Citroen DS seat cover replacement part 3

In part 2, I was able to get part way through removal of the old Targa seat covers for the upper part of the rear seat.   Today I was able to complete the removal of the old Targa covers and start fitting the new ones.

I was helped by a website created by an owner of a DS20 Comfort who has documented the same process using the same covers from Citro Toon. The website is in French, but pictures are universal and Google translate helps with the rest.

Despite the website, this part of the seat has been the most difficult so far.   To start, the folding rear arm rest must be removed.    The arm rest comprises three parts – the actual arm rest, which is mostly soft foam, the folding mechanism and a fabric ‘tongue’ that hides the gap in the seat when the armrest is folded down.     My armrest had been modified in the past, adding new piece of wood to the base of the armrest and using staples to hold the tongue and cover to the wood.   So far I have fitted the cover to the foam, but need to get hold of a staple gun to attach the cover properly.

Once the armrest has been removed, the set is two parts, and there are two separate covers for each of those parts.    At the top of the seat, instead of hog rings, there are a series of barbs that must be prized out with a screwdriver and then hooked into the seat cover.   Hog rings are used for the bottom and sides of the seat.    I ended up cutting the cover a bit to fit over one of the bracing beams that join the two sections, and also cut holes for the rear ‘tabs’ that are used to attach the seat back to the car.    It took quite a bit more fiddling around to get them to fit ok.   I still have a bit of fiddling around to get the properly fitted, and then need to finish the arm rest too.