I did a search for "front seat" and did not see even one topic labeled as such!
Anyway, I put my passenger seat in the fully laid-back position to transport some fruit trees this last weekend and now the back of the seat will not lock into any upright position. I know it must be something simple, but I cannot figure it out. Can someone help.
This is an '05 MCS.

 

Fruit trees? I would love to hear how you fit some trees in a mini...haha all kidding aside...This has happened to my front passanger seat before as well. You need to just play around with the lever for a while. It took me a good 5 minutes of playing around to get it to finally "catch". Not sure exactly what happenss...

 

By the way.....I also just niticed you have a K40 in your car as well. I have one too....Love the thing!!!! very sophisticated system...and has saved my *** a cpouple of times....!!!

 

I've had the same problem, took a bit of playing with, and driving around for half a day with the seat reclined, to correct, I'd really like an explanation for this since it's a little irritating.

 

Have you tried using the seat release ( the one to get into the back seat) and pushing the seat all the way to the front and then trying to put it back where you want?

 

It goes back to the full recline position when you do this.

 

I've tried every forward and backward position and using the recline lever on the inside of the seat and the lever on the outside used to get to the back seat. However, I will play with it some more today and see if I can get it to 'catch'. This is the first time this has happened to me. Is this a common problem with these cars? Seems like its happenening more than it should.

OK, while actually sitting in the seat, I moved the seat all the way forward and then lifted the inside lever. The back of the seat flipped up and locked into a fixed position. Whew...weird.

 

Hey all...
Being the victim of FRS (full recline syndrome) myself, what I did was put the seat in full recline, pull the center lever all the way up and sit up then slam my shoulder into it to wham it all the way down as far as it could go. I heard a loud CLICK then let it up slow the with me air pumping the lever, it would then snap into a lock position.
I don't know what the hell it did, but after 5 mins of sit ups I got cranky and wailed it. What do you know... it fixed it.

-Me.

 

My issue was that the seat wouldn't recline, but this may address the OP's issue as well.
From an earlier post:

Below is the 'fix' posted in this thread, along with the experience of some NAMmers in implementing it.


Here's the BMW service instructions for recalibrating a MINI seat that gets out of wack (found in SI M52 03 02):

"If the customer has gotten the backrest operating mechanism out of synchronization, the backrest may not set in position. This can be corrected by utilizing the following procedure:

Ensure that the inboard and outboard levers are parallel with each other. If they are not parallel, the operating mechanism has probably been twisted out of shape, and the backrest frame (part number 52 10 7 111 527 left/528 right) will have to be replaced.

From outside the car, move the seat into the full easy entry position by pressing down the outboard lever and sliding the seat into the full forward position. The easy entry position is the home position for the inboard and outboard backrest latch mechanisms.

Sit in the other front seat, pull up on the inboard operating lever of the seat being worked on, and move the backrest to the fully reclined position before releasing the lever.

The backrest should now move to the desired position and latch in place when the inboard lever is operated.

 

none of it is working for me =( and its not the passendger seat.. ITS THE DRIVER SEAT!! nearest mini dealer is 100 miles away!!

 

Does it not recline or not lock?
If it won't recline - PULL HARDER! I thought I was going to rip the seatback off before it went.

 

well mines stuck back, like if i were sleeping in my car.. i've been riding lowerider style all day. the inside latch wont even work. i have to use the outside latch (one closer to the door).. and it'll go forth... but it wont' stay in the regular upright position.

 

try putting your weight on the backrest and bouncing one or two good hard times while operating the lever(raise/ lower seat) with each bounce.
it will pop as if it is breaking(one loud click) and the spring mechanism should be reset.

my passenger seat locked in the recline position once and i was hesitant to do this, but it worked and i have not had the problem since (7 months ago)

 

My passenger seat was also stuck in either the full recline position, or the full forward position. I tried following the BMW service instructions for recalibrating a MINI seat posted by Eric Rowland, but that didn't work. So, I put the seat in the full forward position and got into my back seat. Then, I pulled the inside lever toward myself and pulled the seat into a full recline position before letting go of the lever. With the seat locked in full recline position, I started pushing the seat down toward the floor while pulling the inside lever toward myself at the same time. After a few hard pushes, I heard what sounded like a spring breaking from inside the seat and then VIOLA! my seat started working properly again. Sounds like the cure for FRS (full recline syndrome) is to get a little rough with your seat. Thanks everyone for posting!

