4th Dec 2007, 22:22
My seat wobbled for several days and I kept telling myself I would take it in or look at it on the weekend. I was driving to Fort Wayne Indiana, from Columbia City Indiana for a meeting and placed my hand in my to retrieve my cell phone, and as I leaned back a little bit my front drivers seat snapped all of the way back. If I would have had a passenger behind me, I would have been in their lap. I have not replaced my seat or the bracket as I have been trying to figure out whether or not Jeep would be responsible through a recall, or if I could find a wrecked jeep and buy the part out of it to use on fixing my 2000 Jeep Grand Cherokee. I weigh just over 300 lbs so that is not the reason the seat broke. Chad Morgan
0177 S 50 W
Albion, In 46701.
23rd Apr 2008, 14:11
I wish I had found this site before I had my vehicle repaired. On 4/17/08, I paid 1021.93 to replace my driver's side frame-front seat & adjuster-power seat. I had experienced the "rocking" for approximately oneweek, when my boyfriend became aware of the issue and advised me of what the problem was. We were unsuccessful in locating "used" parts via wrecking yards. Because of the seriousness I went to the dealer. I too tried to call customer service & was told that because I am not the original owner and the warranty is expired there was nothing they could do.
28th May 2008, 08:34
My 2001 Jeep Grand Cherokees driver's side seat started to wobble, and 2 days later the entire seat broke as I was accelerating on the highway, and threw me to the back seat on the highway with my 2 kids in the car. I almost had a terrible accident. Please beware of this problem. I am going to the dealership today.
7th Jun 2008, 02:20
My 2003 Jeep Laredo has started to wobble like crazy. I took it to the dealer, they want $800 to fix the bracket. Rhe junkyard will give me a whole new seat for $225. I can't believe there is no recall on this... it's such a crappy car.
12th Jun 2008, 21:16
Our 2000 Cherokee drivers side seat became "wobbly" as soon as the warranty ran out. A few weeks ago I got in and the seat snapped and now is VERY wobbly. I picked up a used seat at a salvage yard today for $200 including the frame rail. I'll put it in myself. While its been a good car drive-train wise, it's a piece of crap otherwise. Simple things like the seat breaking. We'll never buy another jeep product ever. They let this model to crap. Even the new ones are getting bad reviews. Can you say Toyota?
17th Jun 2008, 15:21
I have a 2000 Jeep Cherokee Sport and have had the same problem. It must be pretty common because every salvage yard I go to has Cherokees and they're all missing their driver's seat. My jeep failed its Virginia inspection last week because of the seat, now I have 10 days left to get it fixed or I can't drive it. I looked underneath the seat and couldn't believe the flimsy material they used, it was torn to pieces. I love the look of the Cherokee, but I've had several expensive problems with this vehicle.
20th Jun 2008, 16:12
2001 Jeep Grand Cherokee. Driver's seat creeked first, then wobbled, then the back brackets of the seat track snapped. Jeep dealer said "never seen this before." Quoted $505 to fix.
Took the Jeep to another place, they said common problem, should report it to gov.
Engineer looked at it and said the "cold rivets" that hold the brackets together should allow the brackets to move, but they are put in so tight the metal bends over time until they break. He quessed this would happen in all vehicles eventually.
I've tried to find a replacement seat track, but the salvage yards tell me that they are hard to find because they are so popular!
I'm now looking to have the parts fabricated. I'm not giving Jeep $505-1000 for 2 10 cent brackets.
30th Jun 2008, 08:18
I've had a 98 Cherokee and 98 Grand Cherokee both for many years. I've been very pleased with then, both have been remarkably trouble free. But I had the same rocking driver's seat and the bracket snapped recently as everyone has described on the Cherokee. Very flimsy and poorly designed. Seems to me that this is a serious safety issue and Chrysler should own up to it and issue a recall. I will not pay a dealer for this so like everyone else I'll grudgingly fix myself. I'm going to check Quadra-tec, I think they sell just the brackets.
11th Jul 2008, 10:24
Unbelievable. Here I thought I was the only one, especially after talking to the dealer. Exactly the same problem with our 99 Grand Cherokee Laredo. Dealer can only special order from manufacturer for $400.00 plus the usual whatevers. Salvage yards seem to have a few available ($150 in Dallas) and welding the current bracket is also an option.
Chrysler should own up to this. HUGE safety issue to have the drivers seat fly backward while driving. My wife weighs around 100lbs soaking wet so weight isn't the issue - shoddy engineering is.
12th Jul 2008, 12:51
My drivers seat mounting frame also failed on my 2000 grand. Took it apart and had my son weld some additional plate steel to fix it.
13th Jul 2008, 21:45
I've had the "clicking" or slight movement (driver side) in my 2002 Grand Cherokee forever now (I'm 200#), but I have never inspected the frame rail assembly (I did have thoughts of small Allen screws and some nylon shims on the rails awhile back). I just assumed that the rails had too much "play" in them.
But yesterday at the car wash, the attendant who vacuum's the car moved the seats all the way to the rear, THEN all the way to the front (so now my pass. seat is all the way forward!). Well when I went to leave the car wash, I always go to the passenger side first to move the seat to the rear. This time it didn't move (AND obviously nobody speaks ENGLISH!). I fiddled with it for a moment, just figuring the switch or motor went bad.
Today I took the seat loose and removed the track assembly with the motors on it (really simple with just a few tools). The "horizontal" (front to rear) motor was just bound up (this is the motor that moves the seat front to rear), if you look at the little gear case there is a square drive (Roberts) shaft in there. I took a sq. bit and backed it off a few turns and then tried it and it worked fine. So I went through all of the operations while I had it apart, and now the "rear" motor (marked as "rear motor") was not working either (yet I could feel it spinning). This motor lifts and lowers the rear of the seat (10 way seat)... so I removed the motor with the gear case from the frame (1 roll pin and one knurled pin and the motor unit comes right out). Opened the gear case (2 screws) and I see the plastic gears are broken...
Well now at this point in the day, I have spent more time in trying to find out if the motor only is available (it appears not {Mo-par #5709790}). So I opened my Grand Cherokee parts book (CD version on my computer) and it shows that ONLY a track assembly available. Who'd a thunk! Such a simple part to R&R yet you have to buy a whole rail assembly. Tomorrow I will check the bone yards for a motor or maybe a broken frame assembly. I'm sure the car wash will not step up to this situation, much less MO-PAR!.
When I went to my repair manual (also CD version on computer) it says NOT to "hold these switches for long" after the seat stops moving... (there are NO limiter switches on these motors with the little plastic gear boxes!). So this week will be yet another expensive one in my life, while I R&R the drivers seat also and probably do some "MIG" work on the frame rails. Guess I could be in a worse situation of having to take it somewhere for repairs. Good luck to all, I'm glad I have some remaining shop equipment AND I'm retired!
25th May 2007, 15:24
I too have a broken left driver's seat bracket bracket and the dealer wants $400 to replace it. I have spent more on repairs to this car than I have on the previous 15 cars I have owned. J Allbright, Baton Rouge, LA.