[steveoh]

I have a 2009 with manual seats and for some reason both front seat levers will not adjust the tilt. Every other part of the seats work. I can hear movement under the seats when I pull on the side lever but they won't move either direction, almost like the lever isn't quite fully lifting/releasing whatever it needs to. Can't see anything underneath that might be blocking.
So I decided to remove the plastic lever and put a vice grip on it instead...but still nothing.

 

[DrivenDaily]

Do you mean it won't move fore and aft, or that the back won't recline?

Sliding fore and aft requires that both side rails release. Lifting the handle on one side releases only that side. It's connected to the other side by a small wire or cable. Make sure that that cable is attached.

 

[steveoh]

Do you mean it won't move fore and aft, or that the back won't recline?

Sliding fore and aft requires that both side rails release. Lifting the handle on one side releases only that side. It's connected to the other side by a small wire or cable. Make sure that that cable is attached.

Thanks for the response.
The back of each seat won't move at all. The seats are moving perfectly every other way they are supposed to but just won't adjust the seat back anymore. I couldn't really see any cable or springs out of place so I thought maybe someone here might have had something similar happen...I'm out of ideas. Plus I thought it strange that both seats would become inop with the same problem. I can turn the mechanism with a vice grip, thinking I'd get a better torque than the plastic handle I removed, but still nothing happens.

 

[DrivenDaily]

OK, by that description, it's the reclining feature that appears to be inoperative.

It may be necessary to carefully remove the plastic seatback cover to expose the mechanism. What you're looking for can be likened to a sector gear, which is just a wedge-shaped piece of a gear with notches in it. When you recline, the lever lifts a finger out of the slot between teeth to allow it to go to another position.

I've seen seats with only 1 sector gear, and others with 1 for each side.