Common wisdom from Russia + couple questions

[kjeb]

Hi - I don't think I can help you much with your questions, but I know for sure that the original cross-bars for the railings are expensive - but on the other hand they will make your tak-boks much lower than for instance Thule-bars.
But - I'm interested in your solution regarding the insufficent recline of the rear middel seat. The default position is really strange and irritating, but applying brute force - do you mean real brute force or just a little? This sounds like an irreversible process, and it's actually based on the fact that something must be "destroyed" during the process? Have you done this yourself, and what' the risk for the seat to go flat for ever? Do you really recommend this solution?

[Kombat]

Re rear seat recline: For the first 3 years of car ownership I was sure it was a design glitch. However, at some point in time the good old RTFM rule helped me:

"Reclining
To recline the outboard seatbacks, pull up on the lever and lean back.
To recline the center seat, pull up on the strap located on the lower right-hand portion of the seatback and lean back.
The recline feature allows adjustment of the seatback for occupants of different sizes for added comfort and to help obtain proper seat belt fit."

There is some discussion on that on the Russian forum:
(You can just take a look at photos in post #3707.)

I did it myself in my car. Difficult to measure the degree of brute force that I used, but I think it's quite hard to overpush with your back.

Remember that it is a Jap car but manufactured in Spain..

[kjeb]

Great - if this is a result from a RTFM it should be safe ( I did try one myself but it's so many different models described in the same book that I lost control and gave up). I think I will try this procedure tomorrow - if it's not too cold. If you combine plastic-Spain manufactured-brute force and several degrees below zero - the result will surely be a disaster! Anyway - thanks for the enlightening!