Third row gets stuck unfolding

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thegooch49

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I have a 2012 Yukon Denali that has one major annoyance. When I fold up the 3rd row seats, I have a hard time getting them unfolded back into seats. When I pull them down and latch them back on the floor, I grab the seat backs and try to pull them upright. Almost all the times doing this, they only come about 1/4 of the way up and stop.

I can usually put them back up, slam them down a few times, and get them 'unstuck', but sometimes it takes 5 minutes to get the darn seats back up. Sometimes I pull the entire seat out, and slam it back in place a couple of times to get them to work. It happens on both sides, and is super frustrating. Does this happen to anyone else, and does anyone have suggestions or adjustments that could be made? Thanks!
 

Naz 23 Esky

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Honestly I had the same problem with my 2011 annoyed the heck out of me. Basically you had to slam them down hard to get em open. Don't think there's a fix least none I've seen.
 
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thegooch49

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Yeah, sounds like we have the same issue. No rhyme or reason to what makes it finally work. Just slamming them down is the only thing I've seen as well. Even then, I'm slamming them in and out sometimes 5 times or more. As annoying as it is for me, my 5'2" wife can barely reach the seatbacks, so it's even more frustrating for her.
 
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thegooch49

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I found one thing that helps a little bit. When the seats are folded up, when I pull them down, I slam them both down AND forward. It doesn't work every time, but adding the forward pressure while pulling down seems to help quite a bit.
 

agupta3224

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Had the same issue with my 09 XL. What I do now is that I line them up *** push from the cargo area into the seat area. Think of it as pushing a stroller. The faster and forceful it is the easier it is to unlock.
 

08HoeCD

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I had this issue only once so far in my '08 Tahoe. I found that the seat assembly was not fully engaged in the floor track, preventing unfolding. I lifted the seat assembly, forcefully engaged it into the floor track, then unfolded the seat back easily.

My educated guess is that the engineers designed the seat assemblies this way in order to prevent passengers from using the seats unless they are properly and fully engaged/locked into the tracks.
 

cav01c14

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Slam the shit out of them haha. I thought mine were broken and went to the dealership the guy showed me if you slam them down they latch and work just fine.
 
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thegooch49

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Drumming up an old thread here, but I found that the main culprit in my case was the cargo liner. I have Husky Weatherbeaters on it. I have a hell of a time getting the 3rd row up. With the liner removed, it's MUCH better. The seatbelt will sometimes stop them from coming up, but I think the Husky's are causing the issue in my case.
 

KATfishing

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Drumming up an old thread here, but I found that the main culprit in my case was the cargo liner. I have Husky Weatherbeaters on it. I have a hell of a time getting the 3rd row up. With the liner removed, it's MUCH better. The seatbelt will sometimes stop them from coming up, but I think the Husky's are causing the issue in my case.

How ironic... I just looked this thread up because I have an 08 Yukon Denali in which I just did the cutouts tonight on the Husky Weatherbeater Cargo mat. I was a little hesitant to make the cutouts because I rarely use the rear seats, but I thought HEY, THAT'S WHAT THEY'RE FOR! Cutouts went fine, but those seats would not latch to save my life. I finally got the right side to latch, but the left side, which seems fully engaged, will not let the seat back fold open. I'm going to look at it again in the daylight. Talk about frustrating. I would love to know if anyone in this situation has found a way to make them work well with the cargo mat. Please let me know the trick. It's the rear latches that determine whether the seat can fold open. Clearly, even though they seem latched, they're not fully closing or something... UGH!
 

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