3rd Row Seats Replaced: New Unlatching Procedure?

[joebob73]

I recently had my 3rd row seats replaced. When I picked up the car, the seats were up and I didn't think much of it. I went home and laid the seats down without issue. However, for the life of me, I couldn't get them to unlatch to pull them back up. I went back to the service center who said they would take a look at them (Service Advisor and I both tried to pull them up when I dropped it off).

Eventually picked the X up later and was told that it was operating within spec. Apparently with the new seats, to raise the seats from the floor, you push the side shoulder button and push the seat DOWN a little bit. Doing so causes an internal unlatching and THEN raise the seat back up. It took me a couple of tries to get the motion right and isn't as intuitive as the original seats.

This is a heads up for those who have the new replacement 3rd row seats. Also, if your newly replaced seats DO NOT operate in this unintuitive way, then let me know so I can go back to my Service Center with an alternative data point.

 

[CTemp222]

Thanks for the information!

 

[jeffro01]

My apologies if this is OT but has anyone asked Tesla just why the third row isn't 100% electrically actuated??? Just seems odd to me that you have to manually move the seats when, IIRC, ALL competing vehicles are 100% electrically actuated.

Jeff

 

[tonyx]

3rd row movement still needs work. My wife is 5' and cannot reach the shoulder button to raise the seats, it's a long process of opening FWDs and raising from within the car.

They need a strap that unlocks & allows lift from seat backs.

 

[niftyality]

We figured this out over the weekend as well. It feels weird to do so much manual work when I can hear whirring of a lot of electrical stuff. I'm not sure what's going on inside the seats. I'd rather they just be quiet mechanical triggers without electronics if I'm doing most of the work anyway.

 

[madodel]

Interesting. My X was picked up today to get the 3rd row seats replaced tomorrow. If I get my X back tomorrow as planned I will check to make sure the seats open and close.

 

[aesculus]

I discovered this when one of my seats was rattling in the down position. Since I took the car in for the seat swap with them down they returned them to me that way. One of the seats was not down and locked and hence the rattle.

 

[commasign]

Got mine back from recall service. Took a while (like 20 minutes) to figure out how to pull the seats back up. For mine, it's a matter of timing. Push button, it makes a motor noise, then you pull up in a smooth motion before the second motor noise. If you pull too soon or too late, it doesn't work. Almost like video game timing, it feels like there's only a second or two window of opportunity after pushing the button.

Agree it's a clunky system. I think a purely mechanical system would have been much better. But maybe they went electronic so we can eventually have 1 button cargo mode.

 

[aesculus]

Agree it's a clunky system. I think a purely mechanical system would have been much better. But maybe they went electronic so we can eventually have 1 button cargo mode.

I certainly hope so, otherwise I cannot fathom what they were thinking by putting motors in seats that have to be dealt with by pushing and pulling mechanically.

Maybe that is one of EM big Model X surprises he said is coming soon!

 

[ohmman]

So with my X with the "danger seats" my 5'8" self is able to just barely reach from the back of the vehicle, press the button, and pull them up into position from their folded state. Given this new little dance, is that still possible, or am I going to have to get inside of the car?

Agree wholeheartedly with @niftyality. If they're going to make it electrically actuated, make it electrically actuated! Considering the fantastic manual latches that exist (Honda Odyssey, I'm looking at your magic carpet seats), why are we pushing a button only to have to do more work than with a manual system? I'd trade my motorized front doors for push-to-fold rear seats.

 

[K-MTG]

So with my X with the "danger seats" my 5'8" self is able to just barely reach from the back of the vehicle, press the button, and pull them up into position from their folded state. Given this new little dance, is that still possible, or am I going to have to get inside of the car?

Agree wholeheartedly with @niftyality. If they're going to make it electrically actuated, make it electrically actuated! Considering the fantastic manual latches that exist (Honda Odyssey, I'm looking at your magic carpet seats), why are we pushing a button only to have to do more work than with a manual system? I'd trade my motorized front doors for push-to-fold rear seats.

Didn't realized the 3rd row seats aren't motorized. That is a bummer considering how advance the X is

 

[sukhi]

Thanks for the heads up OP.
We had our MX 3rd row seats replaced earlier this week. I did not bother to test the mechanism until now. Some observations.

• Folding down is easy enough but folding back up requires pressing the button, pushing the seat down a bit and immediately lifting it up. If you are not quick enough, it will not lift.
• Doing the above dance from behind is not easy. I am 5'10" and I had to open the FWD to execute the "improved mechanism" successfully.

I would reiterate what many have mentioned before, motorization of the 3rd row seat as implemented is nonsensical to the say the least. Why bother? I am not holding hope that Tesla will enable single button fully automated mode because as far as I can tell, headrest has no motorized mechanism that could be enabled.

 

[commasign]

Given this new little dance, is that still possible, or am I going to have to get inside of the car?

To avoid a back injury, I recommend opening both falcon wing doors, and lifting the seats up from the inside.

 

[sukhi]

Given this new little dance, is that still possible, or am I going to have to get inside of the car?

Unfortunately requires opening the FWD doors unless you want to pull a back muscle.

 

[ohmman]

Boo. My Odyssey had a strap dangling through the back of the seat. That strap went inside the seat to the latch mechanism so that when you pulled it (to raise the seats back up), it would open the latch and you wouldn't have to bend over to pull them. Elegant, manual, required no electronics. I imagine there's some reason Tesla did this the way they did, but I'm drawing a blank on what that might be.

 

[commasign]

Boo. My Odyssey had a strap dangling through the back of the seat. That strap went inside the seat to the latch mechanism so that when you pulled it (to raise the seats back up), it would open the latch and you wouldn't have to bend over to pull them. Elegant, manual, required no electronics. I imagine there's some reason Tesla did this the way they did, but I'm drawing a blank on what that might be.

That's why we kept the Odyssey. Tumble back and down 3rd row seats. Removable and folding 2nd row seats. 2nd row "wide mode". All analog but very functional. I guess what I'd really want is an all-electric Odyssey, or a Tesla minivan with the above functionality and seating for 8.

 

[mikevbf]

I hate to say this, but this thread has me kicking my delivery further out until they have seats that function. And if they do not, I'll say good bye to my 5k and drive a true people mover like the plug in Pacifica which has only 30 miles electric range before the gas engine kicks on. I so would rather a Tesla, but they need to get the Model X seats working.

 

[Stasla]

Blasphemer!

Elon would slap you silly for using these 2 words together in a sentence.

Tesla minivan

 

[commasign]

Blasphemer!

Elon would slap you silly for using these 2 words together in a sentence.

Lol! Well, to be fair, at the first unveiling in 2012 the Model X was hyped to have a lot more utility than it currently has. Mainly fold flat 2nd and 3rd row, and step-in access to the 3rd row. At that point, it would have been in a better position to replace a minivan.

 

[Stasla]

Yeah, that was before the "sculptural thing of beauty" design decision that only Elon seems to be excited about...

I suppose it was too complex for Tesla to engineer folding seats on a monopost and FWDs...

Those glossy seat backs are also pure design and 0 function, IMHO

Other than that, you can still step into the 3rd row.

But please do not say Tesla Minivan ever again or the mighty Elon will smite you and cancel your order

fold flat 2nd