Seat won't latch

[JonW]

The seat on my 2013 PCX150 won't latch regardless of how much force I use on it. The top of the latch mechanism seemed pretty beaten up (I assume the previous owner had the same problem) so I bought and installed a new latch mechanism. Same problem.

So as a test I pulled off the two rubber pads on the bottom of the seat and the latch works fine. So the issue is either these are too big or the rubber is too hard to properly compress.

I'm off the the Honda dealer today or tomorrow to pick up some parts I ordered and will see if they have any of these that are a little shorter. However the last time I was there I was looking at a 2015 PCX150 and it appeared to have the same size pads.

If there are no better ones available I'm thinking of cutting a little off the back of the rubber so it's not quite so thick. Or maybe look for some other rubber or soft plastic self-stick bumper type material to use in it's place.

Have you had this problem? How did you solve it?

Thanks in advance.

[WhiteNoise]

Jon, rest the seat down and finish the job using the heal of your hand to push it down. You'll hear it latch closed. This is Common practice closing the PCX seat. I had a 2011 and it was the only way I could latch it. Now I find myself doing the same procedure with my 2015.
Routine and...."muscle memory."

Try that out first okay? If it's not the solution, come back and discuss. We want it to close for you too

[JonW]

Jon, rest the seat down and finish the job using the heal of your hand to push it down. You'll hear it latch closed. This is Common practice closing the PCX seat. I had a 2011 and it was the only way I could latch it. Now I find myself doing the same procedure with my 2015.
Routine and...."muscle memory."

Been there, did that. No luck. At the moment I have a couple of self-stick plastic bumpers made for the bottom of furniture, stuck over the flat spot and hole that held the rubber pads. It's maybe an eighth inch thinner than the rubber pad and the seat closes just fine now.

I'll see what the Honda dealer has to say when I go over there probably tomorrow. It's possible the rubber has hardened to the point that it's no longer pliable enough to give when slammed, but I wouldn't think that should be the case after only 2-3 years and less than 3,000 miles use.

I'll post some picture of my experiments later once I've arrived at a final solution.

Thanks.

[you you]

Jon, rest the seat down and finish the job using the heal of your hand to push it down. You'll hear it latch closed. This is Common practice closing the PCX seat. I had a 2011 and it was the only way I could latch it. Now I find myself doing the same procedure with my 2015.
Routine and...."muscle memory."

Been there, did that. No luck. At the moment I have a couple of self-stick plastic bumpers made for the bottom of furniture, stuck over the flat spot and hole that held the rubber pads. It's maybe an eighth inch thinner than the rubber pad and the seat closes just fine now.

I'll see what the Honda dealer has to say when I go over there probably tomorrow. It's possible the rubber has hardened to the point that it's no longer pliable enough to give when slammed, but I wouldn't think that should be the case after only 2-3 years and less than 3,000 miles use.

I'll post some picture of my experiments later once I've arrived at a final solution.

Thanks.

Ah well, let us know how it goes.

We avoid the use of "final solution" this side of the pond.

[j.d.b.]

You mentioned "slammed". It's not to be slammed down. It's pressed down using the heel of the hand as you use the rear handle to pull against with your other hand. The thing is sort of "mashed" down over the latch. Honda wants the seat to be a very firmly clamped part of the body when it's closed. They must be getting some stiffness or support from it, structurally?

Have you ever gotten it to close?

[MKE PCX]

I have the same problem with both my factory and aftermarket seats. The rubber bumpers are definitely the problem as you have noticed.

I'm also using the rubber furniture feet in place of the factory rubber plugs. The seat closes perfectly every time now. It's nice not having to think about it any more.

The furniture feet were supposed to be a temporary measure since the factory rubber can be easily modified with a razor blade, however, they are working so well that I had forgotten about them until I read this thread.

[WhiteNoise]

Okay Jon I guess that takes care of my fix.
Soo...I'm thinking that in Honda's planning was for owners to carry a pillion/passenger. Their bum then compress' the seat and the latch locks.
Simples Hmm, makes sense. Little Honda's carry families elsewhere

[JonW]

You mentioned "slammed". It's not to be slammed down. It's pressed down using the heel of the hand as you use the rear handle to pull against with your other hand. The thing is sort of "mashed" down over the latch. Honda wants the seat to be a very firmly clamped part of the body when it's closed. They must be getting some stiffness or support from it, structurally?

Have you ever gotten it to close?

Maybe slammed was the wrong term to use. I've tried my fist, elbow, even sitting on it. Only occasionally has it ever closed properly.

It's amazing how much easier and more pleasurable it is with the thinner bumpers on it.

[JonW]

The Honda dealer would have been happy to order me two new replacement rubber bumpers for around $1 each, but they were no different than what I had taken off the scooter so I declined.

