Seat Lever Broken

[MXMaster]

Hey guys,

Wondered if anyone can help me find a replacement seat lever for my Corolla E12 passenger seat as one of the 'pins' at one side has snapped preventing me from being able to slide seat forward and backwards now!

I've searched google high and low and nothing! Could really do with a part number or something!

I've tried to see if it can be repaired and it's all one piece so a new bar is needed!

Is this a common problem? the car is a 2003

See image:

Thanks people...

[Uber_Luke]

Hey guys,

Wondered if anyone can help me find a replacement seat lever for my Corolla E12 passenger seat as one of the 'pins' at one side has snapped preventing me from being able to slide seat forward and backwards now!

I've searched google high and low and nothing! Could really do with a part number or something!

I've tried to see if it can be repaired and it's all one piece so a new bar is needed!

Is this a common problem? the car is a 2003

See image:

Thanks people...

Mr T or eBay

Here are come corolla breakers

click

click

click

clck

haggle the price if you find the part your after

[MXMaster]

Thanks mate - Ive e-mailed all in your list!

Hopefully will get a bite.

Thanks again!

[Woodyatlarge]

Both my seat levers are broken on my facelift...the pins as you said...I have had this through with Toyota and they dont want to know...this is a problem with these seat lever pins as I have a friend who is a mechanic who works in a local Toyota garage...He says he has seen these pins break before on E12 Corollas and he has got the job of fitting a new seat base on them...

The seat lever is not a part you can buy you will have to buy a whole seat base if you buy from Toyota at £225 a touch....I need two but I not gona give the robbing f--k--rs £550 for two ...mine both broke within 3 months of each other and 3 months out of warranty....

I managed to get one lever out of the seat base and got it fixed buy a mechanical engineer in work...who made a new pin ,which I welded on after cutting the remans of the old one off...These levers arnt designed to be taken out of the seat base and it was a real effort getting it out then in again ...it broke again after a couple of months then the other broke ....The drivers side is lucky enough to be stuck in driving position for me and my wife ...The engineer who fixed the seat says that these pins are not adequate for the stresses that they are put under they arnt strong enough and this guy know about stress and tolerences...He says that if he made me new pins again he would make them thicker in diameter so they would be stronger...were as before he just copied the origional pin size.......

So ther ya ave it

[MXMaster]

Interesting!

I have for the time being removed the seat and taken out the spring which locks the seats in place and cable tied up the effected latch on one side allowing the still working other side to do the lift and lock as the seats moves forward and backwards without noticing to much wobble as seat is only held in on one side!

Looks like a scrap yard job or eBay then! Didn't really want to have to buy a new seat just for one bit though! I know how you feel!

You could weld a new pin which is bigger and stronger your right.

Thanks for the info...

:D

[EchoRange]

Interesting!

I have for the time being removed the seat and taken out the spring which locks the seats in place and cable tied up the effected latch on one side allowing the still working other side to do the lift and lock as the seats moves forward and backwards without noticing to much wobble as seat is only held in on one side!

Looks like a scrap yard job or ebay then! Didn't really want to have to buy a new seat just for one bit though! I know how you feel!

You could weld a new pin which is bigger and stronger your right.

Thanks for the info...

:D

Speaking of removing seats, there's the spid on the bottom of the seat for the side airbags. If you disconnet that, does it put a fault light on the dashboard?

[MXMaster]

Not on mine! Seat been in and out a few times now and yellow plug disconnected, but no warning light appears?

[EchoRange]

Not on mine! Seat been in and out a few times now and yellow plug disconnected, but no warning light appears?

That's good enough for me. Thanks for that.

(I've also having seat issues in the way that mine doesn't tilt/slide to let people in the back. Tried having a look without taking the whole seat out but didn't work. Now I know I can disconnect the spid, might make it a whole lot easier!)

[MrLyrated]

Hello All thought i would jump in here as I have just bought my little 1.4 VVTi and the passenger seat has fallen victim to this

issue as well.

I have had a good read and as there is alot of the same issue repeating itself after being fixed.

Are there any recommended replacement seats i can buy for my car? Not looking to spend alot but i don’t fancy fixing the same issue again and again.

