smike

hi -

we've got a 2001 rx300. yesterday, as i pulled the plastic lever on top of the right rear seat to lower it, i heard a crack... and, of course, the lever now flaps back and forth without doing anything.

is this an expensive repair?
an easy repair?

do i (hopefully) just need to get and install a new plastic lever?

any advice or tips are welcome!

thanks,
smike

blueridge

Wow! I've always wondered about this. Every time I use the release latch I can see where it could break. I haven't seen anything on the forums about this.

Lexmex

Welcome to the Club.

That part in question is called a Seat Lock Control Lever. There's one for the RH side and another one for the LH side. It's held in by two screws. I believe you have to pop the cover off with a screw driver to access the screws. The cover you can see as the vertical rectangular piece in the first photo. You probably want to reuse the cover as it is about a $7 piece for that little piece of plastic itself.

The entire piece runs around $20 or so and they in either ivory or black colors.

MRubenzahl

I have this problem, too. I disassembled the latch (yes, Lexmex is right -- pop out a little decorative cover and remove two screws). Now I can see the top of a cable and how it used to be tied to the latch handle and how it is broken.

But here's the thing: if I pull the cable, the seat still will not un-latch and fold down. Something jammed below?

Anyone have any insight? And if it truly is gefoozled down in there, how do I tear the seat apart (groan)?

martin0820

I know this thread is a couple of years old, but I was wondering if you had found the answer to the above.

I just tried to fold the driver side seat down in my 1999 RX300 (with 50K miles) and heard the dreaded cracking sound...

MRubenzahl

My solution won't help you much: I was rear-ended a year ago and my RX is now in the junkyard in the sky. I took the seat completely apart and could see the mechanism but could not tell what the problem was. I drove around like that for a while until the problem was "resolved" for me. Sorry I can't help.

martin0820

Thanks for the reply. Sorry to hear how it was resolved, though.

By "taking the seat apart", do you mean that you took it out of the car, or actually removed upholstery, etc.

MRubenzahl

I took the back off the seat, then removed it from the car to try to figure it out. That was as far as I got.

martin0820

Thanks for the update.

karljmorri

[QUOTE=MRubenzahl;10237596]I have this problem, too. I disassembled the latch (yes, Lexmex is right -- pop out a little decorative cover and remove two screws). Now I can see the top of a cable and how it used to be tied to the latch handle and how it is broken.

But here's the thing: if I pull the cable, the seat still will not un-latch and fold down. Something jammed below?


Any Update on this?....Mine just broke!! Thanks all

martin0820

I think my latch cracked because the root cause is that the cable can't be pulled. (There is a hairline crack in the plastic where the release cable sheath attaches.)

I was able to release the seat once by pulling the cable but it became completely stuck after that.

I'm not going to take the seat apart myself. I called an auto upholstery shop, and the guy said that sometimes a coin or something can get stuck in the mechanism.

BTW, the replacement latch for mine (a '99) is now available new only in grey, not the ivory that matches the interior of my RX. I couldn't find a used replacement anywhere. Rather than trying to find a paint that works on plastic that's a close enough match to the original color, I purchased a second grey latch so they would at least be the same color on both sides. The grey isn't too far from that of the sliding shade over the cargo area.

sktn77a

iTrader: (2)

The seat control lever is just that - a lever. It provide sufficient mechanical advantage that without the lever function you may not be able to pull hard enough to release the seatback. Of course, you may have additional problems, but I would check this first.