For yucks we looked at the comparable part on the 2015 model which was around $5 each, so clearly something about them has changed. Couldn't tell what from the parts explosion, but it did have a different part number so Honda changed something with it. My guess is it's either thinner and/or of a less rigid material.

I'm planning on using a single-edge razor blade to shave some off the bumpers I have to see if that helps, after which I'll post some picture of that and the self-stick furniture bumpers I'm currently using.

[yak]

@JonW, are you going to shave the edges of the old bumpers? or are you going to cut thru them cross-section to lower them? I have been leaving my seat unlatched for 2 years. When i took it to the dealer in 2014, he slammed the seat shut and said "That's how you do it". Leaving the seat unlatched makes it easy to get under the seat without the key. Someone in this thread mentioned that the seat latch might make the bike stronger structurally; i never thought of that.

[JonW]

@JonW, are you going to shave the edges of the old bumpers? or are you going to cut thru them cross-section to lower them?

I'm going to try and take 1/16in. (which is the difference in thickness of the rubber PCX bumper and the self-stick plastic furniture pad) off the back side of the bumper while attempting to not cut thru the stem that goes into the hole in the seat. This will leave the front, scored surface of the bumper intact while just making it thinner.

At least that's what I'm going to try. If I screw up I'll just continue using the plastic self-stick bumpers I have on their now.

Re: structural integrity, I'd be more concerned about not being able to securely carry things under the seat rather than the latched seat significantly adding to the structural integrity of the bike (which I don't think it does).

Pictures to follow...

[you you]

Why not just adjust the latch? It takes less time to do than post.

[JonW]

Why not just adjust the latch? It takes less time to do than post.

Because it's not adjustable.

[you you]

Why not just adjust the latch? It takes less time to do than post.

Because it's not adjustable.

It is. Slacken the two small bolts, move, retighten.

[JonW]

Why not just adjust the latch? It takes less time to do than post.

Because it's not adjustable.

It is. Slacken the two small bolts, move, retighten.

The 2 bolts that hold the latch to the frame? There's no slack in mine.

[JonW]

OK, so here are pictures of both the self-stick plastic bumper pads I used, and the now trimmed down OEM rubber bumpers.

The difference between the plastic bumpers and the thickness of the rubber pads (outside the bottom of the seat) was 1/16 in. which was about how much I tried to trim off the backside of the rubber pads. I used a single edge razor blade (in a holder) to score around the circumference of the pad, and finished it off with a retractable knife. You can see the results in the pictures below.

I removed the plastic bumpers I had been using and re-installed the trimmed-down rubber pads and they work just fine. The seat closes and latches with minimal effort now.

If I weren't doing this as an experiment I would have just left the self-stick bumpers on, put an extra set in my toolkit in case one or both ever fell off, and kept the OEM rubber ones as a backup which could be trimmed down if ever needed in the future.

Anyway, I hope you find this useful.

Package of 9 1/2in. plastic self-stick bumpers from the hardware store

bumper_pkg_003.jpg (152.45 KiB) Viewed 6596 times

Two plastic bumpers stuck to the bottom of the seat covering the holes used by the rubber OEM version

plastic_seat_bumpers_002.jpg (123.89 KiB) Viewed 6596 times

This shows the 1/16in. difference in thickness between the plastic bumpers and OEM rubber pads

thick_diff_005.jpg (50.3 KiB) Viewed 6596 times

After trimming some off the back of the OEM rubber pads

trimmed_diff_010.jpg (83.58 KiB) Viewed 6596 times

The now trimmed OEM rubber pads installed back on the bottom of the seat pan

trimmed_installed_011.jpg (104.17 KiB) Viewed 6596 times

[yak]

Thanks for the photos. Was there any effort required to remove the OEM bumpers? I worried about breaking or ruining them if i tried to pull them out. Did you use a screwdriver or pliers? Or do they just pull out using your fingers?

[JonW]

Thanks for the photos. Was there any effort required to remove the OEM bumpers? I worried about breaking or ruining them if i tried to pull them out. Did you use a screwdriver or pliers? Or do they just pull out using your fingers?

IIRC I think I just pulled them out with my fingers while twisting them. I may have used a very small flat-head screwdriver to help pry them out.

They're pretty tough so I wouldn't worry much about damaging them.

[you you]

The 2 bolts that hold the latch to the frame? There's no slack in mine.

There was on mine.

Used to have to punch the back of the seat to close before adjustment.

Now it closes like an Audi door

[Mel46]

After I replaced my wife's seat with a custom one from Thailand I found that it would not latch, so I cut about half of the already sectioned (cut) portion of the rubber bumpers on each side. It closes fine now. The seat closing problem has been around most of the existence of this forum, so many solutions have been proposed. Adjusting the latch is the first thing to do. If that does not work, then shave down the bumpers until it does work.