Ok, this is going to seem like a dumb question... How do I rig the front seats in my Firebird so that the passangers in the back have to pull up the little lever to fold them forward?

Right now the passangers in the back can just push them forward to exit the car. Any help would be great, Thanks.

 

jeez, to do that, you would have to take apart the seat so you would have acess to the frame and install some locking mechanism with a switch to stick out the back of the chair.it also would have to not interfere with the movement that goes with reclining the seat, or the seatback wouldnt be able to recline. good luck, but it just doesnt seem necessary.

 

Would be easier to get 4th gen seats to do that. My 97 T/A seats require you to lift the **** on the back of it for it to be pushed up.

 

If it is like my old factory seats, it had the leaver but never worked when I owned the car, except every once and a while. My guess would be to pull up the seat fabric and look how it worked, probably just a spring or something.

 

i think they get broken over time, i know 1 of my 4 thirdgens had the working lever, and that car only had maybe 90K miles, all the rest had high mileage and had back seat passangers that would push the seat forward, after a while it broke the spring or whatever is inside to make it work. forth gen seats must hold up better cause in my 94 camaro the levers still work perfect, i guess chevrolet fixed the problem. best bet is to 1) dont bother with it. 2) dont have people in the back seat 3) buy 4th gen seats, or 3rd gen seats with the working lever and 4) why does it matter if it works or not?

 

That lever on the 3rd Gen seats never worked since my car was new. I don't know GM's thinking on these seat backs. Now the seat back lever works on the 4th Gen seats.

 

alot of the older cars like the novas and such had lever on backside for passengers to lift

 

I hate when people use the seat reclining lever to push the seat forward instead of the locking lever on the seat back.

 

I never have anyone riding in the back seats :lala:

 

icky.. you put people in your backseats?!?

I can't fit people.. I might be able to fit my dog.

 

that is so annoying, a girl that rides with me alot always does that..and she always slams my door to poor car

 

Best explanation I've heard of how the front seats work was from englishz28.

"The front seats work on the inertia principal, so, under normal conditions the seats can move forward of their own accord (i.e when getting in and out of the back) when the nose of the car is down, as in heavy braking, a metal roller moves at the side of the seat and locks the seatback into position. "

Most peoples seats will infact not be broken.

 

Thanks for all the replies guys, I guess it seems stupid. I was just curious.

 

This topic comes up rather frequently. For those that think 3rd gen seats are supposed to work like 4th gen seats, they're not.
82-92 seats have a lever to release the seats, however the only time they're intended to lock is if the car is moving or parked in a downward angle. The idea is that the seats won't fold up on you in a collision or panic stop. Same principle behind the seat belts locking when you get in an accident.

This is explained in the owners manual.

 

lol i guess mine are broke cause if i hit the brakes hard it flips forward lol.

kolby

 

Does anybody know what year's owners manual contained that explanation?

I'd be really pleased if anybody told me, as I'm having some legal problems in my home country with this matter.

Thanks a lot.

 

It is on page 14 of the 1992 Camaro owners manual. Quote: "Your seatback will move back and forth freely, unless you come to a sudden stop. Then it will lock in place."

Then it goes on to explain that while parked facing down hill the seat back may lock on it's own.

RBob.

 

Thanks Rob

I already found this explanation on page 51 of the 1991 Firebird owners manual. As I have a full scan of it, I'll adjoin it to this message.

 

that should help with the legal issues.

RBob.

 

Here it is from the 1984 Firebird Owners Manual.

 

wow, you learn something new everyday! i had no idea they were supposed to work like that, i just figured it was a really delicate latch system and i'd never seen one that worked. but i also can never recall a seatback that slammed forward on hard stop...

Josh