While yes it is a warranty issue I really don't want to take the car in to a dealership service departement and have those goons touch it. I have had to many bad experiences and don't want to have my car there all day only to get it back in worse shape. I was hoping someone here would find a way to repair this ourselves.

 

Good.

Let me suggest you get a subscription to the Toyota technical service (I don't have the URL handy but is Google available.) The download the tech pages that cover seat removal and disassembly. This will give you a road map and the rest is 'applied time.' If you take this route, please take lots of photos and notes.

GOOD LUCK!
Bob Wilson

 

I am trying to find service manuals. I get them for all my vehicles.

 

Alas my seat no longer squeaks! There were 2 procedures performed to this thrice dealership inspected seat. The first was the TSB above, the other was opening the seat itself and replacing a velco strip that prevents the plastic/leather from chaffing together. My first trip out - I drove for over an hour in pure silence filled bliss.

 

Any pictures to what they did? Do you know which procedure actually was the cure?


I have now discovered that when it makes noise if I press the fabric on the right side of the seat above the plastic side cover that it effects the noise. I now believe this to be the area of the noise source.

 

Res - I don't have any photos sadly. Personally, I don't think it was the pins below the seat - listed on the TSB. The service mananger told me the removal of the pins was done just in case the repair inside the seat didn't impact the sound. The sound I heard was distinctly from the leather and plastic mechanism on the right side of the seat. Very similar to a well loved chair or old mattress when you sit on it. I never heard a metal sound come from the chair. I too fondled the fabric far too many days --- and the sound did change based on pressure to that region of the seat. I'm sure you'll get to the root cause of your seat soon. Best of luck.

 

Well if I could only figure out how to remove that side plastic cover without breaking the clip, I could get in there to take a look.

 

I believe I already said this was a warranty item but I won't let those dealership service goons touch my car. Not for this issue at least. I have had bad experiences with service departments. They always seems to scratch my car or forget to replace bolts and screws.

 

I realize that this thread is really old, but this was driving nuts until i figured it out. It is the plastic piece that fits over the passenger seat hinge latch/spring. It is tricky getting the thing off without breaking more than one piece (which apparently one tab has to be broken).

Anyway, the problem that i found is that the part rubs in a few places. The obvious ones are anywhere you see plastic on plastic contact when you start analyzing how to take the darn thing off. The not-so obvious one that was my main culprit was that the ribs on the back side of the part were in contact with the hinge spring.

My fix was to simply put pieces of masking tape where the plastic on plastic rubbing was occuring, and to shave the plastic ribs down so that they were no longer in contact with the hinge spring.
Hope this helps someone and saves them their sanity!

 

Thanks for the detailed answer. I have to confess my first thought when this thread started up involved several gallons of WD-40 and a cattle dip tank. Sounds like you've nailed it.

Any possibility of photos showing the problem and fix?

Thanks,
Bob Wilson