Seat Cable

This is quite a common problem on VW seats. If you can't be bothered to fix it you can reach in and lift up the centre catch by hand while lifting the seat in the normal way. However some garages will fail the MOT for this as a safety issue. To fix it properly...

The seat has 2 cables from the handle; a long one to the catch on the handbrake side and a short one that goes straight down to the catch on the door side. The 2 catches operate independantly so you can see which cable you need from which catch doesn't work. The long one goes diagonally across the back of the seat and is a bit stressed so this will usually be the broken one.

German and Swedish do the cable for about £5 (and these also have a nylon coating to reduce friction). To fit it you have to partly remove the upper seat cover. Sitting on the rear seat tilt the front seat forward and locate a line of metal spikes along the bottom edge of the seat back. Using a thin pair of pliers straighten these out (warning - they're sharp!) and pull the cover (front and back) down and off the spikes. You then need to push the cover up the seat back a bit until you can get to the inside of the seat lift handle.

Avoid disturbing the cover too much or it might end up a bit wrinkled when refitted. Remove old bits of cable and fit the new one (you'll see how they fit in to the handle/catches from the remaining short one). Note that the cable must be routed through the small plastic loops correctly or the 'pull' will be the wrong length - compare with the other seat and check it works the catch reliably before you put the cover back properly. To put the cover back stretch it over the spikes again, make sure everything is nice and smooth and then tap the spikes back over with a hammer (this should also help stretch the seat cover a bit more).

Nick Dilley