has a slow leak. After the overhead console install, I plan on pulling the seatback cover and looking for that leak.

Good luck.........

 

[BIG COUNTRY]

probaly what happened is that the flat metal piece that holds the air bladder...just poped out of place and poked out...i just put in power lumbar seats in...you can peel the upholstery off half way and see it...

 

[Hartman]

You can remove the leather covers by unhooking the clips that wrap around and attach to the seat on the bottom. You can probably fix the support and replace the foam pretty easily, and it'll be a lot cheaper than taking it to a dealer.

 

[Zulu95]

I had the back break and it was repaired by welding. The dealer did it under warranty and put the leather back on. If it happens again I'll take it to my local guy.

 

[X~FACTOR]

Worst comes to worst, go to the upholstery guys first before the dealer.

 

[Stephen]

Sounds like it might be a fun weekend job, at least have a look anyways.

So I need to look for the clips that swap around the front side of the seat back and attatch at the bottom?