Pic Request: Avant rear seat latches and posts

[Mirror70]

I'm trying to get my RS4 rear seats to latch in my avant, but I'm running into some trouble. The latches in the seats aren't compatible with the posts in my car. I've read some posts saying that the RS4 latches are the same as the S4 latches, so now I'm thinking that either the latches or the posts have been changed out. ETKA is pretty much useless here.

If someone could share a couple of pics of factory US-model S4 avant latches and posts, that would be really helpful.

This is where I'm at right now. There's a wedge inside of the latch which doesn't allow space for the head on the post.

[Silverex]

I’ll take some pics when I get home but from memory it looks just like that. Have you tried playin/adjusting the depth since if that’s off they won’t latch?

[PwrWgn]

My seats only really latch if I throw them back with a bit of force. Maybe this isn't something you can simulate with just fitting the pin like that?

[Mirror70]

I’ll take some pics when I get home but from memory it looks just like that. Have you tried playin/adjusting the depth since if that’s off they won’t latch?

I figured for testing things out that I would skip that step. I removed the bolt to see if it would fit the latch if perfectly aligned. It's a little bit tough to tell from that pic, but there is a plastic wedge in the latch which makes it so that the bolt simply can't fit no matter how perfectly it is aligned.

I think it would be easier to see from a different angle, but I don't have one of those pics handy. So, here's a zoomed in crop of the previous pic. To the left of the bolt head is the wedge. The clearance between the wedge and the latch is too small for the bolt head by approximately the same amount as the fillet on the head. If I had access to a lathe, I'd just turn down the bolt head so that it would fit.

[Mirror70]

My seats only really latch if I throw them back with a bit of force. Maybe this isn't something you can simulate with just fitting the pin like that?

Thank you! This is perfect. Looks like your latch has a different guide in it (the light grey piece) than what's in my seats. The guide in mine is what's preventing the seat from latching.

[Silverex]

What’s weird is my S4 Avant and another car with RS4 seats don’t have that piece.

[Mirror70]

Finally made some progress on this. It looks like my driver and passenger side seatback have different latches:

• The passenger side had no clearance for the post head. Now that I cut the rubber wedge out with an xacto and adjusted the post position, it works as expected.
• The driver side has the wedge with clearance for the post head. It appears that the reason this one doesn't latch is simply that it needs to be stripped and greased. The lower section moves far enough to latch, but the top doesn't pop down to complete the action.

On the one hand, hooray. On the other hand, it looks like a PITA to take these apart to regrease. I don't see any screws holding it together and suspect it may all be held together by the pressed in bushings that the mounting bolts go through. Maybe I'll just buy a new one from the dealer and see if it fits before I try that.

For reference, here is the passenger side:


And here is the driver side: