I have been putting up with this problem for a few months now. Not terrible as I'm the only one who drives the car (XK8 coupé 2006); however, my wife and I will be taking quite a long drive in a couple weeks, to attend the international Jaguar festival in Santa Barbara. I might need her to drive some. One particular annoyance with this issue is that the seat control pod hangs out in the way of grabbing the handbrake lever.

The edges of the pod appear undamaged, the catch ears apparently intact. I assume that my only real fix option will require removing the seat to find what's broken on the side of the seat squab

. Short of that, any great ideas for a temporary fix, for the trip? One that won't do any permanent damage, that is.

TIA,

Granville

 

Is the front locating tab definitely intact? Difficult to tell from the photo.




Graham

 

As a temporary fix to handle your upcoming trip, I would pick four spots spaced equally around the edges of the perimeter of the control pod and apply a couple of drops of good-quality contact cement to each of those four spots. Let it cure for a couple of minutes and then press the pod into position and hold it there for a minute or two. My guess is that the pod will hold as long as you are very careful when using the controls to adjust the seat. When you are ready for your permanent repair, you should be able to pry the contact cement spots apart without much difficulty. Alcohol on a cotton rag and plenty of elbow grease should then be able to remove any traces of the contact cement from the hard plastic edges of the pod....

 

The plastic inner housing is broken if that tab is in place, common issue and imo was a poor design as with time and getting in and out it always breaks. The housing is part of the lower seat cushion foam bonded at the factory and would have to replace the foam if even still avail or rigged

 

Thanks all and especially Graham! A picture is indeed worth a thousand words. As soon as I saw that illustration I was pretty sure no tab that large existed on the front of my pod. Sho' 'nuff, it's broken off.

I tried to add a pointer to the broken tab but all attempts in the crude art software on my phone were hideous.

I now think I can cut or grind off the rest of it, make a new tab, glue and screw it in place, and pop the pod back in. I'll think on it a bit, look around at materials I have available, and see what I can conjure up. I'll share photos of my solution and of course if anyone here has done this and has suggestions and/or pics, please do share.

Thanks all!

Granville

 

As I went to make my coffee this morning, the magnetic catch on the kitchen cabinet door got me thinking it could be a possible solution to securing the seat control pod.




The flat "keeper" would easily superglue to the back of the switch pod and the magnet somehow fix behind the plastic housing in the seat base ......

Graham

 

Intriguing idea Graham. Thanks! I'll add it into the mix I'm pondering. I was thinking about screwing something to the back with an extension that would somehow replace the missing tab. However the existing screws in the back appear to be Torx head so tiny that I have no bit that small and even with strong reading glasses and strong light can't be sure if I'm seeing right. I'm afraid to drill into the case at all as I see through what I suppose is a vent slot a circuit board I might hit and ruin.

For your magnet idea, Graham, you could select from a tantalizing variety of magnetic sheets, strips, etc. that can be found on a display at Home Depot. At my local store that display is oddly at the end of a lumber/building materials aisle, not a hardware aisle. Were I to glue a metal strip to the back of my pod, I'd drill out hole for that "vent" (actually one at each end) and those micro screws, just in case...

Granville

 

Just get a small screw and drill and screw it into the plastic. The screw can act as a tab.

 

Beautifully simple solution!

Thanks,

Gran

 

Alas! A closer inspection revealed complications and the root of the problem. I was checking the latch on the other end of the opening, in the side of the seat cushion. First I found that a corner is broken off the twin receiver slots (plastic) for the latch at the rearward end of the opening. In the process of imagineering a solution to that aspect of the problem, I discovered that the whole plastic assembly is badly broken.


Anything I do to fasten the ends of the pod in place will probably be undone the first time my fat rear leans on the outer seat side bolster. Ugh! Looks as if I need to significantly reconstruct the side structure of the seat, i.e. a metal plate to replace or reinforce the wimpy plastic structure.

Any suggestions? Thanks all!

Granville

 

I like the idea of some strong but thin velcro

 

I like that idea, too, brutal, and even have a long roll of just the sort you describe. I will still however need to rebuild the broken down stupid plastic channel that is supposed to support the seat side bolster.

Gran

 

I cut up an old galvanized steel step shingle (for roofing) to make a U-shaped channel to reinforce the broken plastic one. Appears that I perhaps made it a wee bit wide but made it fit anyway (i.e. it spread the broken plastic channel out a bit so I had to elongate my screw holes a bit to get things to line up). I ground away the remains of broken plastic tab at the front of the control pod and added a 1" sheet metal screw, per the excellent suggestion. The pod snapped back into place and stayed put so I'm leaving it for now. If it starts popping out again, I'll probably try the magnet or velcro solution. Both sound to me like good solutions.

Channel reinforcement

Channel reinforcement installed

Pod snapped back in

Sorry, forgot to take shot of the screw in the end of the pod. Didn't actually expect the pod to snap in and stay closed.
Granville