About a year ago I posted a question as to whether or not anyone had tried using the MDI (methylene diphenyl diisocyanate) upgrade foam for the Driver's seat cushion that was available from 1A Auto and also on Ebay. At that time the only upgraded foam cushion that they offered did not fit my 2007 Ram with bench seats and Occupancy Classification System...the only upgraded foam was for NON- OCS seats. Some of you responded verifying that the MDI foam offered then (their part no 1AISU00513) would not work for me.

However, now 1A Auto now offers another MDI upgraded foam cushion (1AISU00516) that fits seats WITH OCS....however, the "FITMENT" guide only specifies "Bucket" seats, and does not include the Bench 40/20/40 power seats like my Ram has. When I look at the Dodge Parts List for 2007 the foam cushion part number for both my bench seat truck and the bucket seat truck is the same....that OEM part number for both is 05178109AA . The 1A Auto part number that is supposed to be the upgraded foam direct replacement for my 05178109AA is 1AISU00516 but only bucket seats are specified.

It appears to me that the RAM "bench" seats are the same seats as the "bucket" seats but the bench seat has the middle jump seat/console added. Therefore, since the part numbers are the same it stands to reason that the new upgraded foam would work. I contacted 1A Auto and all that they would tell me is that the foam is for bucket seats.... So my question to you guys is whether anyone has tried using this new upgraded foam (1A Auto part #1AISU00516 MDI foam) on your "bench" power seat?? By the way, my Interior code is M9, which is the Cloth 40/20/40 Premium Bench Seat.

I need to try and verify that this foam will work so that I will not order the incorrect part..... Thanks in advance for your help!!

 

I would expect that whomever you talked to simply doesn't know the correct answer, even though you already seem to have it.

Since both 40/20/40 bench, and 'bucket' seats use the same seat bottom foam, they are indeed the same. Likely A1 states "bucket seats only" as they don't offer replacement foam for the "20" part of the seat.

 

Well that makes sense to me.... If no one responds with first hand experience with this particular upgraded foam on the bench seat I will just try it and see how it works out. Thanks for the reply!

 

Thanks for providing us with this info ! Let us know how it work's out for ya !

 

I will do that TrueDogman. I usually like 1AAuto but their final response was "After checking the specifications it does not say that these will not work with bench seats. The only specification is that 1AISU00516 is designed to work with bucket seats" ....so they were of little assurance or help. However, AM Autoparts in Ebay (item no. 311930292975) did reply to my inquiry and stated: "Thank you for contacting us. I cross referenced our Bottom Cushion, the OE part number 5178109AA matches and we can confirm that although this may say "bucket" it will fit your 2007 Dodge Ram as it should."

Therefore, I need to review that this Ebay retailer has good reviews, but since they actually looked this up for me and confirms that it will fit my bucket seats, and, since they are less expensive, I will try this out. This MDI foam is supposed to be far superior to the OEM foam....I sure do hope so!! Like everyone has posted, I have removed any burrs or rough welds from the seat frame so here's hoping that this upgraded foam does the trick!! Otherwise I will probably be trying to fit a seat from a Ford or GM product into this Ram...although it is difficult to determine how well a seat will hold up or how comfortable it will be 1000 miles down the road.... I am just thankful that I bought this truck used instead of paying over $30K for it as the first owner did. It is difficult to know if a vehicle will be comfortable on long trips just by visiting the Dealer and sitting in a new truck. But even my old Toyota T100 was more comfortable than this Ram seat! That is a shame!

 

As an update I finally installed the new cushion from Ebay seller "am-autoparts", item #311930292975 and my truck does have the Occupancy Classification System,.
The Ebay ad read " Brand New Seat Cushion Pad Lower LH Driver Side for Dodge Ram Truck Pickup".....and this MDI cushion fit perfectly. The markings on the box read 1AAuto so I guess it originated with them. The seat is now much more comfortable!!! If anyone needs to know if their Ram has OCS (it took me forever to figure this out...) the black box for OCS is under the center jump seat....the carpet was cut around it and it is attached to the tranny tunnel and protrudes up through the carpet....impossible to miss once you know what to look for.....