Hello all,
Got a 2011 A7 last week, everything appears in good working order with a couple of small issues that need attention. One of those was a "loose" back panel of the passenger seats. Today I decided to sort it out, and as the info floating around the net is either vague or incomplete I decided to snap a few photos and document everything and contribute to community.
Panel was a bit loose on the bottom and cracked open on left side so I wanted to remove it to inspect what the problem is and fix it. Looking around I found bits of info, mostly saying that it is difficult to remove without damaging it. I carefully peeked inside through the open end as even though the metal clips that are supposed to hold the top part were not engaged but it was still impossible to pull away from the seat. Finally I figured out that two plastic parts disappearing into the seat must be hooks and managed to disengage them by pulling the panel downwards. Here is the view of the internals of the removed panel:
The two plastic black clips on the bottom are known to break, but in this case they were not even engaged, one was completely separated from the panel and the other one partially separated. Luckily both were not broken:
Now on to the top part. It was obvious that someone has been in here already and then messed up the reinstall as the metal clips have been bent downwards and did not engage in the appropriate spots. On top of these, there are two plastic hooks that also hold the panel in place, but not snugly agains the seat back. I suspect that the purpose of these hooks is to prevent the panel getting too far back when you pull it back to remove, which would probably break the lower clips Here you can see the bent metal clips and the plastic hooks:
Another view:
Somewhere I read and advice that trying to disengage the metal clips by pulling back will most likely result in the breakage of the plastic or the panel, and it was suggested to nudge to panel to the right to disengage the clips on the panel side. Looking at the assembly above this will not work, as each clip can only be slid out in opposite direction, and compressed at the same time for this to happen.
Luckily (?) I was spared of the actual removal of the metal clips, but from what I have observed if one needs to do it, they will either pop out, or more likely the complete plastic support will separate from the panel. ABS plastic is known not to collaborate too well with most adhesives, including what appears to be a epoxy resin here. Over time it becomes brittle and will easily crack and give up as you can see on the photo below.
In any case, it is enough to glue it back in just as I had to do with the lower plastic clips. After it hardens up I just need to straighten up the metal clips and hopefully everything will snap back in place tomorrow. Will keep you posted. Hope someone will find this useful. :)
