Removing and installing backrest release Bowden cable — VW
Removing and installing backrest release Bowden cable on VW: 19 steps. What to remove, in what order, and what to check after.
Workshop procedure for VW — the exact step sequence and torque figures, straight from real workshop data.
🧭 Before you start
Fits: platform code 137
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- Spring cushion or lumbar support need not be removed to remove and install Bowden cable.
📋 Procedure
- ⚠ Observe the general safety regulations when working on airbag, belt tensioner and battery isolator units (pyrotechnic components) — Attach seat repair standVAS 6136 to engine and gearbox supportVAS 6095.
- Remove front seat .
- Secure seat to seat repair standVAS 6136.
- Remove front belt buckle .
- Remove trim on tunnel side .
- Remove backrest adjuster wheel on models with manual adjustment
- Remove seat height adjustment handle on models with manual adjustment
- Remove trim on sill side:
- Remove backrest:
- Remove trim for easy-entry:
- Remove side airbags . [Note: Spring cushion or lumbar support need not be removed to remove and install Bowden cable.]
- Using pliers, unhook eyes (3) (Qty. 2) from pins (4) (Qty. 2) on both sides
- Drill rivets (2) out of holder (1) on left and right.
- Unclip end piece (2) of Bowden cable.
- Press Bowden cable end piece off holder (1) in direction of (arrow)
- Unclip mounting (1) from backrest frame (2).
- Thread end piece of Bowden cable through mounting opening in backrest frame.
- Remove left and right Bowden cables from backrest frame.
- Adjust left and right Bowden cables .
Other VW procedures
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- Removing and installing camshaft – VW Golf Cabriolet · 47 torque figures
- Adjusting valve timing – VW Passat B5 · 83 torque figures
- Removing and installing camshafts – VW Passat B6 · 39 torque figures
- Removing and installing coolant pump · 53 torque figures
- Removing and installing coolant pipes for auxiliary/supplementary heater, vehicles with petrol engines
- Removing and installing refrigerant line between air conditioner compressor and expansion valve
- Checking resistance of unit injector valves
- Removing and installing the handle with the black plastic part
- Adjusting reverse gear brake -B1- – VW Passat B5
Who makes these pages, and how
TorqFix was built by a mechanic — after a 2,700 km drive with five roadside repairs that no diagnostic tool could explain.
The figures on this page come from manufacturer workshop documentation and are shown as they are. The page is assembled automatically from that data — it is not written by an AI. The AI works in the chat, where it answers for your specific car. It writes nothing here.
Variants of the same model differ. Cross-check torque against the factory manual for your engine before final tightening.
Seen a figure that does not match your manual? Write to us — we correct it and note when. support@torqfix.com
The story behind TorqFix →Workshop data on this page last updated 20 Sep 2026.