Grand C4 Picasso - Cinema seat position SOLVED

[Old-Guy]

Sorry chaps, another daft question on the new car (2011 GC4P):-

I can't get the outside 2 seats to fold into the 'Cinema Seat position' to provide easy access to the 3rd row seats. The Handbook (p. 72) doesn't make sense, "Pull the lever E under the seat." with pictures showing E as the handle on the outside top corner of the back-rest! On both seats, handle E seems to be locked unless the seat back is released for folding, E is then free but doesn't do anything.
I know one seat did work because I accidentally released the seat squab when looking over the car before buying. I can't work out exactly what where should release to allow the seat squab to hinge upwards.

Any ideas anyone please?

[GiveMeABreak]

It would seem that the manual is referring to a another lever - also called 'E'. The one on the top corner of the outer seats as per the first section / photo on P71, and the other on P72 would indicate a secondary 'E' lever on the bottom corner of the seat cushion on the outer seats - as in the Cinema Seat picture, it shows the base seat cushion raised up and the lever on the corner edge. So it must be referring to the leaver on the seat base cushion edge corner that you need to pull.

[RichardW]

Couldn't remember, so just been out to try it!

Yes, the flap on the top corner of the seat when pulled allows the squab to lift up and then the seat to slide forward. Needs a good tug. The flap on the front only makes the seat slide. Once you have slid the seat back, and the squab down, you will find it in the forward position - lift the lever at the front to slide it back again.

Note that if you're a bit heavy handed, the plastic operating lever under the squab can pop off and means you can't put the seat back down; it just clips back on to restore normal operation once you have figured out what's going on.

[Old-Guy]

Richard
Many thanks indeed for your kindness. Yesterday afternoon, poking around under the seats in an all-black interior, I couldn't work out how the mechanism works. But I did notice a bit of rust on what might be a bolt through a latch - I shall now go and carefully apply some penetrating oil to this and anything else which might be part of the mechansim. Once I can get one seat to perform this trick again, I shall be able to see what the problem was, making it easier to deal with the other seat. I suspect the problem may have been caused by wet-vac-ing the carpets and the car then standing in the sale lot. I don't know if she was a bit damp inside - assailed by the overpowering stink of 'air-freshener' (no signs of a smoker), and 'back-to-black' on everything, I had the A/C and fan on for the whole 165-mile trip home to ventilate the car - before even leaving Plymouth, I binned the dangling 'air-freshener'.

Will photograph and report back for the benefit of anyone else with the same problem in the future.

[Old-Guy]

In full daylight (and not being rained on!), the cause was fairly obvious; on both 2nd row outside seats, some numpty at the dealer had forced the seat squab down when the seat wasn't in the reqired position. In fairness, the Handbook is both vague and downright wrong on two counts: it states "handle E under the seat.", when there is no handle under the seat, it's where the illustration shows it, on the top outside corner of the seat back! If the instructions for "Repositioning" the seat are followed, the seat WILL be jammed with one of the latches jammed on the wrong side of its latching peg: -

Copyright Old-Guy

As a result, the latch mechanism is jammed solid with the latch on the other side engaged. The jammed latch should be latched like this: -

Copyright Old-Guy

The remedy was slightly brutal: with a big engineer's screwdriver, I levered the jammed leg upwards from the peg while gently pulling up on the handle E (as per Handbook) - sudden bang and the seat squab flew up, the backrest tilts forward into the Cinema Seat position: -

Copyright Old-Guy

In this position, the whole seat will freely slide forwards against the back of the front seat to provide access to the two third row seats.

"REPOSITIONING" the seat for normal use:
BEFORE attempting to latch the squab back into the sitting position, the seat must be in the cinema position with the backrest fully upright (as above).
Push the seat squab down against the spring - a gentle thump with the flat of the hand on the front edge of the seat may be needed to make sure both latches are fully engaged. The seat then looks like this: -

Copyright Old-Guy

The whole seat can now be slid back into the desired position, where it will latch into the slides as soon as the back-rest is tilted backwards into the normal sitting position. The seat now slides and tilts normally.
If the seat squab won't latch easily, you're doing something wrong - if you try to force it, you'll end up jamming and/or damaging the seat!