That's the most clever trick ive seen in a long while. What I'm going to do different on mine is run the zip tie up the bottom of the handle then back through and terminate it exactly as you did on the bottom. That way the zip tie clasp won't be visible inside the handle. You, sir, are a genuine MacGyver. That's the best compliment I can give!
Excellent Nige!! I couldn't get the top pull cap out as you showed us, but seeing where you put the slot a little off-center allowed me to drill in the slot without removing it. From below I was able to force the old broken stem to the side to let the zip-tie utilize the latch hole, and done. Cost me 2 zip-ties and 2 little drill bits because I wasn't patient enough. Two "cactus nuts" to you from Arizona!
Spot on, Nige M, nice one! It took me 15 minutes to do the job start to finish and the result is possibly better than the original. Cost: 2 cable ties. One mistake I made was to assume the shape of the catch after an all too brief look at the catch on the other side that was still openable. It's far more chunky and accessible than I could have imagined - I was trying to get the screwdriver in way too far and made the job too complicated - it's dead easy once you look at it properly: The catch is only millimetres from the slit opening on the back of the seat and very easily accessible. Forget trying to look down the hole and fish about with a metal hook, it's a waste of time on the Golf 4. Thanks for taking the time to make a very good and concise video.
Thank you SO MUCH for posting this. I was able to fix the seat on my 2005 Golf in about 5 minutes. It's been broken for years and I can't believe the answer was a zip tie!
Just wanted to say thank you for this brilliant solution - not sure I would have come up with it myself! Edited to say that this worked on my 2008 city golf.
Thank you - really useful video. With the tail pointing upwards, I fed a long tie up through the hole in the clip, and then through a small hole I made in the top lever assembly. This was held in position with the head of a tie wrap.
So you basically reversed the process threading the tie-wrap from the bottom up.? Was this easier than top down? The important thing is to get the tie-wrap through the clip hole at the bottom right next to the latch assembly. It is a little hard to find that little hole when poking the tie-wrap down from the top. The video was a little hard to see that clip hose. His attempt seemed to slide right in. In the end, this worked great and was fast and cheap, worked well and is probably more durable than the original clip (tie-wraps are tough).
Great repair! I could not "fish" down to get the latch open either down the rabbit hole or through the side, so I rented a video scope from Autozone ($140, but complete refund when returned). I could finally get the latch released using the scope, then heated a flat head screw driver and melted a slot through the base where the zip tie goes through. Excellent fix!
I like your method for creating the slot in the latch handle - heating and melting it through. Probably made a nice, neat slot. I used a drill and elongated the first small hole I drilled in the latch handle base.
Seen it. Doubted it... And did as instructed. :) Easy and works like a charm!! Thank You very much! Even if it snaps, there's a lifetime supply of them in a pack I bought :D
Tvm ... after various attempts spread over 3 days of getting nowhere with a rear seat that wouldnt fold down on my Skoda Fabia i tried your method and got it flat in 30 seconds :-)
I pulled the carpet and cut an opening on the back to release the plastic tab under the bracket so you can pull the latch without breaking it. Either weld the metal piece together or get a flat metal piece and rivet it together then glue the carpet back on.
Great video. It worked on my Polo and took about 15 minutes. I drilled into the top catch without removing it so didn’t know exactly where the old broken linkage ran. I did have a bit of a problem with the old linkage interfering with the cable tie to start with and I had to go in and cut part of it away at the bottom. Then it worked just fine. Makes you wonder why VW have such a crappy design in so many of their models - would it have cost a lot to have a wire link instead of a plastic one?
@@angelaluc I’ve tried pulling it as hard as I can and it hasn’t broken yet! If I don’t fix it like he does in the video will it just fall down all the time?
I've just bought a passat and don't appear to have received the key for the locks on the top of the seats so mine won't fold down. Any help with this please?
But how did you get the seat to unlatch in the first place when it was broken? My seat has been stuck close cause the same thing happened. But how do I unlatch now that it's broken?