MOT Fail!

[Forrest]

My reasonably well-cared-for, high mileage 1997 CD estate failed its MOT today on one thing:

Driver's seat fore and aft adjustment mechanism not functioning as intended.
(6.2.5 (b) (i))

This is tiresome because of course it has electric seats. I have had it working this evening, but not reliably enough to be confident to take it back for a retest.

I am pretty sure it is the offside flexible shaft from the motor because it was by reaching under the seat and tugging on that I got it working. The nearside is working fine and just pulls the seat out of alignment when the other side isn't.

Ideally, I'd like to remove the flexible shaft, adjust it and reinstall it but due to a holiday coming up I'm up against it timewise for the retest window. Ideally, I want to get it working over a lunch hour-ish while working from home tomorrow. This precludes removing the seat.

I'm thinking either some kind of keyhole surgery reaching under the seat. Up and down adjustment is still working perfectly. Alternatively, removing the seat cushion (which I have done before) and reaching down through the springs from above.

The FAQ also has a lot of palaver about adjusting the alignment and cautions that this may not be possible on a later, memory seat. However, based on my experiences tonight I think just getting it roughly visually straight should be good enough to demonstrate effective fore and aft movement.

What are folk's thoughts/experiences of fixing this seemingly common problem?

The irony is that I always have the seat in its lowest, furthest back position and it rarely needs changing. It did adjust just fine to another family member's memory position when she took it to the test centre; but alas that seems to have been its last gasp.

I also got an advisory on the offside front alarm holder being badly corroded, which indeed it is; but I didn't think that was structural. Are they just bolt on? I might try to source a better one sometime.

[J liddy]

Sorry to here that .typical it's a modern seat adjustment that's failed you .worst scenario change back to mechanical adjustment if possible how often do you adjust the seat myself it's not often

[J liddy]

Post a photo of the corroded front arm see who's got a good one going spare

[Burner]

your MOT's are tough if even your seat adjustment needs to function.
Im glad ours arent quite so picky

[tofufi]

Originally Posted by Burner

your MOT's are tough if even your seat adjustment needs to function.
Im glad ours arent quite so picky

Seat adjustment is a relatively recent requirement added to the MOT.

It came from a 2010 EU directive so in theory the requirement should apply throughout the EU.

https://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ...47:0072:EN:PDF

P19...

[classicswede]

I have never had a problem with the electric seats so not aware of any common problems.

The MOT regs contradict

Check the security of the driver’s seat.

For manually adjustable seats, check that the seat remains secure in several positions. It is not necessary to check that the seat can be secured in all possible positions. Seat adjustment must incorporate an automatic locking system which operates in all positions provided for normal use. If the mechanism requires manual assistance it should be rejected for not working as intended.

A driver’s seat that is fixed or cannot be adjusted to the manufacturers full range of fore and aft adjustment is not a reason for failure.

For electrically adjusted seats, you do not need to check that any ‘memory position’ function is working.

Original design characteristics and specialised modifications (e.g. to enable wheelchair access, or changed to a fixed seat) are to be accepted.

Defect Category
(a) A driver’s seat:

(i) with a defective structure
(ii) insecure

Major
Dangerous
(b) A driver’s seat:

(i) fore and aft adjustment mechanism not working as intended
(ii) seat moving inadvertently or backrest cannot be retained in the upright position

Major
Dangerous


If says fore and aft adjustement is not a reason to fail and then says it is a major/dangerous fault!

The alarm box does just unbolt so you can remove that

[tofufi]

Removed

[Forrest]

Well, I have got it working and popped back to the garage to take advantage of the next working day quick retest which just involves re-checking the original reason for failure.

Year's ticket now issued. Phew!

I found these videos helpful.

+ YouTube Video

+ YouTube Video

especially the second one by Robert DIY. His method of shortening the outer sheath of the drive cable by 1/4" seems to have kept it fixed whereas just getting it running resulted in it jamming again very quickly on my first two repair attempts.

I did approach the motors from the top by releasing the front of the seat cushion, which is a bit of a pain to do. However, it would have been even more of a pain to remove the seat given the first two repair attempts failed fairly quickly.

As for aligning the runners, I just got the seat to the front-most position and then checked by manually turning the dodgy driveshaft that the troublesome side was also on the end stop. Seems to have worked fine. Maybe I was just lucky.

[Steve 940]

Great result Forrest, good work.

Very nice feeling to get another 12 months ticket

Cheers
Steve

[J liddy]

That's great news forrest another year. My car goes for MOT week on Saturday I will keep you posted