How to Fix Half-Reclined Stuck Model X Seats: An Open vLetter to Tesla

Tesla quoted me $3,300 to replace my the entire left side middle row seat to fix a seat that was stuck half-reclined.

They insisted that the seat was broken internally and could not be repaired.
Obviously the seat was broken internally, but why that broken internal part couldn't be identified and repaired made no sense to me.
After some discussion, and zero willingness from the service center to find and fix the broken part,
I told them that I would figure out how to fix the seat and then post a video to show them how to do it.

I figured it out, and here's the video as an open letter to Tesla.
As it turns out, there is a design flaw in the actuators for these seats that has been causing them to fail on many Model X's.
In addition to showing how to fix this problem, I perform a failure analysis on the part, and propose a solution to that as well.

00:00 - The Problem
00:51 - Tesla's $3,300 Repair
01:55 - Diagnosis
02:58 - Locating the Part
06:09 - Buying the Part
07:09 - The Design Flaw
08:23 - Installing the New Part
11:20 - Testing the Repair
11:32 - Tesla Do Better

Please share as widely as possible to Tesla owners you know. Let's never waste another seat due to these bad actuators.

By the way, if you're an X owner and want to avoid this problem, avoid using the Easy Entry button on the seats. Use the manual lever whenever possible.

Helpful Links:

In case you're thinking that this is just a problem with a particular service center,
here's a Tesla Motors Club thread with a bunch of X owners dealing with this issue:
https://teslamotorsclub.com/tmc/threa...

Tesla Parts Catalog:
https://epc.tesla.com/en-US/catalogs

How to Order Parts:
UPDATE: Tesla has added the ability to order most parts through their online parts catalog!
https://epc.tesla.com/en-US/catalogs

And this is the old clunky way for ordering parts that aren't available through their catalog:
https://teslamotorsclub.com/tmc/threa...
So, the "good old" way still remains - make a service appointment with Reason: "Other" and provide the part number in the free text.

Tesla's Service Manual for replacing this part:
This is crazy-town, crazy-town, crazy-town!
No idea why this procedure is so involved:
https://service.tesla.com/docs/ModelX...


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