[wonger]

New member here, first post.....


Was wondering what you guys/gals might know about any potential issues with the second row seats accidentally starting to fold in a collision. Reason i ask... my buddy was test driving one with another passenger and while driving down the road, the second person was in the third row and just sort of flippantly hit the seat release. Well, the seat immediately folded down and did its thing. I guess the whole point is, what might happen if the seat were occupied with either an adult or a carseat? I know its a longshot but if that release were to actuate during the accident, is there any other mechanism that keeps that seat anchored? Any thoughts or info would be greatly appreciated.


Wonger

 

[web raven]

Welcome to the forum.

I'm trying to picture how someone might go about accidentally hitting the seat release while sitting in the seat. It's a lever on the side of the seat that I would think would take some effort to reach while in a seated position.

I have yet to feel that my 2nd row seats are unsafe in any way. But again, I have 2nd row captains seats. Are you referring to a 2nd row bench seat?

 

[imgntht]

I would imagine based on the original post it was a bench seat, but in theory it wouldn't matter as both captain's chairs and bench are using the SMARTSlide feature. Also the original post said the 2nd passenger was in the THIRD row seat and reached forward to play with the lever on the SECOND row seats causing the second row to fold and "do its thing".

From a safety standpoint the concern is how stable are these seats in an accident (say head-on or rear impact)? Regardless of occupancy will they stay in the upright position or could the impact cause enough jarring to trigger the seats to "do their thing".

I haven't yet received my Acadia so I can't speak from truth, but I would imagine if the accident was strong enough, it wouldn't matter what vehicle you are in(or the seat mechanism itself). If the car is going to crumple, its going to crumple. However I don't think that these are so sensitive that hitting the brakes too hard one day is going to cause your little one to get folded up into the seats...

To my knowledge, NO, there is not a mechanism that would prevent the seats from folding down. But then are there any vehicles that do offer this that also have folding flat seats...like minivans?

 

[web raven]

Thanks for clarifying! I have a tendency to read too fast and totally missed that the passenger was in the 3rd row seat.

 

[Acustk5]

I believe the rear of the seat cushion lifts up as it folds. Just thinking that the weight of a passenger (car seat, maybe??) would keep the seat down if someone were actually in the seat and the lever was tripped.

 

[admin]

Well, to my knowledge, nobody on the forum has been in a serious accident inside their acadia yet (though one was rear ended by someone in one). However, speaking purely theoretically from my hands-on experience with our acadia, this would not be an issue.

First off, the "smart-slide" handle is a loop of nylon (?) low on the seat that needs to be pulled with some authority. I believe this is by design to prevent exactly that kind of thing from happening. It would be a complete fluke if it happened where something snagged it with enough force to start the smart slide action, but even if that did happen, I would imagine anything putting some weight on the seat cushion would go a long way in preventing it for working. And using the latch system on those seats may very well counteract and eliminate the smart slide altogether.

As for the fold flat, I can see where someone might hit that lever, but as long as someone were in the seat, I can't imagine it would really go anywhere, the person would just lean back and relatch it. Regardless, in either smart slide or fold flat mode, the rails are still securely attached to the car, so I'm not sure they'd really go anywhere during an accident. But all of this would be true with just about any vehicle with movable seats. It's no more or less a concern than with any other SUV/CUV/minivan, is it?

 

[Acustk5]

Admin, I think you got your nylon loop and your lever vice versa there (must be a boomer sooner thing ), but otherwise I agree and think your point is well taken.

 

[admin]

Did I reverse the controls? I was going from memory, and it's not my daily driver, so I've only done it a handful of times. oops...