Multi Contour Seats make my blood boil!

elund126 · August 16, 2013, 12:08:51 PM

Can I just stab the bladders with a knife??

Since I have owned the car the passenger side seat has a mind of it's own. It will inflate at random times.

Yesterday, after spending 6 hours detailing a car, I was pretty sore and when I turned on the massage feature while driving, it worked great. Now, the upper most bladder is fully inflated and will not deflate. Even when manually trying to deflate it, it is stuck. Now it feels like I have a softball jabbing into my back.

Any ideas? I am out of warranty and I refuse to go to the dealership until I have tried to fix it myself.

Also, if I ever get the bladders all the way deflated, I seriously want to pull the fuse or relay to the Multi-Contour system. Can someone point me in the right direction?

SoCalSHO · August 16, 2013, 12:49:07 PM

If you took the car in for the problem while you were under warranty, you may still be covered since they did not fix it right. Just a thought. But that would bug the crap out of me.

elund126 · August 16, 2013, 01:01:18 PM

I bought the car in January. It was already out of warranty. If my car didn't have the malfunctioning seats and the rear sun shade rattle, I would be 100% happy.

At least the car has plenty of power to keep my mind off of it!!

SoCalSHO · August 16, 2013, 01:05:37 PM

I read somebody else either here or on EBOF that had/has the same problem. Hopefully they will chime in here. How about about unhooking the battery for a while to try to get it to reset, then pulling the fuse?

mjhpadi · August 16, 2013, 01:19:10 PM

It was me that had the seat problem. The passenger side did the full inflate thing every time the car was turned on since it was new. The driver side seat started doing it in the spring of 2012. Unfortunately the fix required both seats to be removed and all new components to be installed. Not sure if that included the bladders. However, my dealer did get the fix for the problem from Ford, so they are aware that it exists. If you did make the dealer aware of it you should be able to recover at least most of the cost. One more piece of bad news.. it took my dealer 2 full days to do the repair and they said it was a bear of a job.

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elund126 · August 16, 2013, 05:18:56 PM

I guess I just have to deal with it. Sounds like an expensive repair from Ford. If the bladders deflate, I want to pull the fuse out. I rarely use the Multi-Contour anyways.

Larrylu · August 16, 2013, 06:17:29 PM

Quote from: elund126 on August 16, 2013, 05:18:56 PM
I guess I just have to deal with it. Sounds like an expensive repair from Ford. If the bladders deflate, I want to pull the fuse out. I rarely use the Multi-Contour anyways.

If you want to take the bladders out of action you could try this. Unbolt the seat and tip back so the seat bottom is clearly visible. Try to locate and identify the small pump that is filling the offending bladder. There should be several plastic air lines coming off of from that pump. Try by what ever means to determine the lines that feed the offending bladders. You should be able to unplug the lines feeding the problem bladders. You could also unplug the power connection to the air pump, but that means you would lose the pump for all the bladders it feeds. I can't be more definite as I have not inspected one of these systems in several years, but....that's the way they used to go together and I think what I described would have worked on those. Good luck!

mjhpadi · August 16, 2013, 10:39:35 PM

Quote from: elund126 on August 16, 2013, 05:18:56 PM
I guess I just have to deal with it. Sounds like an expensive repair from Ford. If the bladders deflate, I want to pull the fuse out. I rarely use the Multi-Contour anyways.

Well, you will also lose lumbar support...I think I would at least talk to the dealer and if they didn't offer any satisfaction I would contact Ford...I think this could almost be considered a safety issue, and it is a known problem, you may be able to get it fixed. Won't hurt to try.

jomc111 · August 16, 2013, 11:04:56 PM

Mine does this randomly to and I found if I cycle threw the bladders a couple times trying to deflate each one it would finally deflate on the third or 4th time. Give that a shot if you already haven't maybe you'll get lucky

DJE624 · August 16, 2013, 11:09:50 PM

The first time I tried mine, all of a sudden I got poked in the right cheek. I almost jumped through the moon roof!

SoCalSHO · August 16, 2013, 11:21:49 PM

Quote from: DJE624 on August 16, 2013, 11:09:50 PM
The first time I tried mine, all of a sudden I got poked in the right cheek. I almost jumped through the moon roof!

Whew, just a cheek.

DJE624 · August 16, 2013, 11:28:23 PM

Quote from: SoCalSHO on August 16, 2013, 11:21:49 PM
Quote from: DJE624 on August 16, 2013, 11:09:50 PM
The first time I tried mine, all of a sudden I got poked in the right cheek. I almost jumped through the moon roof!
Whew, just a cheek.

Yeah, got lucky. Or, didn't.

Bigfoot · August 17, 2013, 12:58:17 AM

this is exactly why i bought a Ford extended warranty lol.

mjhpadi · August 17, 2013, 10:02:37 AM

I know that it's much more pleasurable to use the SHO since the seats work correctly. No more unexpected inflation in the lumbar.. they're really nice when working properly.

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elund126 · August 17, 2013, 08:03:24 PM

Quote from: mjhpadi on August 16, 2013, 10:39:35 PM
Quote from: elund126 on August 16, 2013, 05:18:56 PM
I guess I just have to deal with it. Sounds like an expensive repair from Ford. If the bladders deflate, I want to pull the fuse out. I rarely use the Multi-Contour anyways.
Well, you will also lose lumbar support...I think I would at least talk to the dealer and if they didn't offer any satisfaction I would contact Ford...I think this could almost be considered a safety issue, and it is a known problem, you may be able to get it fixed. Won't hurt to try.

I've never used lumbar on any car I've owned. Maybe I'm special!!