The Clip

I mentioned earlier that one of the things wrong with the Mustang was a loose piece of trim on the seat bottom. It is a plastic part that snaps into a clip. The clip snaps into the metal seat frame. The seat trim had been snagged by the previous owner and pulled from the clip. Attempts to snap it back into place proved ineffective and the trim piece itself appeared undamaged. Conclusion: the clip had broken.

I could see the pesky thing still lodged in the seat frame. It is metal and held in place by barbs that compress when it is pushed into position. A simple V-shaped part stamped from thin steel and then bent into shape it proved surprisingly difficult to remove. Ineffective as it was, I managed to completely mangle it after a lengthy removal involving several tools and some choice curse words. No matter; I picked up the phone and called the local Ford dealer for a replacement.

The news was unsatisfactory: Ford did not see fit to offer the clip as a separate part. I could order the seat trim itself which allegedly included the clip for around $80. The trim piece was fine; why should I have to pay $80 for a clip? Certainly there must be an alternative.

I work in the automotive business and our shop has a cabinet with several drawers of clips and fasteners. None held the tiny annoyance that I sought. I scoured online catalogs of vendors that sold similar items and found a place that--maybe--had something similar. Naturally, I would have to buy a box of fifty and also pay shipping. Still not acceptable. With creative word usage I performed an image search, hoping to find a match...and I did! I followed the image to a web page and ultimately discovered that it was a Ford part, with a Ford part number but was for use in a Econoline van in a totally different application. A call to the dealer told me I could indeed buy the clip...in a package of five. That was palatable, so I ordered them and found that, while not identical, when used on my Mustang it performed the needed task perfectly.

My persistence and detective work saved me nearly $70. The internet played no small part in my endeavor and I was amazed yet again at how useful it is for us car guys. Consider also the water leak I experienced; I had learned about it along with the proper fix before I even bought the car through web sites and videos. Fixing what could have been a unsettling issue took mere minutes. Finding parts has never been easier. No matter what problem you are experiencing with a vehicle chances are someone, somewhere, has had it before you and probably written about it.

Automobiles used to be simple devices. Though older cars were far less reliable than current ones the problems they had were all pretty similar as the designs were not very different. Today's more complex machines and proprietary engineering create bigger obstacles for both the home and professional mechanic. Without our wonderful system of online sharing nearly all of us would be beholden to a limited number of outlets, mostly new car dealerships that are typically all too eager to separate us from our money. "They" may make things more difficult (clips without part numbers) but we have a tremendous ally in our internet strangers.