D4 TDV6 base model seats - drivers seat back foam moved exposing metal bar of seat ba

[twr7cx]

We have two MY12 D4's, one with 155k km and one just shy of 180k km. I've recently noticed that both have the same issue:



The vertical line inside the added red box is the metal of the seat back frame. It seems the seat back cushions have slid off exposing it.

Is this something that can be DIY repaired? i.e. remove drivers seat, remove seat material cover and fit the foam back to it's right place. Would it hold or just keep slipping back off?

[twr7cx]

I found the following part numbers for replacement seat back foam:

LR013552 - НАБИВКА СПИНКИ ПЕРЕД. СИДЕНЬЯ (PAD - SEAT BACK RH) [ (V)AA000001 - ]

LR013552 - НАБИВКА СПИНКИ ПЕРЕД. СИДЕНЬЯ (PAD - SEAT BACK RH) [ (V)AA000001 - ]

LR013553 - НАБИВКА СПИНКИ ПЕРЕД. СИДЕНЬЯ (PAD - SEAT BACK RH) [ (V)AA000001 - (V)EA999999 ]

LR013554 - НАБИВКА СПИНКИ ПЕРЕД. СИДЕНЬЯ (PAD - SEAT BACK RH) [ (V)AA000001 - ]

LR013555 - НАБИВКА СПИНКИ ПЕРЕД. СИДЕНЬЯ (PAD - SEAT BACK LH) [ (V)AA000001 - ]

LR013555 - НАБИВКА СПИНКИ ПЕРЕД. СИДЕНЬЯ (PAD - SEAT BACK LH) [ (V)AA000001 - ]

LR013556 - НАБИВКА СПИНКИ ПЕРЕД. СИДЕНЬЯ (PAD - SEAT BACK LH) [ (V)AA000001 - (V)EA999999 ]

LR013557 - НАБИВКА СПИНКИ ПЕРЕД. СИДЕНЬЯ (PAD - SEAT BACK LH) [ (V)AA000001 - ]

LR013558 - НАБИВКА СПИНКИ ПЕРЕД. СИДЕНЬЯ (PAD - SEAT BACK LH) [ (V)AA000001 - ]

LR061775 - НАБИВКА СПИНКИ ПЕРЕД. СИДЕНЬЯ (PAD - SEAT BACK RH) [ (V)FA000001 - ]

LR061776 - НАБИВКА СПИНКИ ПЕРЕД. СИДЕНЬЯ (PAD - SEAT BACK LH) [ (V)FA000001 - ]

[DiscoDB]

I would expect it could be repaired yourself. If the later D4 seats are fundamentally the same as the earlier versions, then the back rest separates from the base and with a bit of disassembly the cover can be removed. Typically clipped in place.

Once the cover is removed I am sure you would be able to repair the padding even if you have to use some duct tape to secure back in place. Worst case is you work out what is wrong and reassemble whilst waiting on some parts.

I stripped down one of the 3rd row seats and was surprised at how well engineered they are to allow removal of the cover and padding. The front seats gets more complicated but the principles would be the same. The workshop manual is quite good at describing how to strip down.

[Turtle60]

Probably not much $ to have an upholster sort it. They’ll have the right foam etc. recent repair on a merc sprinter seat including fabric was 150 bucks. But by all means have a crack. They’ll be a YouTube video for sure

[twr7cx]

I would expect it could be repaired yourself. If the later D4 seats are fundamentally the same as the earlier versions, then the back rest separates from the base and with a bit of disassembly the cover can be removed. Typically clipped in place.

I stripped down one of the 3rd row seats and was surprised at how well engineered they are to allow removal of the cover and padding. The front seats gets more complicated but the principles would be the same. The workshop manual is quite good at describing how to strip down.

Stripping them down wasn't too bad. Time consuming though - when I looked at the clock when done it had been around four hours.

The design of the seats is poor. There's a metal ridge that runs into the foam and you can see how over time as the foam is leaned against it will work it's way through. This is what has occurred on both our MY12 D4's drivers seats, for the one just the inner side and for the other both sides:

Once the cover is removed I am sure you would be able to repair the padding even if you have to use some duct tape to secure back in place. Worst case is you work out what is wrong and reassemble whilst waiting on some parts.

The new seat back foam is rather expensive once delivered and there's nothing changing to stop it from failing again. I ended up duct taping it fairly severely back together and wrapping some bigger pieces that will hopefully assist in holding it in the correct place. It reassembled well and is significantly improved - time well tell if it's lasts though - if it does I'll do our other D4, if it doesn't then new seat foams to be ordered.