I had my doubts too, and this is not for the faint of heart. My seat still latches like it used to, except now it reclines all the way back. I have no idea if this is a bad idea or not, but I wanted to be able to recline, and whatever is broken can always be fixed again. The tab came off far too easily to be a safety issue IMHO. I agree it would be a very bad idea to drive with the seat reclined anymore than the original limit so that you are not interfering with the side airbag deployment. I only plan to recline when I am parked.
Hmm I never thought about the whole side airbag deployment thing.. since that side window on our door doesn't move as it also serves the purpose of assisting the airbag when it deploys... Interesting...
Watch it now. Not to get political, but on average our Libs here are Ultra Conservative in Europe. Not saying anything one way or the other.
Maybe this "tab" was a mistake? A fluke in production of teh US 451? Are the two really that different?
Difference is that in Europe everyone doesn't sue for everything and they allow Darwinism to work. Here in the US we sue a car maker for not protecting us from our own stupidity and we definitely have an adversion to allowing Darwinism to work by weeding out the less intelligent on the roads - the non-seat belt wearers, people that recline too far while driving, people that drive too fast, etc. They have the same laws but I've only witnessed enforcement of speeding on town/city roads. Most of the enforcement I've seen is for turn signal usage, weaving, passing on the right, and riding the left lane.
Last edited by msjohnson1974; 11-13-2008 at 06:46 AM.
Anyone have a protractor and can share the before and after angles they are talking about? Looking for empirical data instead of "wow it lays way back"...
Come on lucky 170*
Well I fiddled around with a protractor and I get something around 135 degrees because that was as far as I bent the tab back. My tab didn't break off, it just bent back as far as I was willing to push the seat. I could go a bit farther (until the seat rests against the engine compartment) but that was all I needed. I don't think you can get to a practical 170 degrees because you would have to push the seat too far forward and that would cramp your legs.
I too have been bugged by the inability to fully recline the seats...especially the passenger seat for my wife. I held off doing anything until I saw if anybody came up with a solution I liked. They haven't, so I tackled the problem yesterday and came up with my own solution. As has been said, the only thing limiting the motion is the little "tab" or "Ear" that you can see when the seat is in it's most laid-back position. (to see it more clearly, insert a putty knife between the outside metal plate and the seat upholstery and pry the upholstery back a little. With a little light you can clearly see the forward-pointing tab.) My objective was to bend the tab inward far enough to slide past the stop on the outer plate. First I was just going to just get a punch and hammer and have at it. Then I thought about the airbag issue and decided that might not be a good idea. Next, I reclined the seat to the point where there was about an eighth of an inch between the tab and stop, inserted a big screwdriver and pried inward. I was on the right track, but a screwdriver doesn't have the guts to do the job. Rummaged through my shop and found a quarter inch dia. piece of fairly hard steel a bout 8 in. long. I flattened the tip to about a sixteenth inch thickness with a big hammer, then by trial-and-error, ground it to fit between the tab and the stop. I gently tapped it between the stop and tab and using it as a lever, pushed it toward the seat and bent the tab inward just enough to clear the stop. As someone else mentioned, this must be an "american" thing, because there are additional adjustment notches all the way back...it was made to be adjustable all the way back....The stop apparently was added for "us". This is a reversable modification ....just bend the tab back to it's original position. I won't get into the legalities or ramifications...to each his own on that is my philosophy. It accomplished my purpose and that's all that concerns me.
we definitely have an aversion to allowing Darwinism to work by weeding out the less intelligent on the roads - the non-seat belt wearers, people that recline too far while driving, people that drive too fast, etc.
I was driving down the Autobahn once doing about 85 mph, and I was passed by a Porsche like I wasn't even moving! I though to myself, "You'll see him again!" Yep! About 5 miles further down the Autobahn, there he was, or what was left of him, up against an overpass abutment. Very little left of the car. I suppose the gas cap might have been salvageable!
Oh, BTW, BOTH seats on my car have always reclined! Not all the way back, but very comfortable for driving. Rode in a friend's 450 model, and the passenger seat didn't recline AT ALL!! ZIP!! So since that car was a converted European version????
Last edited by bigcritter; 02-14-2009 at 10:12 AM.
This is a shot of the hinge spot with the seat leaned up a bit...
This is a shot of the same hinge but with the seat leaned all the way back to where it is stopping against the blocking tab (in factory condition).
Here is a profile of the seat angle with the blocking tab still in factory condition (seat completely reclined).
Here is the seat fully reclined after holding the recline lever and forcing the seat to recline further, using moderate effort. As a side note, be sure to bring the seat bottom to its forward most position before forcing the seat back to recline. Also note that the seat belt retainer will slightly abrade the plastic bulkhead in the rear compartment if the seat is forced to fully recline to its maximum limit...
[IMG]file:///C:/DOCUME%7E1/Doug/LOCALS%7E1/Temp/moz-screenshot.jpg[/IMG]
Spumonti, yea that's exactly what I've done to a few smarts and mines, except my driver side reclines so much that the plastic holder on the seat of which the seat belt slides thru would get caught on the plastic cover in the trunk area. haha..
I was being guided by a young lady on how to adjust the passenger seat to be comfortable once I had proper legroom she showed me the recline I got it reclined and it stopped I questioned this and was told if you go any further back the result would be your head will be outside of the safety cage. Which was shown to me as I sat in the car so I fully understood the consequences.
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