Removal of passenger seat for extra space?

[tboyd]

Hi, I'd like to remove the passenger seat to provide extra cargo space, or more space for camper modifications. That would mean only the driver's seat remaining. Have any of you done this? I'd also like it to be reversible, so I can put the seat back in when needed.

 

2020 TC cargo

 

Thanks,

 

  Troy

[KevinRollin]

Hi, Troy, I removed my driver seat so I could raise it up, and surveyed the passenger seat as well.  It looks fairly easily removable.  Four T50 Torx bolts in the seat rails, and the airbag and seatbelt warning wires (be gentle with the plugs for those).  

 

My 2018 Cargo has a fold-down front passenger seat.  Is that no longer a feature in the 2020 models?  

[jrm223]

From what I've seen discussed in the past,  disabling part of the air bag system - such as the sensors (3 of 'em: occupant, distance from dash, seat belt) & side air bag in that passenger seat - will disable the entire air bag system, leaving you as the driver vulnerable to full force of impacts in an accident. Here in the forum, there is some old info on removing the seat and putting in some certain resistors to mimic the seat still being there, but that info only works for gen 1 TC (up to 2013 model year). I tried it in my 2015 and it didn't work correctly; I haven't gotten around to using an ohm-meter on the seat connections to see what values are needed for our gen 2 TC's. But that would still only give the ohms required, not the info like 1/4W resistor, 1/2W, etc. 

 

If your passenger seat folds down (release on left shoulder of the seat) like my '15 & Kevin's '18, I'd probably recommend doing that until dummy resistors can be figured out to bypass the seat without disabling the whole air bag system. I can't imagine that FoMoCo would drop that feature for 2020 and my '15 is a dealer-lot XL (options added power windows/locks only), so it should be a standard feature instead of optional.

[tboyd]

Yes, the passenger seat folds down, but it would provide more space if I removed it altogether. And it's almost always just me, so...  If I just turn off the Passenger Air bag, then unplug the seat connections, I thought I could just leave it unplugged. I'll check with the dealer to see if that disables the entire system. I would think it would just involve the Passenger side.

 

The dealer said he sees them removed in their shop all the time. No details yet though...

[jrm223]

I wouldn't expect the dealer to necessarily know anything super technical like that, lol. But once in a blue moon, you'll get a knowledgeable person. Several members here can't even successfully get their perimeter lights turned off at their dealerships and Ford provides specific instructions on how to do it; so there's not much excuse, yet the techs still can't figure it out. On the other hand, I've never heard of any Ford-provided info at all on permanent removal of passenger seat, for comparison. I wonder if your dealer sees a lot of fleet vans? There could be an upfitter nearby that is setting them up for businesses and may be able to help you out with info or something on what they do to remove the seat? My own van doesn't even have a manual shut-off for the passenger airbag, at least not that I've ever noticed. 

For testing purposes, you could shutoff the passenger airbag and then just disconnect all the plugs under the passenger seat to see what happens, simulating it's removal. For reference, when I was messing around with trying the Gen 1 resistors, the gauge cluster air bag light permanently stayed lit-up to indicate an error condition, plus some OBD codes were thrown, but no CEL that I can remember. I think I even tried it without any resistors, also as a test, and everything was the same.