Middle Row Seat Question

[Yoram]

Our '22 CX-9 Touring has the split bench middle row seats. I encountered a peculiarity in how they work which made me take the car to the dealer to confirm they work as designed. Here goes:

When I fold down both backrests with the large handles at the outer pivots of the backrests, they look like this:

When I then press on the little button at the front of the side of the seat cushion (see arrow in next pic), the front of the seat drops down and creates more height for cargo (note angle of right side vs left side backrest):

And now to the conundrum: When I press the matching little button on the left seat cushion (see arrow in next pic), nothing happens -- the left side seat does not drop down to match the right side one:

I took the car to the dealer and first they were baffled like me. After whatever investigation they came back with the quintessential "they all do this".

My question to y'all: Does your car does this too or do both seats drop down upon pressing the little side buttons?

Thanks!

 

[youri]

The seats in my 2018 are different (not power operated), but I have a theory. The button you are pressing on the side is the third row seat access button, it tilts the back rest forward and slide the seat forward. It is not meant to make the seat flat.

On my 2018 the passenger side seat acts differently than the driver side, when it slides forward for third row access, the bottom cushion also drops and the whole seat tilts instead of only the back rest. This is a function to allow the use of the third row access function with a rigid children car seat installed on the seat.

The driver side only tilt the back rest, which means that you wouldn’t be able to use that function with a child seat installed.

So when you fold the seat flat, and then press that button, you probably activate the tilt function which also drops the bottom cushion.

In my non-powered version the seat wouldn’t lock in place that way and would move around. But with the electric motor it is possible that it might stay engaged all the time.

 

[youri]

Here is the info from the manual for your 2022: i believe yours is the version with the (switch).

Entering/exiting the third-row seat area with child-restraint system installed (Right-side seat only)

Access to the third-row seats is possible even when a child-restraint system is installed to the second-row seat.

(Lever)

Pull up the lever on the side of the head restraint to lower the front side of the seat and slide the seat forward.

(Switch)

To unlock the seat, press the switch continuously until a sound is activated, release it, fold the seatback forward, and slide the seat forward


Do not operate the lever on the side of the head restraint or press the switch on the side of the seat under the following conditions:

Operating the lever on the side of the head restraint or pressing the switch on the side of the seat under the following conditions is dangerous as the seat may move unexpectedly and cause an injury such as a foot getting pinched between the seat and floor.

[…]

• Occupant is seated in second-row seat
  
  
• Second-row seatback is folded forward
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

 

[Yoram]

@youri , as always great response and info! Thank you!
So looks like our car is "normal" and the dealer is OK too. Wheew!

But what still baffles me is what is the point of the little button on the left side seat cushion (bottom pic above)? What does it do that the small lever at the top of the backrest (near the headrest), the large lever at the backrest pivot, and/or the fore-aft bar under the front of the seat cannot do?

 

[youri]

Not really sure it’s purposes. Like you said, it looks like it is redundant with the lever on top of the seat back.

 

[Yoram]

Not really sure it’s purposes. Like you said, it looks like it is redundant with the lever on top of the seat back.

Thank you, @youri !

 

[MichalP]

@youri , as always great response and info! Thank you!
So looks like our car is "normal" and the dealer is OK too. Wheew!

But what still baffles me is what is the point of the little button on the left side seat cushion (bottom pic above)? What does it do that the small lever at the top of the backrest (near the headrest), the large lever at the backrest pivot, and/or the fore-aft bar under the front of the seat cannot do?

This little button on the side feels like it's a half baked idea. Some 3 row cars have fully electric 2nd row so if you press the button it tilts the backrest and move the whole seat forward. No manual work required. Mazda only implemented the release and tilt function where you still need to move seat forward manually.

It still helps because some people for whatever reason might not be able to reach for the handle beside the headrest. Too high for them. So pressing the button releases the seat and then you just need to push the seat. On the other hand you need the handle for people sitting in the 3rd row to move the seat out of the way. They won't be able to reach for the button.

On top of that Mazda also added this tilting function to the seat itself in order to be able to keep the car seat in place but only on the right side. However it should not be used when you already put the backrest flat because the whole seat is actually not locked in place.

 

[Yoram]

Overall, the whole middle and rear seat design in this car is pretty ill-conceived in my view. Lots of wasted space and incoherent functions. We like the car very much for its excellent road manners and its 2-row people-carrying mode, but are very underwhelmed by its cargo handling. Same goes for the successor CX-90/70.
We had a P2 Volvo V70 and still have a P3 XC70 which are considerably smaller in footprint yet can pack same or greater amount of stuff in a more efficient and easy to load space.