Broken 40/60 Back / Rear Split Seat Handle / Lever

[alex_melodymaker]

Hi,

I fold down the 40/60 split rear seats of my 2008 Yaris Liftback frequently to load and unload my musical gear and other items. I recently discovered that I had broken the lever of the right seat, which allows the seat to be pushed forward and/or folded down. The lever is held down by two screws which go down these two delicate cylindrical plastic molded openings that have a hole at their ends to give access to another pair of stronger, metallic holes located deeper in the assembly for the screws to fasten to. It appears I may have accidentally broken the lever, most likely by tossing one of my cases in when the seats were folded down and having it ram against the lower edge of the lever; therefore, forcing it upward and breaking the ends of the of two cylindrical molded areas that were fastened down by the screws. Now, the screws can't hold the lever down anymore because the openings at the ends are too big from the damage.

I've tried remedying the problem to no avail, I then tried searching for either postings about a similar situation here and online to see what they may have done to fix it, again nothing, and finally I've tried looking for a replacement part, which also came up dry. I'm worried this may be more than a quick fix, as further inspection of the the lever showed that it's actually tied to two cables inside the seating assembly that control the mechanism of the seat to be moved forward or folded. So now I'm thinking this may be something I'll need to take for the dealer to look at, and possibly may have to get the entire seat replaced.

Has anyone had a similar problem, and if so, how did you get it fixed? Does anyone know if it's covered by the warranty in case I need to take it to the dealer to have it fixed? I've attached some photos to show you what I'm talking about.

Many Thanks.