One of the adjustment functions on my driver side power seat stopped working. I could hear and feel the motor turning, however, the seat would not adjust. After further troubleshooting I found the motor drive line adjustment gears had sheared. Ford decided to make these gears out of cheap plastic and that's what failed and of course this would happen 3 months after my warranty expired (mustang has just 10K miles). I have looked online and can't find just the replacement gears, has anybody found a place to purchase these from? Ford sells the assembly for $450+, however, I just need the gears. Only other option would be to check the local salvage yards.


Thanks for any help you can provide

 

Yeah, mine happened less than 10k into ownership, and I rarely adjust my seat vertically. Luckily it was fixed under warranty.

 

I had this on my 2011 GT Premium ('Premium'...that's funny). It's the up-down-bottom-rear-cushion function that fails. On my car, the driver-side failed at 10k, covered under warranty. Then the passenger-side failed at 20k, but passed 3 years, so not covered. I have the extended warranty (I got this for free from Ford for so many little niggles on my new car). But the extended warranty only specifies "power seat motor". As you mentioned, it's actually the GEARS, and not the MOTOR. Meanwhile the entire assembly comes as one big part, so Ford really has screwed its customers in this regard. After raising much hell, my dealer's GM got my passenger side replaced for $200 out of my pocket (the entire repair is $900). The use of cheap materials, and lack of a proper TSB to help customers, is really disappointing. Thanks for nothing FoMoCo. Perhaps you can contact your dealer's GM for help? I wish you luck.

 

Makes me not want to adjust my seat. That sucks.

 

Yea I would start searching the bone yards. http://car-part.com/

 

I lost the function to control the up and down movement of the front portion of the seat. The car is only driven by me, so the seat is rarely adjusted and I only weight about 175lbs.

 

Here is a thought for someone with access to a cnc machine. Have the gears made out of aluminum and sell replacements. I am sure some of the parts places like LMR and AM would carry them as it seems to be a common failure.

 

I was thinking about the same thing, especially if the replacement assembly cost $450 and there's no telling how long it will last.

 

I don't know about everyone else here but I'm really disappointed with the fact that Ford has gone pretty cheap on a lot of their parts and processes while at the same time still charging some pretty hefty price tags for these cars. Cheap plastic gears on the power seats. Unpainted rear axle that rusts over. Hood corrosion issues. Cheap leaking pinion seals. AC's that fail with regularity. Who knows what else. It makes it very difficult for me to say that I want to buy another Ford after this because I don't want to spend this kind of money for a vehicle that is laden with corner cutting, especially for this kind of money. If I had laid down 30 plus grand for a GT premium and the power seats didn't make it past 10K because of cheap plastic gears I'd be pissed. But heck my AC totally died at 37K so basically, . . . . yeah, I won't be back to this company. I guess I'll shell out the money for a 4 Runner instead. lol

 

My up and down an the drivers side went out and replaced under warranty a few years ago. Now, my passenger side won't hardly move the seat forward and back . I would have thought the problem with the 2011's would be fixed by 2013 . Sad to see we can't buy repair parts

 

Replacing a seat track assembly isn't hard to do, and the part can be obtained online much cheaper than $450+

If you've been a regular customer with a local dealership, talk to the manager and ask for after-warranty assistance.
They have quarterly budgets from Ford that they can use for the customers they like, and regular customers are liked a lot more than the ones that only go to see them for recalls or warranty work.

 

Thanks for the info Gabe...I'll look into it

 

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+1 ... I'm 165lbs, and my son is only 60lbs. Seats rarely adjusted, if at all. No real reason for these items to fail with such low mileage and minimal use. So disappointing.

 

Just got off the phone with Ford Customer Service Relations and was told that because the vehicle was outside of the warranty period (23 March 2016) that there's nothing they can do. I'm a little disappointed in Ford...but it's a business. I was told that there were not enough failures reported in order for it to be a TSB. I reconfirmed with the parts department that the price is $475, which includes the complete assembly that mounts under the seat. I really don't mind shelling out the money for it, however, the service department couldn't confirm if it was a newer/modified assembly. If the assembly was modified with upgraded/stronger gears I would purchase it.


Thinking about changing the seats out to aftermarket, any thoughts?

 

I got the part for $350 about 2 years ago from FordParts.com if memory serves...

 

Could you purchase the manual seat frame instead of the power? I am not sure if they are interchangeable? But at least you wouldn't have to worry about the gears breaking...

 

I've been led to believe this part number is related to fixing the power seat, but have yet been able to find a picture of the part or even a good description. It was mentioned in my thread on this same issue. https://themustangsource.com/forums/...-issue-541570/


Part number: ER3Z-78617D66-A
Description: KIT FIXING PARTS - yeah, that says a lot.

 

Any chance you can plead your case to the dealer's General Manager? That's what I did.

 

You'd think, but it turns out there is a couple of very good reasons that window and seat gears, as well as others, are made of the hard plastic besides the cost, and that is because they'll 'give' a little when they hit a stop. Window all the way up, seat all the way back, whatever. Then they relax and are ok, just about the same as new. Metal won't do this. It'll bend up, straight away, first time. Think of the head of a screw and a screwdriver. Once it's mucked up, that screw won't be easy to deal with. Same with a metal gear that's small enough here. Something's gonna get messed up bad, either the worm, or the gear. Chewy goodness.

Further, they put the plastic in there *to do this very thing*, aka break. It is, in effect, a mechanical fuse, meant to 'blow' if things get overly hot/strained. A metal set of gears as you describe, to fix the gears breaking, would then allow other things to break/bind instead. That would ruin your day when the glass breaks because the metal gears didn't give on the stop. There's no way the plastic gears let this happen. Same with your seat.

"But good news, everyone!" - Professor Farnsworth.

Found it:





If this picture is what that part number refers to, it's exactly the thing needed to fix OP's issue... well at least the gear. Can't speak for the worm drive, but a broken power track outta a junk yard of just about any Ford of the same era can be scavenged for a new worm gear... And that worm gear ain't that bad... I'd be saying: Go get it, OP, and have fun swappin' the gears out!

Or, alternatively, get a new seat track setup, and swap it out. Then take the broke one and fix it, storing it away for the next swap. (I happen to have already acquired mine a while back for when my current one quits, so this is where I'd be headed.)

The track itself is four bolts on the seat, a couple of connectors, and so easy a Geico Commercial Guy can do it.
Hope any of that helps!

 

I've emailed two sellers with no answer yet about this part. I may order anyway since I seem to have the same problem.