Model x 7 seater bench seat not sliding

[SemiS3XYR]

Calling all 7 seater with 2nd row bench seats!

Does your bench seat slide automatically and easily like this video at 1:00 min mark?

We just got a mid year 2017 MX and when I hit the 3rd row access button on the second row seats at the shoulders, they fold forward, I hear the unlatch mechanism from under the seat, but the seat does not slide forward like the video. It actually doesn't slide forward at all without a pretty good amount of strength. I read other posts of people with this issue and had their seats replaced but I wonder if mine is 2017 and it's not supposed to release slide like that. Previous owner said when he got the car he pointed that out to SC and they said it's not supposed to. If that is the case for 2017s then I am truly disappointed!

Please let me know your experiences. Thanks!

Edit: i did submit a service ticket already along with other issues I see

 

[mxnym]

2017 100D here. I didn't watch the video, but mine slides fine. Not automatically, but not much force required. Might appear to slide automatically if X was facing downhill.

 

[SemiS3XYR]

@mxnym mine definitely need decent force and sometimes it doesn’t even do it

Assuming you have premium package, does your front passenger door power assist close work exactly like your driver door or not? When I push My passenger front door to close with okay amount of force it gets stuck in the middle and doesn’t close. The driver side with the same amount of force seems to power assist to close and then soft close. Thanks!

let me hear from all you 7 seaters!

 

[mxnym]

@mxnym mine definitely need decent force and sometimes it doesn’t even do it

Assuming you have premium package, does your front passenger door power assist close work exactly like your driver door or not? When I push My passenger front door to close with okay amount of force it gets stuck in the middle and doesn’t close. The driver side with the same amount of force seems to power assist to close and then soft close. Thanks!

let me hear from all you 7 seaters!

Doesn't do it? AFAIK, when the seats are tilted forward and not folded flat, it should slide freely until you push it far enough back to make it re-latch. However, that isn't all the way back, so maybe the latch is re-engaging before it slides past the latching point sometimes? Honestly, I'm not sure how hard mine is to move, because it occurs to me that when the seat tilts forward, that creates momentum I am using. It is easy to push back, too, though, so I tend to think yours isn't greased well enough or something.

IIRC, my X pre-dates the PUP (unfortunately, I don't have premium sound), but I do have automatic doors. Both sides work the same. Both sides are sometimes difficult to open/close when the vehicle is "fighting" me. If the issue is consistent, I'd take a look at the mechanism that opens and closes the doors. IIRC, I saw a thread here once where one door had obvious damage to that mechanism and it was fixed under warranty because it was a part failure.

 

[Bigriver]

Calling all 7 seater with 2nd row bench seats!

Does your bench seat slide automatically and easily like this video at 1:00 min mark?

September 2017 build here with 7 seater. No, the bench seat does not move automatically like shown in the video with the electronic release. When I press the electronic release, there is a 2 step release that takes a few seconds…. I hear something unlatch, a pause, then another sound. If the seat is all the way to the back, this electronic release does nothing more than if I had used the manual side lever. The back of the bench seat can now lay flat but nothing is released to allow the seat itself to move forward.

If the bench seat is in any other position than the furthest back, the electronic button releases the seat bottom and allows me to move it forward. It’s a moderate amount of force needed. I don’t have any trouble with it but I think many kids could have trouble. I don’t need it often, but when I do, I do all the seat manipulation for others.

Yeah, the operation of these seats is not ideal. My method is to first use the manual slider under the front of the seat to move as far forward as possible, then do the electronic release that allows it to move another few inches forward along with tilting down the back of the seat. Unless I’m needing the release to get the seat ALL the way forward, I skip the electronic buttons and just use the manual levers in the front and on the side.

As for the front passenger door, I would say that the closing of it takes about the same amount of force as the driver’s door. Either of them can kind of stick half way if the wind is blowing or parked on an odd slope. Also, rather than manually closing, we often use the inside latch for it to do an auto close. Standing next to the car with the door open, can pull the inside latch and it gives you a second to step out of the way before it closes.

 

[mxnym]

If the bench seat is in any other position than the furthest back, the electronic button releases the seat bottom and allows me to move it forward.