 

Just this afternoon hauled some 4"x4" posts in my '02 and couldn't get the passenger seat to un-recline.

I've never been real pleased with the 'force it' experiences in life; in my case tonight after 30 frustrating and fruitless minutes (the BMW recalibrating instructions didn't work for me), I finally sat in the seat and leaned back with a lot of weight and pulled up the inside, backrest lever. There was a loud pop (although I wouldn't say it sounded like I broke anything) and the seat is back to normal.

 

Ok so I was sitting in the passenger seat of my girlfriend's mini cooper and after reclining it, I accidently rotated the right lever with my right hand backwards which then rendered the left lever useless. So I found this forum and found out that the BMW service instructions were definitely not the answer. So I did what others have done.
I used the right lever to move the passenger seat in the fully forward position and then carefully sat in it with my head against the windshield. I then held the left lever up and reclined all the way, till it was about an inch from the back seat. Then sat up 4 inches and gently threw my back towards the back of the car hitting the passenger seat and heard a click and felt it in the lever I was holding. I then released the lever, got out of the car, and used the left lever to reposition and lock the seat into the desired upright position. Yes I was a victim of FRS (full recline syndrome), all the way from Pocatello Idaho, and this forum worked for me. The BMW instructions were just too modest, or they want you to pay the $500 they quoted me over the phone. Thank you for whoever decided to just force it back in, that is the answer.

 

Thanks for all of the helpful tips on how to fix the mini's seat position trouble. The suggestions were quite entertaining. I just finished trying several variations. Due to the fact that I am small, I had to sit on the passenger seat sideways facing the driver's side. I gave the seat back a full body slam - the third slam made it fall into full recline mode. I got out and sat in the seat and it adjusted to the right position! WooHoo!

 

I have tried few slams against the backrest but nothing... the inside lever is locked ... can't go up anymore and the backrest has 5 degrees slope ....
i'm affraid to give it another try ... right now i'm driving like an astronaut .... i hate this .....

 

I have a 2004 mini, and I did slam it just like the others until it fell completely flat with a loud pop. I carefully sat facing forward and gently pulled the inner lever not the one by the door. It works perfectly. Evidently, this somehow resets the seat lever. We have reclined it on a recent trip to Tucson from Texas and it sat in the upright position without a problem.

 

This is my first post and i have had that problem up until i went downstairs
and did the above suggestions .Like to say thanks to all .Issue resolved .

 

The passenger seat in my MINI will not roll on the tracks. I have tried to sit in down and pull the lever under the seat and pull the latch behind the seat. Anyone have a fix?

 

Wow....My girlfriends 03 also suffered from FRS and i tried the fix and boom all better

 

Thanks to all for giving me courage to put a little muscle on the seat back. The car wash locked the passenger seat in the full forward, full leaning position too far to sit in. So I got in the back seat and pulled back hard two times on the seat back and now it all works perfectly.

 

This thread saved my sanity.. thanks everyone! I had the same problem with my '06, wouldn't lock back into place, would only sit all the way back or all the way forward. Tried a combination of the BMW method and a little extra force, and it was good as new. I was down there for 20 minutes jiggling the levers and rocking the seat back and forth before I decided to check here!

 

The passenger seat in my 04 Cooper S was stuck in the full recline position. After trying to repair the problem by carefully examining and comparing both of the car seats for over an hour, I tried gentle force with no luck. I downloaded a worthless schematic from BMW, gave up and decided to check the Mini forum. Many post reported success with forcing the seat back. Now I don't consider myself a mechanic, however I work with a wide variety mechanical and electrical equipment and have performed many repairs. In my experience the brute force method usually results in more damage. Without any other options I decided to try the brute force method. First I slid the seat forward and tried slamming my back several times into the seat with no luck. I then turn sideways and slammed my shoulder into the seat, still no luck. I then got on my knees facing the seat back, with my head above the head rest and slammed my chest into the reclined seat and that worked. I glad it worked, but the whole experience was strange.