[5th Gen : 08+]: 2012 Grand Caravan Stow'n'go Seat Wont Unlatch
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http://s1371.photobucket.com/user/tr...bile%20Uploads
This my first photobucket so let me know if this is confusing. On my phone the pictures are listed in reverse order, so start at the last photo first, then go in reverse.
This my first photobucket so let me know if this is confusing. On my phone the pictures are listed in reverse order, so start at the last photo first, then go in reverse.
Last edited by YouCantKeepAGoodVanDown; Mar 20, 2014 at 09:07 PM.
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Update: I finally got around to doing this on the weekend. Turns out that the one seat I was having trouble with was missing a cable tie-wrap that holds three cables to a rail located besied the group about 6" back of there end connection point.
Before you start you better be handy and have some tools including Torx driver and a 4-6" cable tie, this is an intermediate project for sure. You will also need to stow the back seats in the van to get them out of the way to have room to work.
Now the dirty..... unfortunately I didn't take pictures while doing it, I should have but I'm not used to posting to sites like this. To answer others in the same situation it is a royal PITA to fix. I had to first undo and flip forward the entire bottom seat cushion of the seat which also requires figuring out how to remove both side seat plastic covers where the seat hinges forward (how do to this mentioned in a sec). To begin removing the seat cussion make sure the seat is full open and back is up then you have to first unclip the rear underside of the seat material at the back of the seat from behind (it has two hidden plastic clips that grab short rails up behind the cloth). Once they are uncliped you can pull that piece of cloth away and up to reveal two phillips screws (one each side) that fasten the two plastic covers on each side of the seat, there is a second phillips screw under the flip handle (outer side of seat only that is used to raise the seat when standing outside the vehicle) that also has to be removed and it is tricky as you can barely get to it while holding the handle up with one hand. Once the screws are removed you will have to work and pull the two pressure clips out of their holes which releases the two plastic covers (the tip handle does not need to come off).
Now reach under the seat cushion on each front side of the seat and release the 5" plastic clips that go onto the metal frame undernear, they come off fairly easy. Once these are free you can work your hand in under the fabric and foam just in front of the seat backrest were your butt goes, get it loose grab hold and pull the seat cushion up and out from under the seatback which frees the entire seat cussion, you can now flip it forward just over the front of the seat out of the way. You do not need to release the front of the seat cussion.
Now you will see a white stretch material across the seat bottom, use a pair of needle nose pliers in each of the holes beside each faster bracket to stretch and release the fabric (total of 6, 3 each side).
Once that is out of the way you will need to release the seat to fold up forward like it should have in the first place. To do this you need to go behind the seat down on your knees, now that the material is out of the way back there you will see a black round bar going across left/right horizontal across the lower seat frame, note that it has a 3" arm on it going slightly upwards and away from you with a cable attached to it. First pull the seat release black loop which still tips the seatback forward (and used to release the seat back to fold when it was working) once the seat back is folded forward you then need to reach in under that 3" arm from below and push it real hard upwards with your hand and the rear seat bottom legs will release to fold the seat up and forward.
Now that the seat is folded standing up you will be able to see one phillips screw in and around the middle if the seat bottom roughly, it is a smaller size torx head on it. Remove that screw and then snap the seat back down in place and fold the backreast up again exposing the uncovered seat bottom.
The screw you removed releases a black plastic plate that you need to take out, it is free other than it hooks into the seat frame towards the front of the seat so slide it forward and lift it out.
You are there, you should now be looking at three cable of which two are connected and fastened in place, one is connected (you'll see about 4" of cable connected to a metal swing bracket but the cable jacket will not be connetced to anything (the reason for this mess in the first place, I think mister cable tie guy must have been doing our vehicles on a Monday after a rough weekend. If you look you will see a small frame mounting bracket that is to hold the loose cable standing up like a little U fork, you need to really pull that loose cable back and get it connected back into that bracket.
Once the cable is back in place you need to take that cable tie mentioned at the beginning and look back along the two cables that were in proper position, about 6-8" back you will see a frame rail about a 1/4" wide by about 3/4" deep with a small hole on top of it. Find that hole take the cable that was loose and place it undernear the other twoo good cablesand cable tie them together to the rail via that hole. This cable tie keeps the cable from coming out of the mounting bracket for good.
You are now ready to put everything back together, take your time and work your way back one step at a time off this list or I guarantee you that you will miss something and end up opening everything again.
PS. If you think doing this sucked when you are done, I have to do it twice because once I got the bad seat all open I had to open the good seat to see why the problem cable wouldn't stay in place originally as I was looking to drill and add a cable tie. The good seat revealed the location of the missing tie on the bad seat.
Best of luck and I hope this helps someone.
PSS. Anyone living in my area can arrange to come by and I will do it for a fee, maybe lol!!!!
Before you start you better be handy and have some tools including Torx driver and a 4-6" cable tie, this is an intermediate project for sure. You will also need to stow the back seats in the van to get them out of the way to have room to work.
