2nd Row Upper Recline Lever

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95 Miata, 14 CX5 Touring FWD, 18 CX9 GT FWD
I think something is wrong with our 2nd row top recline lever on the driver's side.

Normally that top lever should be used to recline and slide the 2nd row forward so passengers can exit/enter the 3rd row. However, mine only reclines the seat back forward, but doesn't slide the seat forward. I can tell it just needs a bit of an adjustment, because when I grab the bottom bar to slide the seat forward after pulling the top lever, the bottom bar takes a lot less effort than normal and just needs a tiny bit of pull to release the slide (meaning, the bar has been pulled to slide by the top lever, but just not quite enough to release).

My wife took it to the dealer yesterday for an oil change and asked them to take a look and adjust it. They came back insisting it was normal and other CX9's were the same. So they didn't fix anything and the problem still exists. She did not go and try out other CX9's herself.

I'm calling BS on the dealer because the passenger side does both actions with a single pull of the same top lever. It also doesn't make sense for a 3rd row passenger to not fully move the 2nd row out of the way to exit the car.

Does anybody have any schematics on how to adjust the cable that actuates the recline and slide? I would rather spend my time to fix it myself than waste my time bringing it to the same dealer or another dealer to have them give us the run around again.
 
I have a '12, not a 2nd gen. But on mine, the side handle tilts and slides forward. The top lever only tilts the seat to expand the cargo area. YMMV.
 
I have a '12, not a 2nd gen. But on mine, the side handle tilts and slides forward. The top lever only tilts the seat to expand the cargo area. YMMV.

I just went out to check my '18 Sig. My driver's side behaves just like tex's 1st gen. I couldn't fully test the passenger side because I have an infant seat base there, but I think my passenger side works as expected (top lever folds seat down and slides it forward). Another thing to note is that the passenger side 2nd row seat slides forward much more than the driver's side. Based on this, I think they just designed the system so that passengers using the third row would primarily enter/exit from the passenger's side, and didn't bother with making the top lever on the driver's side do the same thing as the passenger's side.

Nothing is wrong with your recline lever, if anything you could call it a design flaw.
 
Hrm...Thanks for checking your car sm1ke. You make a good point that the passenger side does slide forward more to create a bigger opening.

I guess I just find it weird that after pulling the top lever on the driver side, the bottom bar to slide the seat forward feels like it's been partially activated. It seems like the top lever wants to pull on the bottom bar as well. It only takes a very light touch and very little additional movement to pull that bottom bar to slide the seat forward after pulling the top lever. If the top lever was not pulled, the bar to slide the seat forward takes a normal amount of force and distance to activate.

Edit: I found a video walk around, where a sales guy reclines the driver side 2nd row and pulls on that top lever to try to slide the seat forward and it doesn't. He has to pull the bottom bar to get it to slide forward...

https://youtu.be/O6iFRqz9xt0?t=8m55s


I'll probably go dig through the manual tonight and see what that says.
 
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Hrm...Thanks for checking your car sm1ke. You make a good point that the passenger side does slide forward more to create a bigger opening.

I guess I just find it weird that after pulling the top lever on the driver side, the bottom bar to slide the seat forward feels like it's been partially activated. It seems like the top lever wants to pull on the bottom bar as well. It only takes a very light touch and very little additional movement to pull that bottom bar to slide the seat forward after pulling the top lever. If the top lever was not pulled, the bar to slide the seat forward takes a normal amount of force and distance to activate.

Edit: I found a video walk around, where a sales guy reclines the driver side 2nd row and pulls on that top lever to try to slide the seat forward and it doesn't. He has to pull the bottom bar to get it to slide forward...

https://youtu.be/O6iFRqz9xt0?t=8m55s


I'll probably go dig through the manual tonight and see what that says.

I just checked my 17, and after pulling top lever the seat tilts forward, then slides forward without using the bar on the floor. I can post a video tomorrow, once there is some light outside.
 
I just checked my 17, and after pulling top lever the seat tilts forward, then slides forward without using the bar on the floor. I can post a video tomorrow, once there is some light outside.
Same with my '17. Here's a bad photo (it's 10:30pm and drizzling here). I got it into this position without touching the bar under the front of the seat; I only used the lever by the headrest.

IMG_1890.JPG
 
Well I feel like I dummy now. I picked up some exercise equipment yesterday and decided to see what the driver's side top lever does, and it does actually fold and slide the seat forward. My bad DFS, time to go back to the dealership and show them chachee's video.
 
Thanks for all the feedback guys! This totally confirms that the top lever should perform both actions.

I also double checked the owners manual and found 2 different instances where it specifically says that the top lever tilts and slides the seat.

Guess I'll probably take it to the dealer another time and ask them to fix it...again...and show them the manual if they give any resistance.
 
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