Plastic Seat Covers Reinstall Question
 

I removed the plastic cover on the base of the driver and passenger side seats to look at getting them hydro carbon dipped. When I pulled the covers off there are 2 alignment tabs that have a metal clip on them to hold them in place and the metal clip stayed in the seat. I am not sure if it should of come out with the cover, but when I try to put the cover back it in is next to impossible to line both pieces up and the clip does not want to come out without probably destroying it.

Any gone through this, that has replaced the cloth/leather seats and has some ideas?

Thanks,

Sean

Yep, I went through this when installing take-off leather seat covers on my former 08 Mustang and when I installed new leather seat covers on our former 2010 Fusion, which has seats nearly identical to the Mustang.

That clip that holds on the front of that plastic side cover will not come out with the cover. There is a delicate plastic tab on the cover that is severely stressed by pulling the cover off and it's impossible to press back into the metal clip. The metal clips that hold it in place are only meant to be clipped one time then they distort on the inside of the clip and stay attached to the seat frame. Since I was replacing cloth seat covers with leather, I was able to lift the seat foam and use a pair of needle nose pliers to compress the clip from the back side and release it from the seat frame. Needless to say, this clip is a very poor design.

Ok thanks. I guess I will have to go to my local dealer and see if they can source out the part needed to replace them. Not sure if I can get to them since I am not doing anything with the leather. I might try and take them out and seeif I can get to them from underneath.

The part # for the replacement clips are:

F7UZ-1513284-BA

Mine got hosed on the removal, I picked up new covers with new clips.

It's actually very easy to slip off the leather at the front of the seat to reach under the foam and work the clips out. The leather is held in place by a long plastic rail clip that just snaps to the underside edge of the steel seat frame.

You are correct. I did that last weekend and it worked. It took a bit to get them out as those clips are made of strong metal and trying to bend them back to get them out of the slot was a real pain in the butt!