Now the dirty..... unfortunately I didn't take pictures while doing it, I should have but I'm not used to posting to sites like this. To answer others in the same situation it is a royal PITA to fix. I had to first undo and flip forward the entire bottom seat cushion of the seat which also requires figuring out how to remove both side seat plastic covers where the seat hinges forward (how do to this mentioned in a sec). To begin removing the seat cussion make sure the seat is full open and back is up then you have to first unclip the rear underside of the seat material at the back of the seat from behind (it has two hidden plastic clips that grab short rails up behind the cloth). Once they are uncliped you can pull that piece of cloth away and up to reveal two phillips screws (one each side) that fasten the two plastic covers on each side of the seat, there is a second phillips screw under the flip handle (outer side of seat only that is used to raise the seat when standing outside the vehicle) that also has to be removed and it is tricky as you can barely get to it while holding the handle up with one hand. Once the screws are removed you will have to work and pull the two pressure clips out of their holes which releases the two plastic covers (the tip handle does not need to come off).
Now reach under the seat cushion on each front side of the seat and release the 5" plastic clips that go onto the metal frame undernear, they come off fairly easy. Once these are free you can work your hand in under the fabric and foam just in front of the seat backrest were your butt goes, get it loose grab hold and pull the seat cushion up and out from under the seatback which frees the entire seat cussion, you can now flip it forward just over the front of the seat out of the way. You do not need to release the front of the seat cussion.
Now you will see a white stretch material across the seat bottom, use a pair of needle nose pliers in each of the holes beside each faster bracket to stretch and release the fabric (total of 6, 3 each side).
Once that is out of the way you will need to release the seat to fold up forward like it should have in the first place. To do this you need to go behind the seat down on your knees, now that the material is out of the way back there you will see a black round bar going across left/right horizontal across the lower seat frame, note that it has a 3" arm on it going slightly upwards and away from you with a cable attached to it. First pull the seat release black loop which still tips the seatback forward (and used to release the seat back to fold when it was working) once the seat back is folded forward you then need to reach in under that 3" arm from below and push it real hard upwards with your hand and the rear seat bottom legs will release to fold the seat up and forward.
Now that the seat is folded standing up you will be able to see one phillips screw in and around the middle if the seat bottom roughly, it is a smaller size torx head on it. Remove that screw and then snap the seat back down in place and fold the backreast up again exposing the uncovered seat bottom.
The screw you removed releases a black plastic plate that you need to take out, it is free other than it hooks into the seat frame towards the front of the seat so slide it forward and lift it out.
You are there, you should now be looking at three cable of which two are connected and fastened in place, one is connected (you'll see about 4" of cable connected to a metal swing bracket but the cable jacket will not be connetced to anything (the reason for this mess in the first place, I think mister cable tie guy must have been doing our vehicles on a Monday after a rough weekend. If you look you will see a small frame mounting bracket that is to hold the loose cable standing up like a little U fork, you need to really pull that loose cable back and get it connected back into that bracket.
Once the cable is back in place you need to take that cable tie mentioned at the beginning and look back along the two cables that were in proper position, about 6-8" back you will see a frame rail about a 1/4" wide by about 3/4" deep with a small hole on top of it. Find that hole take the cable that was loose and place it undernear the other twoo good cablesand cable tie them together to the rail via that hole. This cable tie keeps the cable from coming out of the mounting bracket for good.
You are now ready to put everything back together, take your time and work your way back one step at a time off this list or I guarantee you that you will miss something and end up opening everything again.
PS. If you think doing this sucked when you are done, I have to do it twice because once I got the bad seat all open I had to open the good seat to see why the problem cable wouldn't stay in place originally as I was looking to drill and add a cable tie. The good seat revealed the location of the missing tie on the bad seat.
Best of luck and I hope this helps someone.
PSS. Anyone living in my area can arrange to come by and I will do it for a fee, maybe lol!!!!
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Joined: Mar 2015
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thanks a million
YouCantKeepAGoodVanDown you are my hero, I just bought a 2013 caravan and I did not check everything out, I wish I would have there was 3 things I would have demanded before signing the contract and this was one of them. I knew of one. the rear vent windows will not open. I keep saying over and over that they wouldn't open. the snake I mean sales guy went out and checked it and said they open. well after I singed my life away for the next 5 years they said the warranty I bought would cover it but I had to remind snake that there was $100 deductible they pretty much said oh well. I didn't even drive off the lot. when he showed me the stow and go it was on the one that worked, when I got home to show my wife I used the other one and guess what, didn't work but your post fixed it. it is so sad that I bought a van 1 day ago from a major dealer in my city and they screw me before I even leave the lot.
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Note, the cable attachment point would not stay in position for more than one or two seat operations without making sure the cable is fastened to the frame a few inches away from the attachment point with a cable tie.
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There is a Manual Release Linkage next to the latch, you just have to laid down with a flash light to access it.
To find the manual release rod, just go under the seat that still works, have someone pull the release lever, and LOOK for a rod that moves.
Now that you have it off the floor, just compare the cable position of the Good and Bad seat, see which one fell off. Most of the cable requires removing the seat cushion to be fixed. Sometimes the entire cable clip would break off and requires replacement cable.
Taking apart these seats do requires some cautions, as most of these stuff breaks very easily. I would also recommend talking to the dealer if you do not feel comfortable doing the job.
To find the manual release rod, just go under the seat that still works, have someone pull the release lever, and LOOK for a rod that moves.
Now that you have it off the floor, just compare the cable position of the Good and Bad seat, see which one fell off. Most of the cable requires removing the seat cushion to be fixed. Sometimes the entire cable clip would break off and requires replacement cable.
Taking apart these seats do requires some cautions, as most of these stuff breaks very easily. I would also recommend talking to the dealer if you do not feel comfortable doing the job.
Thanks to YouCantKeepAGoodVanDown for the photos and explainer!
