So, now that my daughter has her driving permit I had to get this issue fixed.
I have checked with Ford and Mazda dealers, I explained my issue and showed them the broken off bolt that I had found under my seat. The dealers wanted to sell me an entire seat mount bracket for the bottom of my seat which would cost anywhere from $230-$270. I later found out that this would not have resolved my issue! I also didn't want to replace it with a junkyard seat, because most of the ones I found were torn, stained, or did not match the original seat, and cost between $50-$150.
So, I purchased a star shaped socket bit and removed the seat (4 bolts). After removing the seat, I found a 2nd broken bolt under the seat. After taking a better look at the seat I found these bolts connected the seat backrest to the lever mechanism on both sides.
Theses bolts are threaded and the other half of the bolts were still in the metal seat back bracket where they broke off. I took a tiny drill bit and tried to drill out the hole without wrecking the brackets threads. After using the small drill bit. I moved up to one slightly larger. While drilling, the broken bolt just fell out without damaging the bracket's threads.
I was then able to go to the hardware store and buy a couple 6mm bolts about the same size as the original bolts for about $0.70 each.
When I installed the new bolts, first you push it through the hole in the connecting rod, then thread it into the hole and tighten. On the other side I did the same, but had to push back a spring that is on the connecting rod.
I am not at all very mechanical, and this is a very easy fix! With the socket tool I bought to remove the seat, I paid about $7 total for this repair, compared to the $230 the dealer wanted for a part that would not have fixed the issue. They would have probably tried to sell me a new seat after figuring that out!
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. When mine broke I used the welder to fix it, also notched the lever so it sat lower and is less prone to be hit by the rear end of whoever is sitting there, and welded a bolt to the side for extra support. Looked a while ago at the passenger side and the lever is very bent but not broken so I'll do the same thing over there, that cheezy bracket in that post doesn't look sufficient.
