Hardly ever have anyone in the passenger seat

 

- sitting on the right they normally get tasked with answering  a continuous stream of "Is anything coming the other way? Can I overtake the combine harvester now?

What about now? Oh come on. How. far to the next bend or junction in telegraph poles?" - 

 

but the back of the seat won't lock upright any longer.

 

It folds forwards but does not click in place. Can't see any obstruction at the hinge.

The lever on the side feels a bit loose too.

 

As this is an MOT fail reason (one of several) any idea what's gone wrong ?

... and more importantly,  how to fix it ?

 

I assume the tester climbed in the back to check the rear seat belts.

its a cable operated hook each side ...with a spring to return back to the latched position, maybe the spring has come off or broken? 

 

fairly easy to ease the cover off and investigate if need be

Found this for taking covers off

 

https://www.clubpolo.co.uk/topic/248156-guide-removing-your-mk2mk3-front-seat-covers/

yeah if the spring is gone then probably replace with the cover in situ

If you sit in the back, you should be able to see where the cables hook on the latches at the bottom of the seat back on each side. They're not connected together by anything but the cables and handle. If you pull the latches back by hand individually, they should spring forward again regardless of whether the cable it good or not, if they don't, it's either the spring's come off or the latches are gunked up. 

 

You should be able to see the hooked ends of the cables in the latches. The cables should both feel tight with the latches returned. If they don't, give them a pull, chances are ones broken.

 

The cables are common to a lot of seat frames (they were mostly made by Recaro), so should still be available. Getting the cover off the seat back isn't a technical job, just takes some patience, a flat blade and a small hammer. The only time it's not a nice job is if the foam's broken down or been nibbled, but replacing a foam is really easy once the cover's off. 

 

The cables normally fail at the latch end, so if you don't fancy taking the seat apart just yet, you can often get your hands up inside as far as the break and bodge a connector block on. 

Thanks.

 

Springs and cables all good. Found a piece of elastic from a seat cushion cover that might have been stopping latch returning.

Sprayed the latch mounts and they move more freely. but still a bit reluctant. I guess the grease has become like old jam. 

 

Going to try some tooth tape or pipecleaner around the rotating joint. 

That or the cables have stretched or the hook ends have straightened out a bit over time, especially if they've been pulling something that doesn't want to move. 

 

You should be able to unhook the seat back cover and work it up far enough to get a look at the pivots for the latches, particularly if you've got flat seats rather than bolstered 

worst case get a scabby seat for cheap and swap the cloth over 

They are bolstered not flat. 

 

dental-floss / tooth-tape to clean gunky grease and 3-in-1 bicycle oil to lubricate at the pivot points either side of latch appears to have worked to free up the joints. 

 

Thanks guys.