This doesn't sound right, as the electronic button is for ingress/egress while the mechanical levers are for position setting and folding. It is possible that yours is consistently misbehaving in a way similar to what OP sees sometimes. However, I can't say definitively, because I set the middle row a few clicks forward as part of my prepping the car for 3rd row passengers routine prior to using the buttons. If you are correct and that is the design intent, it might explain the behavior I'm describing as consistent.

 

[mxnym]

Incidentally, I technically can't put my passenger side /40 bench "all the way back." It will slide forward slightly and click into place. We're talking a fraction of an inch, just enough that it's visibly notable to a keen eye, but the service center claimed that it was normal and wouldn't do anything about it while I was still under factory warranty.

 

[SemiS3XYR]

Thanks for reporting! @Bigriver

well, both my kids child’s seats are in now so I’ll have to take them out to mess with it more.

So do 2018 or only raven trims have them slid easily or is it automatically like the video? Not a deal breaker for my like new 2017 but I wish I knew!

My front passenger door with the same force stops in the middle. While using the same force on driver side will close it all the way.

 

[Bigriver]

This doesn't sound right, as the electronic button is for ingress/egress while the mechanical levers are for position setting and folding. It is possible that yours is consistently misbehaving in a way similar to what OP sees sometimes.

It is entirely possible that mine is not working as it should. I had not actually done the manipulations in awhile, and had not remembered the no movement when the seats are all the way back. But I pretty extensively tested it out last night as I wrote that post.

I would also note that one of the bench seats had to have a “latch actuator” replaced. That occurred after watching YouTube videos of the seat movement I realized that mine did not move as far forward as it should. Before the repair, it could never move any more forward than the mechanical lever allowed.

I’ve reread the manual regarding these bench seats, and impressed that they cleverly chose words that are vague whether the seat is to move itself or whether the button only releases latches, allowing the seat to be moved. Mine definitely do not move themselves, but I now am also curious if it was something improved with the Ravens, or if this is just one more thing about mine that didn’t work as intended.

 

[SemiS3XYR]

What a mystery!

@Bigriver what “latch actuator” videos? Can you please share? I want to check mine too while I have existing ticket

 

[Bigriver]

What a mystery!

@Bigriver what “latch actuator” videos? Can you please share? I want to check mine too while I have existing ticket

Ha, when I looked through my YouTube history for the month before I got the repair done (Feb 2020), there is the exact video you linked to above. While you noticed the automatic sliding, I noticed the disparity in distance.

Here is a post I wrote at the time with no responses:

View attachment 508204
Yes, for me that is the problem. I can get the Easy Entry button of the 2nd row seat on the passenger side to work ok, but on the driver’s side it does not work. While it tilts the seat some, it does not allow the bench seat to slide to the front of the track. Thus nothing is easy about accessing the 3rd row from the driver’s side. Is this a known issue for this side and/or a known work-around?

Here is a picture I took at the time that I did not include in the post, but which I now think shows best how pitiful my problem was.

 

[SemiS3XYR]

@Bigriver that’s pretty much my issue. It just tilts forward and doesn’t slide

if Tesla designed it so that it matters how forward or back your 2nd row seats are then we’ll. That’s terrible lol

more recent 7 seaters owners chime in

 

[mxnym]

I finally remembered to try mine out in hopes of helping a bit more here. For the record, it's a July 2017 100D. IIRC, this was not very long after they switched from pedestal to bench.

First, a relevant segue... Not too long after getting my 100D, the third row seats wouldn't always pop up when I hit the buttons, so I'd have to hit them two or three times. Pulling up on the seats while hitting the buttons wouldn't. make a difference even though you could hear the mechanism actuating. The service center told me they had to tighten the cables that pull the release latches. More recently, the third row seats have stopped popping up on their own at all, so I always have to pull up on them when I push the button. So long as I'm pulling up when I hit the button, they pop up every time. I asked the service center about this and they treated it as normal. To be clear, by "pop up," I mean maybe a quarter to half of an inch at the shoulder. My theory is that the cushioning in the seats has compressed over time since they are always folded, and that's why they don't do that anymore, i.e. it was never by design. This story has two points that I should have shared earlier:

1. The electronic releases use cables to actuate whatever mechanisms are involved (at least in the third row, presumably in the second row as well).
2. The electronic releases only briefly actuate said mechanisms; afterwards, the mechanisms can theoretically move back into their secure position.

