Seat hinge locked

My driver's side seat, outboard hinge locked today

Has anyone else had this happen? How the hell do I unlock it? If it's knackered, does anyone sell new hinges? I had a quick look at the big names and they only have the hinge trim pieces...

It's an inertia hinge. It's probably full of dust. Blow it out and lube with silicone spray.

Exactly. Never smear grease or whatever in there, the pendulum needs to hang free.

To unlock it, poke a small pin or stick inside between the 2 halves, you can see the white plastic pendulum, push it back and the seat will unlock.

Ok, thanks. I'll have a gander in there this afternoon :thumbs:

Is this the hinge or the seat track ?? There's a thick wire connecting the two tracks and that's pulling on the left side releasing the track's lock..... maybe your inboard side is moving and the outboard side is not ?????

No, I meant the hinge - I can't fold the seat back over any more...

I couldn't get the damn hinge unlocked so I removed it completely from the car. As soon as I had it in my hand, it folded over no problems

Anyway, I fitted it back onto the seat and it seems to be working just fine...

Mine has done the same. I took it off and it hinges properly. Put it back on and it locks. Sounds like when I painted mine, something might have gotton stuck.

Anyway nice to know I wasn't the only one having this problem.

If it does it again, I'm going to get rid of that little piece of plastic that makes the inertia lock and fabricate a spring loaded latch so that the hinge is always locked but pull the latch to unlock it...