[Removing Center Seat Section Project] - R1S 2nd Row Captains Chairs from Modified 60% Seat

[McMoo]

Could you just leave the middle seat and just remove the back support. Kids don’t mind jumping/stepping over it am sure. Sounds like lot less work that way.

but…definitely following the progress. Keep this thread updated, pls!

This seems like it would work well. I have the back support in and my kids who go to the 3rd row have no issues climbing over through the middle…

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[Gurule92]

This is an awesome project! Good luck!

Idk why so many people seem to be hating.

 

[madhat]

I guess starting with a front seat is off the table because no integral seat belt?

 

[bbonkk]

Wonder if you can find a front seat cushion or just the cover to upholster the 60% side to look factory after cutting the metal down.. So no need for the whole seat structure and the seatbelt problems.

 

[akc5247]

We recently purchased an R1S after owning a Model X for the past 4 years. With 4 kids (ages 7, 5, 3, 1) in car seats, the poor design of access to the 3rd row is a pain. I was surprised that I could not find anyone who has tried to modify the 60% seat to remove the center portion to create an aisle in the middle row...surely someone has already done it?!?! But since I could not find anyone who has already done it, I figured I would give it a shot and take pictures along the way. If you have done this (or know of someone who has) I would love to see build pictures to learn from someone else before I start cutting the seat frame.

I started this evening and I will plan to post updates as the work progresses. Cheers to starting something without a fully formed plan!

Progress so far:

• removed top portion of the middle that folds down.
• removed plastic trim around floor mount for the rail
• removed plastic trim that covers the rail and covers the hinge for the folding top portion
• removed the bottom seat cushion from the seat frame

Good luck to you, seriously.

The lack of captain's chairs is the biggest pet peeve of my wife's in thinking of keeping or giving the R1S back once the lease ends.

I will definitely be following your progress if you can post both step by step pics/videos.

I'm also curious about the option of getting a front driver/ passenger seat and installing it in the middle row as some have mentioned. If you go that route, let us know the pros/cons as it looks like you are at point of no return (in a positive way).

If this is successfully done on your vehicle, I'll discuss with my wife about doing the same, and just buy out our R1S at the end of the lease. This is the only factor that i didn't like about the R1S vs our Subaru ascent.

 

[gultin]

Adding captains chairs as an option to the 2nd row would be an instant demand lever for Rivian. They need to pull that lever now more than ever!

 

[SH-MK]

Why Rivian doesn’t offer captain chairs is beyond me. I’m hoping gen3 will have them as an option. But great job! Keep us updated with how it goes!

And when you see some of the Chinese vehicles that have captains chairs that swivel 180 degrees to give a "living room mode" it's hard not to get jealous (and feel a little cheated)

 

[akc5247]

And when you see some of the Chinese vehicles that have captains chairs that swivel 180 degrees to give a "living room mode" it's hard not to get jealous (and feel a little cheated)

Right?!

Kia / Hyundai was even in contention for us but gotta give them props for making captain's chairs available to customers in their EV9.

At least Rivian could have had the top end trim (or large battery pack with perf upgrade for us Gen1 owners) with captain's chairs like what every other ICe manufacturer is doing. And have another option with second row bench in other trims.

Anyways.. let's see how deep OP cam take this project..

 

[Dark-Fx]

I hope RJ watches your progress and gets the rest of us the finished product in the R1S shop. You must have amazing patience and severe OCD, abundant financing, and abundant free time. I hope you are an engineer.

A grinder, welder, and sewing machine make me the engineer I am not.

 

[Dark-Fx]

And when you see some of the Chinese vehicles that have captains chairs that swivel 180 degrees to give a "living room mode" it's hard not to get jealous (and feel a little cheated)

There are conversion kits for vans. I expect OP to figure that out too.

 

[HaveBlue]

That's cool and bravo for the project. Probably the upholstery will be the trickiest part to use the center section down the side or something. Stitching and hog ring pliers with a piping bar at the bottom might work.

Lots of posts here about people not wanting this done. Can you not do it for all of them, lol?

 

[Shaqdeez]

Seems like it would be easier to just buy a salvaged 2nd row passenger seat and install it on driver side

This

 

[Mathme]

Good project and I hope it works out well...will be watching with interest.

...but it just makes me cringe to see someone hacking a brand new vehicle in this manner.

 

[HaveBlue]

Good project and I hope it works out well...will be watching with interest.

...but it just makes me cringe to see someone hacking a brand new vehicle in this manner.

He can just swap his stock seat back if he wants. I don't see how this is hacking the vehicle.

 

[dradam]

eagerly await more photos and the end result

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