Just bought a 2004 SE7 and the larger 2/3 portion of the 2nd row seat is having an issue with the latching mechanism. I was able get the lower half of the seat to lock into place at the floor, but when this happens the upper portion of the seat won't lock into place because the cable is being pulled inadvertently along with the lower section cable when its in the normal locked position. What I found is that the plastic divider between the two mechanisms is destroyed on the symptomatic side (see pic with red arrow - pic with green arrow for comparison on the good 1/3 side). So when the lower section cable is pulled in order to lock the bottom half to the floor, it is also pulling the upper section cable which prevents the seatback from locking. It looks as though the broken pieces of the plastic divider are gummed up in there and making the two levers move in tandem, but I can seem to dislodge the material to get them to operate independently. Has anyone encountered this before? Thoughts on how to correct the issue? Thanks so much and I look forward to being an active member of the community!
-Mike

 

SOLVED: I was able to dislodge the plastic crap between the two mechanisms using a steak knife (the only thing thin enough to get in here). It took a lot of jamming it in at different angles but eventually got them to move independently. All good now. Cheers!