Any Help would be much appreciated

[Paul E]

And a further update for anyone else who has this problem. I had this two years ago on the drivers seat, and now the passengers seat has just gone with the same problem. As all above have said, the pins are not fit for purpose. They are 6mm in diameter and made of reconstituted baked bean cans or something. The fix I used for the drivers seat, which I will now have to do on passengers side as well, is to take the seat out (disconnecting airbag wiring and battery), turn it upside down, you will probably see one pin OK and the other broken. The pins stick out from a U shaped frame tubular frame.

From the opposite side of the tubular frame to where the broken pin was welded, drill through the tubular frame so that the drill comes out through the stub of the broken pin, Start with a very thin drill (I used 2mm) and work your way up 1 mm at a time until you get to 6mm. Then find a 6mm high tensile steel machine screw, which is the same length as the width of the tubular frame + the length of the surviving pin. You need a matching nylock nut for the screw. Put the machine screw through the tubular frame so that the free end is where the pin would have been before it broke off. Secure with the nylock nut. Ain't no way that's gonna break. I'll try to take some pics and post when I do the passenger side.

Total cost 50p and some time, which is considerably better than £250 plus 4 hrs labour from Mr T.

Paul

[oldcodger]

Nice one !

Have printed it out and added to my haynes manual so I know what to do if they break on mine.

[GazzaDSJ]

Hi guys,

Same problem for me, the pin snapped off on one side. I have purchased another seat from a scrapyard, its the same design except a 2003 issue instead of 2006 (but pretty sure the mechanics are the same).

The seat trim however is different as I have option trim on my car, but how to i take off the seat base mechanism from the seat base cushioning so i can replace onto mine?

The bolts look circular with no pattern so a bit confusing.... ? Do i need to take off the seat cover material or something to access other points?

[MrMikeS]

And a further update for anyone else who has this problem. I had this two years ago on the drivers seat, and now the passengers seat has just gone with the same problem. As all above have said, the pins are not fit for purpose. They are 6mm in diameter and made of reconstituted baked bean cans or something. The fix I used for the drivers seat, which I will now have to do on passengers side as well, is to take the seat out (disconnecting airbag wiring and battery), turn it upside down, you will probably see one pin OK and the other broken. The pins stick out from a U shaped frame tubular frame.

From the opposite side of the tubular frame to where the broken pin was welded, drill through the tubular frame so that the drill comes out through the stub of the broken pin, Start with a very thin drill (I used 2mm) and work your way up 1 mm at a time until you get to 6mm. Then find a 6mm high tensile steel machine screw, which is the same length as the width of the tubular frame + the length of the surviving pin. You need a matching nylock nut for the screw. Put the machine screw through the tubular frame so that the free end is where the pin would have been before it broke off. Secure with the nylock nut. Ain't no way that's gonna break. I'll try to take some pics and post when I do the passenger side.

Total cost 50p and some time, which is considerably better than £250 plus 4 hrs labour from Mr T.

Paul

Did it end up working with the 6mm high tensile steel screw ? has it lasted with no problems ?

Michael.S

[Paul E]

Hi Michael S.

Well it lasted from when I did the repairs until when I sold the car 6 months later, and I confidently expect it to last the remaining life of the car!

Paul

[JayBarcas]

Mine both snapped on mine. Ended up replacing both seats with Celica seats. look much better and actually work. only problem now is there's an airbag light showing because the plugs don't match under the seat :/

http://i1382.photobucket.com/albums/ah242/jaybarcas1992jb/Mobile%20Uploads/20150407_193417_zpsz30zf50f.jpg

http://i1382.photobucket.com/albums/ah242/jaybarcas1992jb/Mobile%20Uploads/20150407_193312_zpsvmgv0kes.jpg

[FROSTYBALLS]

Mine both snapped on mine. Ended up replacing both seats with Celica seats. look much better and actually work. only problem now is there's an airbag light showing because the plugs don't match under the seat :/

.... which would mean it will fail its MOT

[JayBarcas]

A broken seat that won't move is also an MOT failure. I'd already fixed them twice and give up hope. Going to try swap the plugs for the airbags over and see if that gets rid of the light