That having been said, with my second row driver side bench section all the way back and the third row folded down, I pushed the rear-access button and the seat slid forward a bit before it tilted forward. To be clear, it didn't slide on its own, I was pushing it forward. I think maybe I always do that, but it is something I picked up subconsciously and hadn't noticed. To me, this confirms that seat position alone shouldn't have an effect on how that button works. It may also explain the differing behavior @Bigriver is seeing where the seat folds flat (maybe it will only fold flat using this mechanism when all the way back and the seat isn't being pushed forward). Interestingly, when I pushed it back, it went all the way back; it usually seems to stop further forward than where I had it when I released it (again confirming my earlier suggestion that I've never tested this from all the way back). This may mean that the mechanism is supposed to remember the position where it was released from (because the sliding for ingress/egress is not tied to the sliding for position), or there may be a few set points that the position mechanism will attach to once the ingress/egress mechanism is triggered.

Considering my third row experience, I couldn't say with 100% certainty that the seats are designed to slide before they tilt, because if two cables or cable segments were involved, one could stretch different than the other, but I think it stands to reason that they would need to work this way in order for them to slide while the electronic mechanism is still active (so the sliding position doesn't re-latch). Otherwise, by the time they lock into the tilted position for sliding, the sliding mechanism could have theoretically re-latched. It is also feasible that the sliding position cannot be latched once the seats are tilted, in which case tilting could occur immediately without negative repercussions except in the rearmost position (if the aforementioned folding option is by design).

There is one other thing I notice with mine that makes me nervous every time because I once saw a thread where someone's seat got stuck in the tilted position and had to be replaced. That is whenever I am sliding them back, they often seem to stay stuck in the tilted position after the sliding position has latched. I then push the back forward an back a little to get it to release, and it has always worked, but I have no idea if it's normal / intentional. Perhaps I'm pushing on the cushion instead of the shoulder when sliding them back and they're engineered to be pushed/pulled on the shoulder. Regardless, mine have worked pretty consistently for 60,000 miles over almost 4 years, so hopefully they continue to.

 

[SemiS3XYR]

The 3rd row is supposed to pop up?!
I have more testing to do

Our 2017 only has 3,500 miles and 4 year basic warranty is expiring tomorrow but I created the ticket a couple days ago. They better go by ticket creation. I also had some door rub and the paint is coming off at FWD body areas. Small but just threw that in as well. Ive looked at 3-4 MX over the years. I’ve never seen a perfect FWD alignment etc.

 

[mxnym]

No, pop up was the wrong term the second time I used it. I should have said come up. They popped up when new, but only just enough to not re-latch. Now that the seat cushions have compressed over time, they don't pop up at all, so if I'm not lifting on the seats, they will re-latch immediately. The original early issue was that they wouldn't pop up or come up, and that was due to a stretched cable. The current behavior explains why I think pushing forward while pushing the egress button may be necessary (because the electronic release mechanism is only active momentarily).

 

[SemiS3XYR]

Hey. It’s just us three with 7 seaters

 

[mxnym]

That or else everyone else bought them before the pedestals were replaced with a bench.

 

[SemiS3XYR]

I brought the X in and I showed a tech the issue and he said something isn't right. All that was said to me today via the chat was that parts were ordered.

OTOH I'm so tired of this chat and remote support and entitled responses. They aren't being clear to me if it's covered under warranty. All I asked was tell me what can be fixed and at what cost. I need to approve the work. It sounds like I'm happily giving them an open check book.


This is a real response from this ticket.
"anything that needs to be fixed will be. All other items you want done that do not need to be sadly isn't an option. We follow these steps consistently, We work to enrich your experience not appease due to people own ideas and set you up for future disappointments. Thank you for your understanding."

WTF does that even mean? lol Pretty rude and entitled CS but we knew that already.

 

[mxnym]

The passenger side of my bench has started exhibiting this issue, I can't slide it forward with the egress button anymore, regardless of its current position. It will not slide regardless of what I do, and it will fold after it stops in the tilted position. I've tried several times over a few weeks, and it's consistently wrong, but it was working before. Hopefully my SC doesn't argue over this when I finally bring it in.

 

[SemiS3XYR]

Good luck dude!

Please make the pain stop!