When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
Reasonable summer solution, but winters in MI is gonna mean snow and salt slush all over the trunk floor and back of the rear folded seat and probably the other rear seats as they step on them to get down. Even in summer, I don’t want baseball and soccer cleats and mud all over everything constantly.
So there are the normal 4 bolts in the chair rails that are easy to remove and the single middle chair comes out fine with the rails. Two issues:
1. There is one wire in the floor that connects to the seat belt tensioner in case of a crash and if disconnected will cause a seatbelt light on the dash. The buckle comes away with the chair and without remove, I can’t see if it’s possible to remove the buckle and receiving wire to plug back in and tuck away somewhere and avoid a dash light. I think the better solution is it looks like a small resistor can be plugged into the pin terminals and then just tuck the little wire under the seat.
2. there is a dip in the floor where the rail is that will be a tripping hazard getting out. I’m sure my kids will survive, but the plan is to fill that with a block of wood or something and attach a piece of rubber flooring so it’s flatter floor.
Optimistic this will work.
eta: actually I’m not clear if you need a resistor as that works for airbag sensor or just to short it with a single wire in both pin terminals as I said works with brake pad sensors. One or the other should work.
We have 3 boys (9,6,4) and are looking for a third row vehicle to give them some more space — thinking 9 and 6yr old in back and 4yr old car seat behind driver.
We really like the Defender 130 but it is substantially more of a PITA with heavy folding middle row and narrow access path to get into the third row (and return the seat) than some competitors, especially which offer mid captain chairs or electric ones. Can I remove the single passenger side middle row seat and its rails to give simple rear seat access? Is there seat sensors that will throw dash errors if unplugged and what will the floor space look like?
We thought about having them climb in via the trunk or folded middle seat, but in MI salt winters that’s gonna make a gigantic mess. I really wish the defender was offered with captain chairs the kids could just walk between like many competitors have.
Thanks for any thoughts on making 3rd row more accessible!
I was just informed over the weekend that captain's chairs will officially be available on the 130 for the 25MY.
I was just informed over the weekend that captain's chairs will officially be available on the 130 for the 25MY.
Well no ****, thank you for sharing that! Guess I’ll definitely wait for 2025 info to be released (and if the 130 can get the BMW 630hp v8 and not that detuned crap they have in it that makes less power than the same supercharged 5.0 in my 2010 XFR!)
Well no ****, thank you for sharing that! Guess I’ll definitely wait for 2025 info to be released (and if the 130 can get the BMW 630hp v8 and not that detuned crap they have in it that makes less power than the same supercharged 5.0 in my 2010 XFR!)
Info for the 25MY should be here within the coming weeks. As for the BMW V8, I wouldn't hold your breath. I can almost say for certain that the full 630hp tune will not be available in the Defender. Maybe the hard-core OCTA will get it, but if they do the BMW engine, it will probably be the 530hp tune that is currently available in the RR and RRS. Remember, the Defender is not a performance car, hence the detuned 5.0. I will say that I drove a Defender 110 V8 P525 and a Defender 110 P500 back to back, and I could not feel a difference in power.
on all three seatbelt retractors to eliminate the airbag warning light. FWIW, on my car, removing the buckle that the seat belts click into doesn't trip any warning lights -- but removing the seat belt (and associated pretensioner) does. This was especially annoying on the middle seat as the seat belt is built into the seat itself, so you'll either have to extract it from the seat, keep it plugged in, and hide it somewhere, or go with the resistor route. It might be worth first spending the $7 on
Hey Mike, I took the rear seats out of my Defender 90 a while back along with the seatbelts and successfully used a cheap resistor from Amazon on all three seatbelt retractors to eliminate the airbag warning light. FWIW, on my car, removing the buckle that the seat belts click into doesn't trip any warning lights -- but removing the seat belt (and associated pretensioner) does. This was especially annoying on the middle seat as the seat belt is built into the seat itself, so you'll either have to extract it from the seat, keep it plugged in, and hide it somewhere, or go with the resistor route. It might be worth first spending the $7 on these to see how you like them before dropping $70k+ on a new Defender.
thank you. The belt and tensioner are in the side of the car frame still, so only the buckle comes out with the seat removal, but I’m not sure what that wire under the seat from the floor will trigger when unplugged since it’s not a power seat and the tensioner is in the side frame not the seat.
I was just informed over the weekend that captain's chairs will officially be available on the 130 for the 25MY.
You're ****ting me. Man I wanted captains but i'm stuck with the bench in my 2023.5. Oh well I guess i'll have to start stalking wrecking yards in a few years :-)
You're ****ting me. Man I wanted captains but i'm stuck with the bench in my 2023.5. Oh well I guess i'll have to start stalking wrecking yards in a few years :-)
your floor won’t have the bolt holes and rails to change a 60/40 bench to captain chairs. I think the best option is to do what I’ll do if I don’t wait for a 2025 is to remove the middle passenger seat. Little more work and floor fixing but it’s the easiest access third row on the market that way.
04-18-2024, 05:01 PM
