These complex luxury seats are full of features but at least one was disabled by a few childish kicks in the back
September 23, 2023 at 14:19
The technology inside of modern cars is nothing short of amazing and it’s getting better all the time. Some of that tech though can be quite complicated and delicate. That’s exactly the issue one Jeep Grand Wagoneer owner faced when his kids kicked the back of his seats until the massage function failed.
We loved the seats in the fully loaded Grand Wagoneer we tested last month. They adjust 24 different ways, they’re supportive but cushy at the same time, and they do have a great massage function. Of course, incorporating all of that functionality requires an incredible amount of engineering.
According to one anonymous service advisor, his shop just had a Grand Wagoneer in for service specifically because a child kicked the back of the seat too much. As a result, the complex massage system failed the customer. With the upholstery removed, the guts of the seat show just how many passages there are for the air-actuated massage system.
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TireMeetsRoad first spotted the Facebook post by the service advisor and made a great point regarding the repair of such a seat. While this vehicle is under warranty it’s likely no big deal but as soon as it’s out of warranty it could be a nightmare to fix.
Techs with the applicable expertise might be hard to find and those that do know how to work with this system will likely charge more. One explains the system in the video below. Having something this complex break can’t be totally shocking though.
In a bit of unexpected foreshadowing, during my time with the Grand Wagoneer, my wife actually commented about how quickly she believed a kid might damage the rear seat infotainment system in the Grand Wagoneer. Little did we realize it would be the seat functionality itself that would be the weaker link.
The moral of this story might be simply to put kids in the third row if you own a Grand Wagoneer – or at the very least slide those second-row captain’s chairs as far back as they’ll go.