Black Hole Under Rear Seat

[350kVibe]

I almost went postal on the car wash attendant due to dozens of screws and nails I've repeatedly found on the floor. Thank goodness I kept my cool, informed them of the issue, and took my business elsewhere. Just my luck.. as I backed out of the bay of carwash #2 I saw more screws laying on the floor.. specifically, the kind I'd been using at work for the last two weeks. As a construction worker, I often end up with pockets full of random hardware which often ends up spilling onto my rear seat and then disappearing - I always assumed that someday I would remove that seat to find enough nails/screws to build and shingle a house... Little did I know they have an escape route under there, and it's got to be pretty big

So, anyone else notice this? Any fixes? Where? How? That's probably why the car doesn't hold any heat on the highway in winter which would be a nice problem to solve.

Also.. just reached 370k miles.

[andrewclaus]

Have you removed the seat and found a rusted hole in the floor of the car? If so, a photo would help. A tradesman should be able to patch a metal hole with flashing and self-tapping screws, and maybe even cover it with a piece of old floor mat for insulation.

And I hope you're not dropping drywall screws and roofing nails on the road.

[joatmon]

on the floor of the car or the floor of the car wash?

There are a couple of bolts on the bottom front of the rear seats, if you take those out, the rear seat bottoms swing up, allowing access to the nether regions. Pretty easy to do if you want to check under there.

I recommend everyone do that before getting rid of their Vibe. My first Vibe I bought brand new. Before i parted with it, I checked under the seats and only found some coins and junk mail. My second Vibe I bought used. When I looked under the rear seat of the second one, I found a previous owner's checkbook.

[zbyers]

The rear seat has four 14mm (i believe) bolts that hold the seat cushion down. Undo those, and you will be able to flip the bottom of the seat up and see under it. That's how you access your fuel pump too.

Who knows what you may find under the seat and carpet... Do you for some crazy reason have rust holes in your floor causing the screws to escape from the interior?

I can't imagine a way they would do so other than when opening/closing the doors and them getting kicked out if they're on the floor.

[350kVibe]

First, I'll admit.. it's been 20 below outside and I have no garage so between the obscene cold and repeated snowfalls I haven't found the ambition to do any investigative work yet.. I will look under the seat soon though.

I'm pretty confident that I have not been scattering hardware over the roads and it was the act of spraying the packed ice and snow out from beneath the car that pushed the debris out from its hiding place.

I will say, before checking, that I'll be very surprised if there is indeed enough rust there to cause such a hole as there isn't a spot of rust anywhere else and I've been under the car many times before. ;/