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NEW Possible Seat height fix for Fusion 2013 (maybe 2014?)


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NEW Possible Seat Height Fix for Fusion 2013 ( 2014 ? )

 

This is a followup forum thread to my original post on a Possible Seat Height Fix for the 2013 Fusion. This fix might also work on the 2014 , since I have a 2013 , a 2014 owner would need to chime in to confirm. 

As a recap of the issue - there are many complaints from 2013 Fusion owners about the lack of a height adjustment of the passenger seat. The default configuration only seems to really serve someone over six feet in height. I've talked to several local dealers (we have 4) and all told me that they gets complaints all the time and there is no fix short of using booster seat. By simply raising the rear of the passenger seat 1.5 inches seems to solve the issue for many. 

My older thread has a simple solution using a steel spacer and 3" automotive bolt which solves the issue but left a few people concerned about a front collision and seat not being secured. I met up in person with a forum member (Martin) who needed a few of the 3" bolts I had for his Fusion and we discussed the issue. Martin came up with a simple design that extends the Nipple from the rear of rail of the passenger seat. (BTW - I still have a few bolts left for sale as I had to buy a case of them - email me if you need a set 3dadd.ebay@gmail.com) 

Once you remove the 2 rear Star bolts (you can get the socket from Home Depot) , you can tilt the seat slight forward and look at the mounting. You will see how these pieces fit into place to create the extension. The new steel riser has 2 holes with the front most hole being used both as a receptacle for the seat rail and the extension (look at photo) . I did find it odd that the right side was oval shaped and the left was round. This must be to allow a little "wiggle room when installing the side and making final adjustments. The rail extension is round on both sides .

The fit was perfect and seems to be a logical approach and I thought I'd share the results - kinda cool when forum members work on ideas together..

For the Ford Forum moderators - please feel free to pass this info onto Ford engineering. I think everyone here would love a simple fix like this from Ford to this issue

thanks - hope this gets people thinking a bit more on the issue.. 
DAVE

Edited by DAVE
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Dave et.al,

 

Dave, thanks for posting the pix and for kindly sharing your extra bolts.  We also installed these onto our Fusion and they look good and work well for the seat height, and moreover provide safety pinning between the seat rail (OEM steel pin) and the new bracket and the floor pan (the shiny steel 1/2 inch dia roll pin seen in the photo) to prevent shearing of the seat under horizontal impacts. Installation is really simple.

 

I ordered two 2 inch x 1.5 inch aluminum billets from Grainger supply, and also a bag of five steel roll pins.  The two aluminum billets were enough to make three sets of billet brackets, with a slope cut into the top of each bracket to correspond to the 17-inch rise angle (17 inches between the front and the rear seat bolts).

 

Since I made three sets of billet brackets (three sets just in case I screwed up on cutting the 1st set) I still have one set left over.  Unfortunately, with five steel pins per bag, that extra set has only one steel pin instead of two, in other words one bracket still needs a steel pin. One of the brackets also has three holes instead of two (experimental 1st bracket I drilled, of course wrong).  I also have one extra set of the DAVE bolts to go with this set.  If anyone out there would like this set, pls PM  me and we can arrange something.

 

MCH a.k.a FusionDad

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One addition: because our 2013 Fusion now lives in Louisville KY along with my son, I actually measured the hole spacing etc. on Virginia sales yards' Fusions - and the 2013 and 2014 models I measured seem to have the same exact seat hardware, which makes sense.  So, yes this should also fit the 2014 models.

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  • 2 years later...

MCH a.k.a FusionDad,

 

Do you have set of rear machined seat brackets and mounting hardware that is still available for purchase? If not could a set be fabricated for me to purchase? Have just recently purchased a used 2014 Ford Fusion and have a 5'4" complaining wife that I need to make happy again. If you could help me out with this I would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

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All you need is the spacers from Mc Alister listed in the thread and the bolts. I have a few bolts left as they are hardest thing to find) Just remove the 2 rear bolts and insert the spacers and use the new longer bolts . Problem solved. 

 

The fabricated ones I used that see above (a forum member made me a set - he said was not easy) did not appear to add  any more strength as the extensions he used were hollow and not solid. The spacers and bolt do the trick,

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