MINI Seat Back Adjuster problem 02-06 Sprite, Midget & Morris Minor

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MINI Seat Back Adjuster problem 02-06

For 2002-2006 R50 Cooper and R53 Cooper S Hatchbacks, and 2005-2008 R52 Cooper and Cooper S Convertibles.

If your seat back angle adjuster suddenly stops working, try this:

Kneel in the seat facing the backrest
Pull both handles (backrest adjust and opposite handle) up
Push the backrest with your shoulder back til you hear a click (may need to hit it pretty hard to hear the click).
That should reset the seat!

Good luck!

Article Date: Jun 30, 2010
Car Accociations: NEW_MINI
Hits: 5025

12 Comments

02/04/2011 @ 10:49 AM
Karen	Hi I Tried to do this but I didn't make it. I think that I am doing something wrong or that is not the way to resolve my problem. I tried it hard I think that I burned some calories too :D
03/25/2011 @ 3:58 PM
bill	Hi. I had the same problem with my 2002 mini passenger seat for a couple of weeks. I left it into a garage who took the seat out but with no success. I thought I was going to have to pay the main dealer a fortune to replace the seat. I'm glad I found this posting. Just tried the suggestion above and it worked. Brilliant. Thanks alot. :) By the way. I applied a good bit of force with my shoulder.
05/16/2011 @ 3:07 AM
MINIBOB	I phoned mini in the UK - they said they know of the problem and the whole seat frame has to be replaced - at a cost of £400!! :-/ So I just tried this technique today - and it bloody works!?!! It took a while - and I may have a sore shoulder - but BLEEP it, it works!
07/04/2011 @ 6:19 PM
chris H	I love my mini, but god is it expensive to repair. I have been driving for 40 years and have never run into the sort of problems that I have had with this car. Passenger side seat release. The cable has broken and they want $350 to replace a lousy piece of cable that never should have broken in the first place. Now my driver's seat will only lock in the fully reclined position. $535 for the seat back and $370 labour to install it. It really BLEEP me off that such a well engineered car should have such faults. It is not as if I have folded the seat back down daily. In the 7 years I have owned the car, it has probably only been put down 20 times max and for that I have to dole out $1K. I have dropped 6K this year on a car that only has 140K on it. I think I am going to buy a ford fiesta. Yikes
08/03/2011 @ 11:03 AM
Daniel	Thank you so much for this information. You saved me 850 dollars. I took my car to the dealer because I had the exact same problem mentioned above and the dealer without looking at said it would cost me 850 dollars. I said, thanks but no thanks. They said I needed to replace the whole frame under the seat. The information above fixed it on the first attempt. From now on I won't be taking my car to the mini dealer anymore.
08/30/2011 @ 10:17 AM
Donna	You are a genius!!!!!
12/05/2011 @ 4:50 PM
Lynette	Tried it, it worked!!! Thanks. Saved a lot of headache for us. Thanks again for sharing.
12/09/2011 @ 8:58 AM
Steve S	Thanks, This does work, but instead of hearing a click the whole seat back flew back. Still it fixed the problem.
04/01/2012 @ 6:03 AM
speeedracer	WOOT, this worked and saved me money!!!!!!! I'm a happy man today.
04/17/2012 @ 2:40 PM
John S	Wow. It took allot of pushing but it worked!!!! Thanks
04/30/2012 @ 8:00 PM
Top Dragster Pilot	My 06 had this issue. We followed the instructions and all is well. Thanks a bunch...... 4099 TD
05/01/2012 @ 2:36 PM
Björn	Thanks you saved my day, And my money It worked the first time!!!