What is the point of the button latch things on the back of the front seats? What do they do? I would assume they are supposed to allow the seat to lean forward to allow passengers into the back seats, but my seats move forwards just but pushing them. Are my seats broken or are they for something else?

I've done a search, and I found one thread that talked about them a little, but not enough to really settle my mind as to what they are for.

 

yes they are to alow the seats to move forward and the retainer that keeps them back break very easily by normal use. if you open up the trim on the seat you should see a little pin in a small slot that the button moves up. before i changed my seats i fabed up a little pice of sheet metal and blocked the little pin from moving all the way forward on its own. after you put that in it may work forever or bend and allow the pin to advance past it again letting the seat forward its a 50/50 fix. ill post pics explaining this tomorow

 

Oh thanks, looking forward to those pics.

 

yea im assuming the design is the same bird to camaro but even if there not exactly the same they proberly operate on the same principle

 

Mine just push forward as well, assumed they were supposed to work like that as they always have.

Yet another thing learned about the interior this week.

 

you just learned about another GM flop most of them stoped working in the fist week of driving the car while for some reason a select few (most of them T/A GTA and Z28 for some reason) still work to this day but it was not considered a safety issue so no recall

 

Well, I hope I can fix it,just so it can be back to "factory." I'm **** about things like that haha

 

Guess I too will add it to the list of things to be done when I restore the car, along with getting a new console lid spring.

 

i hear ya thats why i spent three hours one day to figure out why they were falling forward. when i post the pics ill show step by step what i did to it.

 

Front Seats

All styles have an inertia type front seatback lock system. The system allows the seatback to move freely without requiring the occupant to release a lock lever for access to the rear seat area. During a sudden stop, deceleration, or if the front of the car is declined 20 degrees or more, the seatback inertia locking system locks the front seatback in an upright position. A manual seatback lock release lever is provided to allow manual release of the inertia lock when the front of the car is declined 20 degrees or more. The release lever is located at the lower rear center of the seatback.

In-Vehicle Check

1. In an area clear of other cars or obstructions, with diver buckled in restraint system and with aid of an assistant in rear seat also buckled in restraint system holding sides of passenger seatback (near top of seatback) with arms stiff and body relaxed, drive car forward between 10 and 15 mph, then quickly apply brakes to stop car as fast as possible without skidding wheels. Seatback inertia lock should lock; top of seatback should not move forward more than 38 mm (1 1/2"). When performing this operation on driver's seatback, driver should lean slightly forward.

2. If either driver or passenger seatback lock does not lock on first locking position, perform the following out-of-vehicle check.

Out-of-Vehicle Check

1. Remove seat assembly from car and place right side up on a clean surface.

2. With the seat in the full-rearward position, raise and the prop rear seat 152 mm (6") high. On passenger seat only, place a support under front foot of inboard adjuster.

3. Check that seatback lock locks seatback in locking position. If lock does not lock, remove lock and install new lock assembly.

4. If installing a new lock, check that lock mechanism moves freely prior to installation. After installation, check lock as described in steps 1 through 3.

The above from my 85 GM Shop Manual.

JamesC

 

is there a simple way to disable this on a temporary basis? I take stuff in and out of the back seat so often I wish my latches didn't work.

 

If the mechanism is working correctly, according to the info above, you shouldn't have to unlatch.

JamesC

 

huh? The latch, when working, makes you reach down to the bottom of the seat to allow the seat back to go forward. I want to be able to have the seat move forward by just pushing on the headrest. Maybe this is the "fix" that red 87 GTA is talking about, i'll have to wait for the pics he said he'll post.

 

"The system allows the seatback to move freely without requiring the occupant to release a lock lever for access to the rear seat area."

JamesC

 

ok, i think I understand, it's like a seat belt system.

I'm wonding if mine are broken, or the got lazy in later years and just had a "all latch, all the time" system. My seats are from a 4th gen. 1999 to be exact

 

well i was told by many it was supposed to lach back all the time so i came up with this to make it latch back all the time you need to make the little thing then drill a small hole for a screw then instert.

 

I think the newer cars are supposed to stay latched until unlatched manually. At least they were in my '93 Grand Prix, but that's a whole different seat, so...

The way I got mine to latch was I carefully measured the depth on the seat back adjuster to where the safety latch is, drilled a hole in the back, and inserted a sheet metal screw with the spring out of a pen on the inside of the adjuster. I know that this isn't how it's supposed to be done, but I'd rather mine latch all of the time then not. And I need to replace the adjuster on the passenger's side, which flops when I hit the brakes hard (lever on the seat tilt broke!), so I'll do the same over there.

 

Kudos to Red...
(This is one of GM's better ideas, that wasn't.)

Secure the tab more permanently, and eliminate the whole screw thing
by cutting the tab as wide as the slot, and long enough to fold BOTH ends
over after inserting in the slot. Will try this ASAP & report back.