Replacing Driver's Seat to Original Position After Service

Shel_B

Site Donor 2023
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Recently, my car was serviced at a local shop. The technician who worked on the car moved the driver's seat to accommodate his short stature. The seat was moved to the full forward position. That made it very difficult for me to get into the car as I keep the seat in the full rearward position due to my long legs.

My feeling is that the techs should replace the seat to the position in which they found it before delivering the car to the customer. What are your thoughts?
 
That could be hard to do depending on the car. They could get it close, but I wouldn't expect them to remember exactly how my seat and mirrors were positioned. Only I know that. I think it would be nice if they got it close, but I would never expect them to. Just like when I drive my wife or son's cars, or they drive mine, I want them to position them in the safest position for them, and I have no problem setting it back up for me when I get back in.
 
I have little midget legs myself. I have to move seats up. I often forget to move the seat back before sitting down. Most seats are electric and can be moved before entering the car
 
That could be hard to do depending on the car. They could get it close, but I wouldn't expect them to remember exactly how my seat and mirrors were positioned. Only I know that. I think it would be nice if they got it close, but I would never expect them to. Just like when I drive my wife or son's cars, or they drive mine, I want them to position them in the safest position for them, and I have no problem setting it back up for me when I get back in.
Close would be great, but this last instance was way off, as noted. Unlike family members needing to be safe while driving the car this tech just had to pull it out of the service bay and park it. Mirrors were not an issue. Thanks for your perspective.
 
I went to an automotive tech school where the students worked on cars from John Q. Public. On the very first day of automotive tech school, the instructors stressed that the students were NOT to mess with the position of the owner's seats. Almost in the same breath, the instructor singled me out and said that it might be a little hard for me to follow that rule. (I'm 6'6") However, I've always tried to follow that rule. There are some times when I probably should, but unless it's really necessary, I don't mess with the seat position.
 
What are your thoughts?
My thoughts are there are bigger things to worry about. I can look at my car seat position and tell my wife or one of the kids moved the seat before I get in. You said the technician moved it ALL THE WAY FORWARD and you couldn't tell and tried to get in ? :ROFLMAO: Did you go back in and give them a piece of your mind ?
 
In my opinion, they shouldn't as it is to be expected. You don't want a short tech not able to hit the brakes and smash into something.
I maintain my younger sisters Impreza. I have to move the seat up when I drive her car, but she is 6'2" with a 39" inseam.
 
We have to drive the **** things, and need to do it safely. No way we can get it back to exactly where it was. Why is it so hard for owners to put it back where they want it?

The best is we used to put the headlights in the ”off” position while working on them to help preserve the battery. We literally had several customers come in every…..single….day complaining their headlights don’t work. They literally have no idea how to turn their headlights on. We now always leave the headlights in the “auto” position. Sheesh.
 
I went to an automotive tech school where the students worked on cars from John Q. Public. On the very first day of automotive tech school, the instructors stressed that the students were NOT to mess with the position of the owner's seats. Almost in the same breath, the instructor singled me out and said that it might be a little hard for me to follow that rule. (I'm 6'6") However, I've always tried to follow that rule. There are some times when I probably should, but unless it's really necessary, I don't mess with the seat position.
That's similar to what I was taught.
 
On the very first day of automotive tech school, the instructors stressed that the students were NOT to mess with the position of the owner's seats.
What is taught in the classroom isn't always realistic in the real world.

they even left in that paper floor mat protector instead of taking it out!
I don't mind that at all as I'm capable of taking it out and throwing it away. They probably leave it in because too many customers will accuse them or blame them for getting their floor mats dirty and by leaving them in, they can say/show "we didn't get them dirty".
 
My thoughts are there are bigger things to worry about. I can look at my car seat position and tell my wife or one of the kids moved the seat before I get in. You said the technician moved it ALL THE WAY FORWARD and you couldn't tell and tried to get in ? :ROFLMAO: Did you go back in and give them a piece of your mind ?
I did not say I couldn't tell it was moved forward. Please don't interpret what I said or put words into my post. I did say it was difficult to get in. What I didn't say was that, because of where the tech parked the car, I would have been standing on a heavily trafficked street with my door open into a traffic lane to adjust the seat before getting into the car.
 
What is taught in the classroom isn't always realistic in the real world.


I don't mind that at all as I'm capable of taking it out and throwing it away. They probably leave it in because too many customers will accuse them or blame them for getting their floor mats dirty and by leaving them in, they can say/show "we didn't get them dirty".
We had to switch back to leaving them in because customers would blame us for getting the mats dirty when we started removing them.
 
I wouldn't expect the tech to move the seat back. Why wouldn't you move the seat back before trying to crawl in?
Because of where the tech parked the car, I would have been standing on a heavily trafficked street with my door open into a traffic lane to adjust the seat before getting into the car.
 
I'll try to set it the way it is if I can remember the seat position before I hop into a customer's car.

One hack I did with memory seats is to program the customer's position on the first preset, then after work is performed press preset to return to customer's position.
 
Because of where the tech parked the car, I would have been standing on a heavily trafficked street with my door open into a traffic lane to adjust the seat before getting into the car.
Not that I'd take my vehicles to any shop if it could be helped but if I did it would be one where the vehicle stays on their property, not parked on a public street. I do not want it leaving their property till I've inspected the vehicle, nor want it subject to any other mishaps after the fact.
 
We have to drive the **** things, and need to do it safely. No way we can get it back to exactly where it was. Why is it so hard for owners to put it back where they want it?

The best is we used to put the headlights in the ”off” position while working on them to help preserve the battery. We literally had several customers come in every…..single….day complaining their headlights don’t work. They literally have no idea how to turn their headlights on. We now always leave the headlights in the “auto” position. Sheesh.
Exactly. Im 6 foot and over 300 pounds, sorry, but the seat is going back and down. If I am doing something where I dont have to drive the car more than in and out of the shop I will do my best not to move the seat. I try not to move mirrors unless I have to. I get the same complaint with radios because one of the first things I do when I get in a customer car is turn the radio off.
 
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