DIY rear-facing seats installation?

[bro1999]

So I inquired to my CPO advisor about retrofitting an S with the rear facing seats, and he said it would cost $3000 + $400 (if the extra bumper needed to be installed) + labor. Also, Tesla will NOT install RFS unless they are bought new direct from Tesla.

My question is, assuming it was an early S that came with the reinforced bumper, how hard would it be to install the seats yourself? If you have the RFS, what other parts are needed?

 

[blablub]

puuh...you will at least need:
1. Some bolts on the side for holding the seats
2. Different rear seats. Or modify the olds one to hold the child seats
3. A button for opening the frunk from inside

 

[Max*]

1. Some bolts on the side for holding the seats

Correct

2. Different rear seats. Or modify the olds one to hold the child seats

What?

3. A button for opening the frunk from inside

I assume you mean trunk, not frunk. And if that's the case, you don't NEED the button, it's just convenient for the kids to open and close it themselves, you can just as easily open and close it from the 17" screen or your keyfob.

 

[blablub]

3. Depends in which country. It could be a legal obligation to provide a button for opening the trunk.

maybe with a picture it is easier to see what I mean:

 

[Evbwcaer]

All new domestically, USA, made cars have an interior trunk release by law.

Is that right that the back seats are different between rear facing seat cars and non rear facing seat cars? I have rear facing seats so I can't check mine but there is definitely some latch/hardware involved.

 

[DFibRL8R]

As for the bolts, I uninstalled the jump seats once to carry extra cargo. Easy to unbolt but when I went to re-install, the bolts really did not anchor at all. Not sure if they used some type of thread locker or a nut that is hidden/inaccessible to secure but I ended up taking in to the service center to do the job right. I was disappointed because I would prefer a jump seat that is easy to install only when needed rather than lug it around all the time installed.

 

[DFibRL8R]

Found this thread which explains the mystery of my inability to reattach my bolts. I could not find a way to access the area behind the attachment point to fish out the nuts as described in these posts.

Rear-facing jump seats removal

To the OP, if you can figure out a way to make it work I might be willing to make a deal on the 3rd row seats since my youngest is just about to big for them.

 

[Max*]

3. Depends in which country. It could be a legal obligation to provide a button for opening the trunk.

That already exists on all Model S's (well, all in the US at least)

There's a tab you can pull on the trunk door, to open the trunk. It has nothing to do with the power up/down button that the OP is talking about.

 

[FlatSix911]

This might help ... no affiliation with the seller.

Tesla Model S 3rd Row Rear Child Children Seats Seat 2013 2014 2015

 

[skitown]

As for the bolts, I uninstalled the jump seats once to carry extra cargo. Easy to unbolt but when I went to re-install, the bolts really did not anchor at all. Not sure if they used some type of thread locker or a nut that is hidden/inaccessible to secure but I ended up taking in to the service center to do the job right. I was disappointed because I would prefer a jump seat that is easy to install only when needed rather than lug it around all the time installed.

@DFibRL8R do you recall what the price tag was to have them reinstalled at the service center? Curious how much surgery they had to do to get back/up there.

 

[DFibRL8R]

@DFibRL8R do you recall what the price tag was to have them reinstalled at the service center? Curious how much surgery they had to do to get back/up there.

They did it free of charge. I have no idea how much labor might have ben involved.

 

[skitown]

Alright, thanks

 

[ultima]

I had the same problem... removed the seats (Torx45), installed the original bolts but wanted to swap them out with M10 hex nuts. (way more grip to remove and reinstall them). When getting the bolts from the store I forgot to reinstall the orignal bolts with the result that the nuts were gone...

But it is an easy fix.

Get a strong small magnet! Move the insulation next to the holes aside and you will see two big square holes... use the magnet to find the nuts and slide them to one of the square holes... re-position the nuts behind the fixing holes and you are good to go...

 

[ultima]

They did it free of charge. I have no idea how much labor might have ben involved.

5 minutes max... see post above. Easy fix !

 

[DFibRL8R]

5 minutes max... see post above. Easy fix !

Thanks for the tip! I haven’t tried it installing my jump seat again since the first time I did it but I think I’ll give it a shot.

 

[David.85D]

All the cars are prewired for the electric trunk release button. Just need the button.

The latch is built into the back of the second row seats, just need to trim the vinyl back and add the plastic trim. Don’t know if this is true for executive seats, but they are rare.

A few cars do have the bumper reinforcement (crossmember), but not many.

Lots of information here.

My DIY Rear Facing Jump Seats Retrofit (with Service Bulletin / Official Instructions)