Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting Driver's Seat Finally Died !!

Hey Guys,

My Driver's Seat Back began to collapse yesterday.
Just like the nice people over at NHTSA told me it would.
This is a MANUAL seat, but Power seats are also susceptible to this.

So I shlept it back to my dealer, and let him look at it.
The Service Manger could not believe that the seat frame gave way that easily.
They are ordering a new frame for me, and they are also calling the Field Rep in on this one to get FORD to cover the repair since I've almost got 77,000 miles now.

I told my Service Manger not to back down from the rep, because NHTSA already has a record of my complaint, of the failure of the seat, and they are conducting an investigation into this problem with FORD.
The Field Rep should be able to get some feedback from FORD, on how they want to solve my problem.

The seat bottom was already repaired just 4 months ago, because the stabilizer bar, that runs across the bottom of the seat, was broken.

I'll keep you guys up to date with what happens.

humm.

an interesting tidbit.

I've got the same problem with the driver's seat on my 1998.5 Contour GL. It also is a manual seat. It felt like the seat bolts were loose. I tighten the bolts down, but the seat still moved from side to side. I finally looked under the seat pan and found that the brace piece towards the back had sheared in two. The entire seat pan needs to be replaced (approx. $250 for the pan!!!).

I think I'll call the local dealership tomorrow and ask about a replacement. The car has only 66,000 miles on the clock. The seat should not have come apart like this.

I got mine fixed under my Premium Care Extended warranty.
Costs me $50 for the deductible.
But now I'm past that and the Service Manager is getting approval from the field rep to cover the repair.

Here's an update on my broken driver's seat. The local dealership wants to make me a deal that would require some financial participation on my part. $50 to $75 was a figure thrown out there today. I've got to bring the car back to the dealership next week, so a service tech can check the extent of the damage. The fact that they were eager to help me makes me believe that this problem has surfaced around here before.

I don't know about you, but if FORD wants me to pay for part of the repair, on a seat that failed
that I did NOT have anything to do with designing, the answer is NO.
If I still had my Premium Care Warranty, I would have to pay the deductible;
but that has expired and I no longer have that option.

I have had MANY cars, that lasted much more than 76,000 miles, and 4 years,
that NEVER had a seat even SQUEAK.

When this becomes an OFFICIAL RECALL, you won't have to pay a dime.
Why should you have to pay for something now ?

Any ideas on what size of person car seats are designed for????
Maybe we're not allowed to reach into our blue jean pockets while sitting???
Just curious. This cost cutting really gotten ot of hand.
Read Jamie Kitman's article in the March issue of Automobile. Glad to see someone in the automotive rags finally brave enough to speak up.
Paul
98 Mystique LS PWR seat, only 37000 miles & 190 lbs wonder how much longer before mine breaks? P