3rd row seat latch stuck

Just had the same problem. Saw an answer on another forum that worked. My left rear latch was engaged, but no others were. The release levers didn't work, so I couldn't fold the bench down. Answer: be sure the latches that are free are in the closed position as if they were clasped around the anchor bar to immobilized and lock down the bench (not actually locked down). This will allow you to lift on lever 1 to release and fold the bench back closed. Then you will be able to pull and release lever 2 to disengage the bench completely (including problem latch that was the only one locked down). Apparently, this is a safety feature that turns into a major pain in the *** because I didn't find it documented anywhere. What a *****. Hope this helps someone else, because there will be more . . .

This helped big time!! Wish I found this forum an hour ago lol

Awesome! Really glad it helped. You're lucky it was only an hour. :) I remember blood, sweat, furry, banging, pounding, throwing, curse words, etc. Ah, the simple pleasures of life. Ha

On my 05 suburban I had to spray some WD40 on the rear catches to install the seat. Then, I had to manually from the front with a flat screwdriver release the front latches so that I could get the seat out. I found that the little plastic ends of the "3" cable were off the peg they are supposed to move to release. Hopefully, it won't be such a nightmare next time.

Id been using my bench as a seat in the garage since I last removed it and created my initial post. Well, I finally organized and cleaned the garage in prep for doing a valve adjustment on my bike and decided to fold the bench back up and set it aside . . . but again I couldnt get the damn thing closed and, slightly embarrassingly, had to refer back to my own instructions. Not sure if that whole act caused a small tear in the space/time continuum or not, but if so, my apologies.

Thanks for letting me know the latches needed to ALL be in a closed position. After a few attempts I was finally able to move my seat back in place. I had three latches that were stuck open so the seat would not fold down. The right (passenger side) front and right back latches and the middle back latch had to be pushed closed for the seat to fold. I closed them with a lot of thumb pressure. after raising the seat slightly and putting a block of wood under lit so I could push the plastic hook latches in a closed position. Then I lifted lever 1, 2, 3.. After that no problem!, pulled the seat out and rolled it back into its proper position.

This worked perfectly on my 02! Propped up the right side, pushed the rear middle and rear right latches to the closed position. The number 1 lever engaged, seat folded, pulled the 3 cord, seat came right out. Thank you!!!!!

02 suburban here to THANK YOU!!!

Real glad this has helped a few of you. Just sold that 2000 Yukon XL a few weeks back only because the rust was getting the best of it. Great, great vehicle.

You provided just the info that I needed I knew that one front side wasn't latched but didn't figure out the two back latches that weren't engaged.

My third seat won’t come out of car. The first latch works and seat folds when I press #2 the seat won’t come up off the floor as the videos show. I don’t even get to the front hooks since the second latch isn’t releasing the back hooks. Any thoughts?

Thank you thank you thank you. Worked in 30 seconds! After we spent over an hour trying to force it and thought we were going to have to break the seat.

Hello. I have an issue with my 2003 Suburban rear seat being stuck in the closed position. The seat is out of the vehicle. Does it need to be in the vehicle to be able to get the seat back in the upright position?